Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Citing what he has personally heard the Buddha say — the giver of the agreeable gets the agreeable — Ugga offers six things he finds agreeable in turn, and after his death is reborn as a god who confirms that everything happened just as he wished.
Six offerings, named specifically
Nothing about this discourse is abstract. Sal flower porridge, pork with jujube, fried vegetable stalks, boiled fine rice with the dark grains picked out, cloths imported from Kāsi — each named plainly, each offered with the identical formula: this is agreeable to me; may the Buddha please accept it out of sympathy. The specificity is the point; this is not a discourse about giving in the abstract but about one donor's actual, named possessions.
The sixth offering, and Ugga's own correction
Ugga's sixth offer begins with an elaborate couch — woolen covers, deer hide, a canopy, red pillows — and then he stops himself: but, sir, I know that this is not proper for the Buddha. Without being corrected by anyone, Ugga recognizes the mismatch between what he finds agreeable and what a mendicant may accept, and substitutes a sandalwood plank worth, the text says, over a thousand dollars. This moment of self-aware adjustment, offered by the donor himself rather than prompted by the Buddha, is worth noticing as a small but genuine act of discernment about what generosity should actually take the form of.
Death, rebirth, and confirmation
The discourse does not end with the meal. Some time later Ugga dies and is reborn as a host of mind-made gods, and returns, glowing, to visit the Buddha at Sāvatthī. The Buddha asks directly, I trust it is all you wished?, and Ugga answers, just as directly, it is indeed just as I wished. The claim made at the discourse's opening is not left as doctrine alone; it is tested against an actual outcome, reported by the person it happened to.
The verses' escalation
The Buddha's closing verses to the godling escalate the principle stated to Ugga in life: the giver of the foremost gets the foremost, the giver of the excellent gets the excellent, the giver of the best gets the best. What began as a claim about matching an ordinary preference — agreeable food gets agreeable results — is restated as a claim about quality generally: the standard of what is given is said to set the standard of what is received.
Key terms
The text
At Ugga's home
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to the home of the householder Ugga of Vesālī, where he sat on the seat spread out.
The first offering: porridge
§2Then Ugga went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him, “Sir, I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘The giver of the agreeable gets the agreeable.’ My sal flower porridge is agreeable: may the Buddha please accept it from me out of sympathy.” So the Buddha accepted it out of sympathy.
The second offering: pork with jujube
§3“Sir, I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha: ‘The giver of the agreeable gets the agreeable.’ My pork with jujube is agreeable: may the Buddha please accept it from me out of sympathy.” So the Buddha accepted it out of sympathy.
The third offering: fried vegetables
§4“… My fried vegetable stalks are agreeable: may the Buddha please accept them from me out of sympathy.” So the Buddha accepted them out of sympathy.
The fourth offering: fine rice
§5“… My boiled fine rice with the dark grains picked out, served with many soups and sauces is agreeable: may the Buddha please accept it from me out of sympathy.” So the Buddha accepted it out of sympathy.
The fifth offering: Kāsi cloth
§6“… My cloths imported from Kāsi are agreeable: may the Buddha please accept them from me out of sympathy.” So the Buddha accepted them out of sympathy.
The sixth offering, corrected
§7“… My couch spread with woolen covers—shag-piled or embroidered with flowers—and spread with a fine deer hide, with a canopy above and red pillows at both ends is agreeable. But, sir, I know that this is not proper for the Buddha. However, this plank of sandalwood is worth over a thousand dollars. May the Buddha please accept it from me out of sympathy.” So the Buddha accepted it out of sympathy. And then the Buddha rejoiced with Ugga with these verses of appreciation:
The Buddha's verses of appreciation
§8“The giver of the agreeable gets the agreeable, enthusiastically giving clothing, bedding, food and drink, and various requisites to those of sincere conduct.
§9Knowing the perfected ones to be like a field for what’s given, offered and not held back, a true person gives what’s hard to give: the giver of the agreeable gets the agreeable.”
§10And then the Buddha, having rejoiced with Ugga with these verses of appreciation, got up from his seat and left.
Ugga's return, as a god
§11Then after some time Ugga passed away, and was reborn in a host of mind-made gods. At that time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.
§12Then, late at night, the glorious godling Ugga, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, and stood to one side. The Buddha said to him, “Ugga, I trust it is all you wished?” “Sir, it is indeed just as I wished.”
§13Then the Buddha addressed Ugga in verse:
The Buddha's final verses
§14“The giver of the agreeable gets the agreeable, the giver of the foremost gets the foremost, the giver of the excellent gets the excellent, the giver of the best gets the best.
§15A person who gives the foremost, the excellent, the best: they’re long-lived and famous wherever they’re reborn.”
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