Date: 08/09/2025 08/10/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Talk
The Buddha Explains the Four Types of Giving to a Wealthy Elder
Long ago, in the kingdom of Śrāvastī, there lived a wealthy Brāhmin elder named Landa, whose riches rivaled those of kings. Wishing to spread his name far and wide, he spared no expense over the course of five consecutive years, exhausting his family fortune to hold grand sacrificial feasts using non-Buddhist rites to seek blessings. During these years, he generously distributed precious treasures, medicine, food, clothing, and daily necessities to over five thousand Brāhmins.
In return, these Brāhmins performed countless rituals and chants on his behalf, offering sacrifices to deities of the heavens, mountains, constellations, and other local spirits in hopes of securing boundless blessings for the elder.
On the final day of the five-year offering, Landa held an even more magnificent feast. Using utensils made of gold and silver filled with golden and silver grains, he also prepared garments made of seven precious substances, deer-skin robes, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, servants, and 84,000 other kinds of offerings to present to the attendees. The ceremony was so majestic that it delighted all who were present, including spirits, kings, ministers, Brāhmins, and nobles.
At that time, the Buddha was preaching the Dharma to celestial beings at the Jetavana Grove. Observing these events, the Buddha sighed and said, “Landa is truly a pitiable and foolish man. Though he gives away such precious wealth, he will receive only meager blessings in return. If he is not immediately instructed, he will forever lose the opportunity to enter the supreme and wondrous Dharma, unable to gain true benefit.”
Thus, the World-Honored One manifested a divine power, emerging from the earth in radiant light, illuminating the entire assembly.
Landa and the crowd immediately bowed down in utmost reverence to the Buddha. Seeing their respectful hearts, the Buddha recited this verse for all to hear:
“Though one worships a thousand moons or makes lifelong offerings,
They cannot compare to a single moment
Of mindful reflection on the Dharma
Or one pure act of merit—far surpassing a lifetime of rites.
Though one serves the fire gods for a hundred years,
They cannot compare to a brief moment
Of offering to the Triple Gem—
That single act surpasses a century’s worth of service.”
The Buddha continued: “There are four kinds of giving, just as farmland varies in fertility, resulting in different harvests:
Giving much but receiving little – This is done by the foolish who spend vast sums but perform sacrifices through killing beings and revel in drinking and dancing. Such acts yield neither wisdom nor merit.
Giving little and receiving little – This is when people give with miserly and impure minds to ascetics who seek truth outside the proper path. Because both giver and recipient lack wisdom, no great merit arises.
Giving little and receiving much – This is when one offers small gifts with a pure and kind heart to diligent and virtuous cultivators. Though little is given, great blessings result.
Giving much and receiving much – This is when a wise person, having awakened to the impermanence of the world, gives generously with a pure heart—building stupas and monasteries, and offering the Triple Gem robes, food, bedding, and medicine. This pure and perfect giving brings supreme and boundless blessings, like five rivers merging into the ocean, flowing unceasingly through countless lifetimes.”
Upon hearing this teaching, Landa and the assembly were filled with great joy in the Dharma. Many celestial beings and spirits awakened to the truth and attained the fruit of Stream-entry (Sotāpanna). Over five thousand Brāhmins renounced worldly life, became monastics, and entered the path of practice. Landa and his entire family took the Five Precepts and vowed to diligently uphold the true Dharma and accumulate vast merit. The king and his ministers also joyfully took refuge in the Triple Gem, and clearly understood the truth of the Buddha’s teaching.
