Dighanikaya 2.183_2

2.183_2

Devo maññeti devo viya. So vatassāhaṃ puññāni kareyyanti so vata ahaṃ evarūpo assaṃ, yadi puññāni kareyyanti attho. ‘‘So vatassa’ssa’’ntipi pāṭho, ayamevattho. Yaṃnūnāhanti sace dānaṃ dassāmi, yaṃ rājā ekadivasaṃ deti, tato satabhāgampi yāvajīvaṃ na sakkhissāmi dātunti pabbajjāyaṃ ussāhaṃ katvā evaṃ cintanabhāvaṃ dasseti.

‘The king, I think’ means like a deity. ‘Oh, may I perform merits!’ means: ‘Oh indeed, may I be of such a nature if I were to perform merits!’ This is the meaning. There is also the reading: ‘So vatassāssa’—the meaning is the same. ‘What if I’ indicates the state of thinking thus after making an effort towards going forth: ‘If I give gifts, I will not be able to give throughout my life even a hundredth part of what the king gives in a single day!’