109. The Story of a Sweetcake of Husk Powder

At one time Buddha was living in Jetavana monastery in Sāvatthi. At that time, many people of Sāvatthi offered alms to the Buddha and the community of monks.

Once, a very, very poor man who was even unable to offer alms thought that he should take part in this giving of alms. He had some husk powder, and of it he made a sweetcake. He took it to the monastery thinking that he would give it in person to the Buddha. During the period of alms giving, people first offered gruel, and then said, “Now it would be good to offer sweets.” As soon as this was said, the poor man offered his husk powder sweetcake to the Buddha.

Buddha out of compassion accepted it instead of many other sweets, and refusing all other sweets the Buddha consumed it and returned to the Jetavana monastery. On hearing this news many kings, kings’ relatives and ministers went to this man and asked, “Can you give us the merit you acquired? We will pay you.” Then the poor man thought, “I acquired this merit with some hardships. Let me go to the Buddha and ask whether I should give it to them.”

And he went to the Buddha and asked about this. Buddha said, “Both with and without taking money, giving one’s merit is good. After hearing that, he gave merit to everybody in the city. In return he got 900,000 pounds of gold. The king of Kosala hearing this news conferred upon the poor man the office of treasurer and offered him a white parasol, the mark of his new status.

On this day the monks who had assembled in the Dhamma hall to listen to the evening Dhamma sermon of the Buddha were discussing the news of the poor man’s appointment to his new status of treasurer. Buddha went to the Dhamma hall and sat on his well-prepared divan and addressed the monks, asking, “Oh monks, what sort of discussion were you engaged in before my arrival?” The monks said, “Your lordship, we were not discussing any of the thirty-two things with which you asked us not to be involved. We were talking about the high status achieved by the poorest man offering alms to you.”

The Buddha said, “Not only now but even before in his previous birth also he achieved such great wealth by offering a husk powder sweetcake.” And opening the door to a Jātaka story, he became silent. One monk out of the community with the assent of all the monks, paying homage to the Buddha, requested, “Your lordship, we know the present story, but we do not know the past story. Therefore we invite your lordship to disclose to us the story which cannot be seen by us, but that can be seen by the Buddha.”

Then Buddha uttered the story: Long ago in the past there was a king in Benares called Brahmadatta who ruled his country righteously. At that time the citizens of Benares ceremoniously worshipped the tree deities with various offerings. One poor person of the city saw a certain castor oil tree, cleared around it, but he had nothing to offer. He saw other people offering to their trees flowers, incense, lights, and foods. He had nothing like that to offer. He thought, “Let me offer my husk powder sweet,” and he did so. Then he thought, “Deities eat divine food, ambrosia. How can my deity only eat this husk powder food?” Thinking this, he took back the husk powder sweetcake to eat it himself.

The tree deity appeared with a half body in his presence and said, “Oh, man, whatever you get, the same should be gotten by your deity.” Hearing this, again he offered the husk powder sweetcake to the deity. The deity said, “Why do you want to deal with me, a small, weak tree?” The man said, “Your lordship, I am a poor man. So I dealt with you.” Then the deity said, “Around this castor oil tree there are treasure pots neck to neck. Dig them all up and show the king those treasure pots. Today you will be conferred the status of treasurer.” Saying so, he disappeared.

The poor man did as the deity said. He dug up all the treasure pots and showed them to the king. The king thought, “It would be good to confer upon him the office of treasurer as he has such wealth.” And he conferred on him the office of treasurer. The man, having gained such wealth, practiced generosity by giving and acquired a great deal of merit. Finally, he passed away according to his deeds.

Buddha preached this Jātaka story comparing both the present and past. “The poor man at that time was this poor man. The deity of the castor oil tree was I, the Buddha.”

The moral: “Everything has value. No offering with good intentions is too little.”

109. The Story of a Sweetcake of Husk Powder

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