Itivuttaka 100
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “I am a brahman, monks, always responsive to requests, open-handed, bearing my last body, an unsurpassed doctor & surgeon. You are my children, my sons, born from my mouth, born of the Dhamma, created by the Dhamma, heirs to the Dhamma, not heirs in material things.
“There are these two kinds of gifts: a gift of material things & a gift of the Dhamma. Of these two kinds of gifts, this is supreme: a gift of the Dhamma.
“There are these two kinds of sharing: sharing of material things & sharing of the Dhamma. Of these two kinds of sharing, this is supreme: sharing of the Dhamma.
“There are these two kinds of assistance: assistance with material things & assistance with the Dhamma. Of these two kinds of assistance, this is supreme: assistance with the Dhamma.
“There are these two kinds of mass-donations: a mass-donation of material things & a mass-donation of the Dhamma. Of these two kinds of mass-donations, this is supreme: a mass-donation of the Dhamma.”
He who, unstinting,
made the mass-donation of Dhamma,
the Tathāgata,
sympathetic to all beings:
to one of that sort
–the best of beings, human & divine–
living beings pay homage–
to one gone
to the beyond
of becoming.
