Dighanikaya 5.349

5.349

Atthi pana, bho gotamāti – idaṃ brāhmaṇo ‘‘sakalajambudīpavāsīnaṃ uṭṭhāya samuṭṭhāya dānaṃ nāma dātuṃ garukaṃ sakalajanapado ca attano kammāni akaronto nassissati, atthi nu kho amhākampi imamhā yaññā añño yañño appasamārambhataro ceva mahapphalataro cā’’ti etamatthaṃ pucchanto āha. Niccadānānīti dhuvadānāni niccabhattāni. Anukulayaññānīti – ‘‘amhākaṃ pitupitāmahādīhi pavattitānī’’ti katvā pacchā duggatapurisehipi vaṃsaparamparāya pavattetabbāni yāgāni, evarūpāni kira sīlavante uddissa nibaddhadānāni tasmiṃ kule daliddāpi na upacchindanti.

‘Is there, however, Master Gotama?’: The brahmin said this, asking this meaning: ‘It is burdensome for the inhabitants of the entire Jambudīpa to give alms having risen and prepared it, and the entire countryside, not doing their own work, will be ruined. Is there, for us too, another sacrifice requiring less preparation and bearing greater fruit than this sacrifice?’ ‘Regular alms’ means constant gifts, regular meals. ‘Family sacrifices’ means sacrifices to be maintained in succession of lineage even by impoverished men later on, holding that: ‘These were instituted by our fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors.’ Even the poor in that family, it is said, do not cut off such continuous gifts dedicated to the virtuous.