Verses on Dhamma 5.15.p7

5.15.p7

Mātāpitaro puttassa pabbajitasakkāraṃ karontā sattāhaṃ vihāreyeva buddhappamukhassa bhikkhusaṅghassa appodakamadhupāyasameva adaṃsu. Bhikkhūpi ‘‘nibaddhaṃ appodakamadhupāyasaṃ paribhuñjituṃ na sakkomā’’ti ujjhāyiṃsu. Tassapi mātāpitaro sattame divase sāyaṃ gehaṃ agamaṃsu. Sāmaṇero aṭṭhame divase bhikkhūhi saddhiṃ piṇḍāya pāvisi. Sāvatthivāsino ‘‘sāmaṇero kira ajja piṇḍāya pavisissati, sakkāramassa karissāmā’’ti pañcahi sāṭakasatehi cumbaṭakāni katvā pañca piṇḍapātasatāni sajjetvā ādāya paṭipathe ṭhatvā adaṃsu, punadivase vihārassa upavanaṃ āgantvā adaṃsu. Evaṃ sāmaṇero dvīheva divasehi sāṭakasahassehi saddhiṃ piṇḍapātasahassaṃ labhitvā bhikkhusaṅghassa dāpesi. Brāhmaṇakāle dinnathūlasāṭakassa kiresa nissando. Athassa bhikkhū ‘‘piṇḍapātadāyakatisso’’ti nāmaṃ kariṃsu.

In honor of their son’s admission to the Order his mother and father remained at the monastery for seven days and presented the assembly presided over by the Buddha with naught but rich porridge made of honey, milk, and rice. The monks murmured thereat, saying, “We cannot always eat rich porridge made of honey, milk, and rice.” On the evening of the seventh day the boy’s mother and father went home, and on the eighth day the novice accompanied the monks to the city for alms.

The residents of Sāvatthi said to each other, “They say that the novice will come to the city to-day for alms; we will therefore do him honor.” So with five hundred cloths they made cushions for alms-bowls, and taking five hundred bowls with portions of alms, they met the novice on the road and presented them to him. On the following day they went to the monastery park and repeated the offering. Thus in two days the novice received a thousand bowls of alms and a thousand cloths, all of which he presented to the assembly of monks. (This was the result of his presentation of the small piece of cloth to the Elder in his former existence as a Brahman.) So the monks gave him the name Tissa the Almsgiver, Piṇḍapātadāyaka Tissa.