Catukkanipāta 40

Numbered Discourses 4.40

4. Situations

With Udāyī

1 Then Udāyī the brahmin went up to the Buddha, … and asked him, “Does the worthy Gotama praise sacrifice?”

“Brahmin, I don’t praise all sacrifices. Nor do I criticize all sacrifices. Take the kind of sacrifice where cattle, goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, and various kinds of creatures are slaughtered. I don’t praise that kind of violent sacrifice.

2 But take the kind of sacrifice where cattle, goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, and various kinds of creatures are not slaughtered. I do praise that kind of non-violent sacrifice; for example, a regular gift as a propitious sacrifice.

3 Well-prepared and non-violent,

a sacrifice that’s allowable and timely,

is attended by

disciplined spiritual practitioners.

4 The Buddhas—

who have cast off the world’s veil,

passing beyond time and rebirth—

praise this sacrifice,

as they are expert in sacrifice.

5 When you’ve prepared a suitable offering,

whether as sacrifice or for ancestors,

sacrifice it with confident heart,

in the fertile field of spiritual practitioners.

6 When it’s well-gotten, well-offered,

and well-sacrificed,

to those worthy of a religious donation,

a sacrifice is truly abundant,

and even the deities are pleased.

7 When an intelligent, faithful person,

sacrifices like this, with a mind of letting go,

that astute one is reborn

in a happy, pleasing world.”