III. The Story of the Small Portion of Gruel.
(Comp. the Pâli Gâtaka, No. 415, Fausb. III, 406-414; Divyâvadâna VII, p. 88, Cowell's ed.; Kathâsarits. XXVII, 79-105.)
Any gift that proceeds from faith of the heart and is bestowed on a worthy recipient produces a great result; there does not exist at all anything like a trifling gift of that nature, as will be taught by the following.
In the time, when our Lord was still a Bodhisattva, he was a king of Kosala. Though he displayed his royal virtues, such as energy, discretion, majesty, power, and the rest in an exceedingly high degree, the brilliancy of one virtue, his great felicity, surpassed the others.
1. His virtues, being embellished by his felicity, shone the more; as the moonbeams do, when autumn makes their splendour expand.
2. Fortune, who dwelt with him, distributed her wrath and favour to the other kings in such a manner, that she abandoned his enemies, however proud, but like an amorous woman cherished his vassals.
3. His righteousness, however, prevented his mind from doing ill; so he did not oppress at all his adversaries. But his dependents displayed their affection for him in such a degree, that Fortune would not stay with his foes.
Now one day this king recollected his last previous existence. In consequence of remembering this he felt greatly moved. He bestowed still greater gifts in charity—the motive and essential cause of happiness—on Sramanas and Brâhmans, the wretched and the beggars; he fostered unceasingly his observance of good conduct (sîla); and he kept strictly the poshadha[38] restrictions on sabbath-days. Moreover, as he was desirous of bringing his people into the way of salvation by magnifying the power of meritorious actions, he was in the habit of uttering with a believing heart in his audience-hall as well as in the inner apartments of his palace these two stanzas, full of import:
4. 'Attending on Buddhas[39] by paying them honour, howsoever little, cannot produce a trifling fruit. This has been taught before only by words, now it may be seen. Look at the rich affluence of the fruit, produced by a small portion of saltless, dry, coarse, reddish-brown gruel.
5. 'This mighty army of mine with its beautiful chariots and horses and its dark-blue masses of fierce elephants; the sovereignty of the whole earth; great wealth; Fortune's favour; my noble wife: behold the beauty of this store of fruit, produced by a small portion of coarse gruel.'