Vv 43Rice-Gruel-Giver’s Mansion

– STORIES OF THE HEAVENLY MANSIONS

– A. THE FEMALE DEVAS' SECTION

– THE MAÑJEṬṬHAKA CHAPTER

4.5

BJT 720"O goddess, you stand with your complexion outstanding, making all the directions blaze brilliantly, like the star Osadhī.

BJT 721On account of what do you have such a complexion? On account of what has this been accomplished for you here? And on account of what do pleasing enjoyments arise for you?

BJT 722O goddess of great power, I ask you: 'When you were a human being, what meritorious deed did you perform? On account of what do you have the power to shine so brilliantly, and does your complexion illuminate all the directions?'"

BJT 723That goddess, joyful at being asked by the venerable Moggallāna, being asked the question, explained which deed this result belonged to:

BJT 724"In Bārāṇasī, I offered to the Buddha, the kinsman of the sun, sour gruel cooked together with jujube and seasoned with cooking oil.

BJT 725With a mind purified in an upright person, I offered [the gruel] mixed with long pepper, with garlic, and with lāmañjaka [root].

BJT 726A woman who acts in the position of chief consort of a wheel-turning king, who has beauty in all parts of her body, and who is considered perfect to her husband, is not worth a sixteenth part of this offering of sour gruel.

BJT 727One hundred elephants, one hundred horses, one hundred mule-drawn carriages, one hundred thousand young women adorned with jeweled earrings of maṇi-gems, are not worth a sixteenth part of this offering of sour gruel.

BJT 728One hundred Himalayan elephants with tusks like carriage shafts, steady, with golden bells, noble bull-elephants adorned with golden harnesses, are not worth a sixteenth part of this offering of sour gruel.

BJT 729One who might exercise sovereignty here, even over the four continents, is not worth a sixteenth part of this offering of sour gruel."

The Heavenly Mansion of the Woman Who Gave Sour Gruel.