Itivuttaka 75

Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Itivuttaka >> '''75. Avutthikasuttam'''

Adapted From the Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

75. Avutthikasuttam (People & Clouds)

This was said by the Lord Buddha(Bhagavata), said by the Arahant, so I have heard:

“Monks, these three types of persons can be found existing in the world. Which three? One like a cloud without rain, one who rains locally, and one who rains everywhere.

“And how is a person like a cloud without rain? There is the case where a person is not a giver of food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, or lights to anyone at all: to ascetics(monks) or brahmans(priests), to any of the miserable, the homeless, or beggars. This is how a person is like a cloud without rain.

“And how is a person one who rains locally? There is the case where a person is a giver of food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lights to some ascetics(monks) & brahmans, to some of the miserable, the homeless, & beggars, but not to others. This is how a person is one who rains locally.

“And how is a person one who rains everywhere? There is the case where a person gives food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lights to all ascetics(monks) & brahmans, to all of the miserable, the homeless, & beggars. This is how a person is one who rains everywhere. “These are the three types of persons who can be found existing in the world.”

Not to ascetics(monks), to brahmans(priests), to the miserable, nor to the homeless does he share what he’s gained: food, drinks, nourishment. He, that lowest of people, is called a cloud with no rain. To some he doesn’t give, to others he does: the intelligent call him one who rains locally. A person responsive to requests, sympathetic to all beings, <p style="text-align:center;">delighting in distributing alms: <p style="text-align:center;">“Give to them! <p style="text-align:center;">Give!” <p style="text-align:center;">he says. <p style="text-align:center;">As a cloud—resounding, thundering—rains, <p style="text-align:center;">filling with water, drenching <p style="text-align:center;">the plateaus & gullies: <p style="text-align:center;">a person like this <p style="text-align:center;">is like that. <p style="text-align:center;">Having rightly amassed <p style="text-align:center;">wealth attained through initiative, <p style="text-align:center;">he satisfies rightly with food & drink <p style="text-align:center;">those fallen into <p style="text-align:center;">the homeless state.