![[info icon]](./../../../img/question_16.gif "Summary: Whenever one gives the gift of food, five wonderful things are also given, automatically, to both giver and recipient alike. [Often chanted by monks as a blessing after receiving food or other offerings.].")
"In giving a meal, the donor gives five things to the recipient. Which five? He/she gives life, beauty, happiness, strength, & quick-wittedness. Having given life, he/she has a share in long life, either human or divine. Having given beauty, he/she has a share in beauty, either human or divine. Having given happiness, he/she has a share in happiness, either human or divine. Having given strength, he/she has a share in strength, either human or divine. Having given quick-wittedness, he/she has a share in quick-wittedness, either human or divine. In giving a meal, the donor gives these five things to the recipient."
The prudent person giving life, strength,
beauty, quick-wittedness —
the wise person, a giver of happiness —
attains happiness himself.
Having given life, strength, beauty,
happiness, & quick-wittedness,
he has long life & status
wherever he arises.
©1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
The text of this page ("Bhojana Sutta: A Meal", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 3 July 2010.
How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Bhojana Sutta: A Meal" (AN 5.37), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 3 July 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.037.than.html .