Verses on Dhamma 5.15.p2

5.15.p2

Sāriputtattherasa kira pitu vaṅgantabrāhmaṇassa sahāyako mahāsenabrāhmaṇo nāma rājagahe vasati. Sāriputtatthero ekadivasaṃ piṇḍāya caranto tasmiṃ anukampāya tassa gehadvāraṃ agamāsi. So pana parikkhīṇavibhavo daliddo. So ‘‘mama putto mayhaṃ gehadvāraṃ piṇḍāya carituṃ āgato bhavissati, ahañcamhi duggato, mayhaṃ duggatabhāvaṃ na jānāti maññe, natthi me koci deyyadhammo’’ti therassa sammukhā bhavituṃ asakkonto nilīyi. Thero aparampi divasaṃ agamāsi, brāhmaṇo tatheva nilīyi. ‘‘Kiñcideva labhitvā dassāmī’’ti cintentopi nālabhi. Athekadivasaṃ ekasmiṃ brāhmaṇavācake thūlasāṭakena saddhiṃ pāyasapātiṃ labhitvā ādāya gehaṃ gantvāva theraṃ anussari, ‘‘imaṃ piṇḍapātaṃ mayā therassa dātuṃ vaṭṭatī’’ti. Theropi taṃ khaṇaṃ jhānaṃ samāpajjitvā samāpattito vuṭṭhāya taṃ brāhmaṇaṃ disvā ‘‘brāhmaṇo deyyadhammaṃ labhitvā mama āgamanaṃ paccāsīsati, mayā tattha gantuṃ vaṭṭatī’’ti saṅghāṭiṃ pārupitvā pattaṃ ādāya tassa gehadvāre ṭhitameva attānaṃ dassesi.

One day, at a certain Brahman recitation, he received a bowl of rice-porridge and a small piece of cloth, which he took home with him. Remembering the Elder, he said to himself, "This alms I ought to give to the Elder." At that moment the Elder, who had been engaged in ecstatic meditation, rose from his trance, and seeing the Brahman, said to himself, "The Brahman has received alms and desires me to come to him; therefore I must go to him." So putting on his mantle and taking his bowl, he went to the door of the Brahman's house and showed himself standing there. When the Brahman saw the Elder, his heart was content. He approached him, paid obeisance to him, and gave him a friendly welcome; then, having provided him with a seat within his house, he took his own bowl of rice-porridge and placed the porridge in the Elder's bowl. The Elder accepted half of the porridge and then covered his bowl.