Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Cunda the smith offers the Buddha and the Saṅgha a meal that includes pork on the turn, the Buddha alone eats it and afterward falls severely ill, and rather than let any shadow of blame fall on his host, he instructs Ānanda that this almsmeal shares equal, supreme merit with the meal eaten just before his awakening — two offerings, and no others, said to bear identical fruit.
The invitation, and an unusual instruction
Cunda hears that the Buddha has arrived at his mango grove, comes to hear a Dhamma talk, and invites the Saṅgha for the next day’s meal. What Cunda actually prepares includes “plenty of pork on the turn” (sūkaramaddava) — a dish whose exact identity has been debated for well over a century, with candidates ranging from a cut of pork to a mushroom or truffle dish to a plant known by pigs. The text itself does not resolve the question; what it does show clearly is the Buddha giving Cunda a specific instruction: serve the pork dish to me, and serve the Saṅgha with the other foods — then, afterward, bury whatever pork is left over, because “I don’t see anyone in this world… who could properly digest it except for the Realized One.” Whatever the dish was, the text presents the Buddha as taking a deliberate precaution around it.
Illness, and the road to Kusinārā
After the meal, “the Buddha fell severely ill with bloody dysentery, struck by dreadful pains, close to death” — and the text adds, simply, that “he endured unbothered, with mindfulness and situational awareness.” Rather than resting, he tells Ānanda they should go on to Kusinārā, and the accompanying verses underline how serious the illness was: “a severe sickness struck the Teacher… while still purging the Buddha said: ‘I’ll go to the citadel of Kusinārā.’”
The Kakutthā River
Exhausted, the Buddha stops to rest and asks Ānanda for water. Ānanda explains that five hundred carts have just churned the nearby shallow water to mud, but that the clear Kakutthā River is close by. When the Buddha insists a second and third time, Ānanda goes anyway — and finds the same churned, muddy water now “transparent, clear, and unclouded” as he approaches it. Ānanda reads this, on the spot, as a display of the Buddha’s “psychic power and might.” The text does not have the Buddha comment on it either way; the episode is left to speak through Ānanda’s own astonished report and the verses that follow, describing the Buddha bathing, drinking, and finally lying down to rest, tired, in the lion’s posture, with the young monk Cundaka keeping watch.
Protecting Cunda from remorse
The discourse’s clearest teaching moment comes next, and it is entirely about Cunda, who is not even present for it. The Buddha tells Ānanda that people may later try to make Cunda feel guilty — “it’s your loss, respectable Cunda, it’s your misfortune” — and instructs him precisely how to answer that, should it arise: tell Cunda instead that he is “fortunate,” because there are exactly two almsmeal offerings in the world with identical, unsurpassed fruit — the meal eaten just before a Buddha’s awakening, and the meal eaten just before his final, residueless extinguishment. Cunda’s meal falls in the second category. The Buddha states plainly that Cunda has accumulated a deed “that leads to long life, beauty, happiness, glory, heaven, and sovereignty” — the opposite of blame, stated as directly as the text is capable of stating anything.
The closing verse
The heartfelt sentiment that closes the discourse returns to a familiar note from elsewhere in the collection, tying the whole episode back to ordinary ethical cause and effect: “a giver’s merit grows; enmity doesn’t build up when you have self-control. A skillful person gives up bad things — with the end of greed, hate, and delusion, they’re quenched.” The verse does not mention Cunda by name, or the meal, or the illness; it states a general principle of which everything just narrated is presented as one instance.
Key terms
The text
The invitation
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was wandering in the land of the Mallas together with a large Saṅgha when he arrived at Pāvā. There he stayed in Cunda the smith’s mango grove.
§2Cunda heard that the Buddha had arrived and was staying in his mango grove. Then he went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha educated, encouraged, fired up, and inspired him with a Dhamma talk. Then Cunda said to the Buddha, “Sir, would the Buddha, together with the mendicant Saṅgha, please accept tomorrow’s meal from me?” The Buddha consented with silence.
§3Then, knowing that the Buddha had consented, Cunda rose from his seat, bowed, and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right, before leaving. And when the night had passed Cunda had delicious fresh and cooked foods prepared in his own home, and plenty of pork on the turn. Then he had the Buddha informed of the time, saying, “Sir, it’s time. The meal is ready.”
The last meal
§4Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to the home of Cunda together with the mendicant Saṅgha, where he sat on the seat spread out and addressed Cunda, “Cunda, please serve me with the pork on the turn that you’ve prepared. And serve the mendicant Saṅgha with the other foods.” “Yes, sir,” replied Cunda, and did as he was asked.
§5Then the Buddha addressed Cunda, “Cunda, any pork on the turn that’s left over, you should bury it in a pit. I don’t see anyone in this world—with its gods, Māras, and Divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans—who could properly digest it except for the Realized One.” “Yes, sir,” replied Cunda. He did as he was asked, then came back to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. Then the Buddha educated, encouraged, fired up, and inspired him with a Dhamma talk, after which he rose from his seat and left.
Illness, and the road to Kusinārā
§6After the Buddha had eaten Cunda’s meal, he fell severely ill with bloody dysentery, struck by dreadful pains, close to death. But he endured unbothered, with mindfulness and situational awareness.
§7Then the Buddha said to Venerable Ānanda, “Come, Ānanda, let’s go to Kusinārā.” “Yes, sir,” Ānanda replied.
§8–9I’ve heard that after eating
the meal of Cunda the smith,
the attentive one fell severely ill,
with pains, close to death.
A severe sickness struck the Teacher
who had eaten the pork on the turn.
While still purging the Buddha said:
“I’ll go to the citadel of Kusinārā.”
§10Then the Buddha left the road and went to the root of a certain tree, where he addressed Ānanda, “Go on then, Ānanda, fold my outer robe in four and spread it out for me. I am tired and will sit down.” “Yes, sir,” replied Ānanda, and did as he was asked. The Buddha sat on the seat spread out, and said to Venerable Ānanda, “Go on then, Ānanda, fetch me some water. I am thirsty and will drink.”
The Kakutthā River
§11When he said this, Venerable Ānanda said to the Buddha, “Sir, just now around five hundred carts have passed by. The shallow water has been churned up by their wheels, and it flows cloudy and murky. The Kakutthā river is not far away, with clear, sweet, cool water, clean, with smooth banks, delightful. There the Buddha can drink and cool his limbs.”
§12For a second time, and a third time, the Buddha said to Ānanda, “Go on then, Ānanda, fetch me some water. I am thirsty and will drink.” “Yes, sir,” replied Ānanda. Taking his bowl he went to the river. Now, though the shallow water in that river had been churned up by wheels, and flowed cloudy and murky, when Ānanda approached it flowed transparent, clear, and unclouded.
§13Then Venerable Ānanda thought, “Oh lord, how incredible, how amazing! The Realized One has such psychic power and might! For though the shallow water in that river had been churned up by wheels, and flowed cloudy and murky, when I approached it flowed transparent, clear, and unclouded.” Gathering a bowl of drinking water he went back to the Buddha, and said to him, “It’s incredible, sir, it’s amazing! The Realized One has such psychic power and might! For though the shallow water in that river had been churned up by wheels, and flowed cloudy and murky, when I approached it flowed transparent, clear, and unclouded. Drink the water, Blessed One! Drink the water, Holy One!”
§14So the Buddha drank the water. Then the Buddha together with a large Saṅgha of mendicants went to the Kakutthā River. He plunged into the river and bathed and drank. And when he had emerged, he went to the mango grove, where he addressed Venerable Cundaka, “Go on then, Cundaka, fold my outer robe in four and spread it out for me. I am tired and will lie down.”
§15“Yes, sir,” replied Cundaka, and did as he was asked. And then the Buddha laid down in the lion’s posture—on the right side, placing one foot on top of the other—mindful and aware, and focused on the time of getting up. But Cundaka sat down right there in front of the Buddha.
§16Having gone to Kakutthā Creek,
whose water was transparent, sweet, and clear,
the Teacher, being tired, plunged in,
the Realized One, without compare in the world.
§17And after bathing and drinking the Teacher emerged.
Before the group of mendicants, in the middle, the Buddha,
the Teacher who rolled forth the present dispensation,
the great seer went to the mango grove.
He addressed the mendicant named Cundaka:
“Spread out my folded robe so I can lie down.”
§18The evolved one urged Cunda,
who quickly spread the folded robe.
The Teacher lay down so tired,
while Cunda sat there before him.
Protecting Cunda from remorse
§19Then the Buddha said to Venerable Ānanda, “Now it may happen, Ānanda, that others may give rise to some regret for Cunda the smith: ‘It’s your loss, respectable Cunda, it’s your misfortune, in that the Realized One was fully quenched after eating his last almsmeal from you.’ You should get rid of remorse in Cunda the smith like this:
§20‘You’re fortunate, respectable Cunda, you’re so very fortunate, in that the Realized One was fully quenched after eating his last almsmeal from you. I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha. There are two almsmeal offerings that have identical fruit and result, and are more fruitful and beneficial than other almsmeal offerings. What two? The almsmeal after eating which a Realized One awakens to the supreme perfect awakening; and the almsmeal after eating which he becomes fully extinguished in the element of extinguishment with no residue. These two almsmeal offerings have identical fruit and result, and are more fruitful and beneficial than other almsmeal offerings.
§21You’ve accumulated a deed that leads to long life, beauty, happiness, glory, heaven, and sovereignty.’ You should dispel remorse in Cunda the smith like this.”
The closing verse
§22Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
§23“A giver’s merit grows;
enmity doesn’t build up when you have self-control.
A skillful person gives up bad things—
with the end of greed, hate, and delusion, they’re quenched.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.