The Sutra in Forty-two Sections Spoken by the Buddha (Section 11 to 12)

Lectures by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua,
Given at Gold Mountain Monastery,
San Francisco, California, in 1974

The Sutra in Forty-two Sections Spoken by the Buddha
Section 11 to 12

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Section 11

The Increase in Merit Gained by Bestowing Food

The Buddha said, iving food to a hundred bad people is not as good as giving food to a single good person. Giving food to a thousand good people is not as good as giving food to one person who holds the Five Precepts. Giving food to ten thousand people who hold the Five Precepts is not as good as giving food to a single Srotaapanna.

Giving food to a million Srotaapannas is not as good as giving food to a single Sakridagamin. Giving food to ten million Sakri dagamins is not as good as giving food to a single Anagamin. Giving food to a hundred million Anaga mins is not as good as giving food to a single Arhat. Giving food to one billion Arhats is not as good as giving food to a single Pratyekabuddha. Giving food to ten billion Pratyekabuddhas is not as good as giving food to a Buddha of the three periods of time. Giving food to a hundred billion Buddhas of the three periods of time is not as good as giving food to a single person who is without thoughts, without dwelling, without cultivation, and without accomplishment."

The eleventh section of the Sutra compares the superior and inferior fields of blessings and lets people understand the superior and inferior aspects of making offerings.

The Buddha said, Giving food to a hundred bad people is not as good as giving food to a single good person. The previous section discussed giving in general terms, but when one gives, the important thing is to know how to do it. If you plant blessings but you don know the right method, if you don plant in accord with Dharma, then you won get any blessings. So the text says that giving food to one good person plants a greater field of blessings than giving to one hundred evil people. Why? Because after you feed a hundred bad people, all they can do are evil deeds. You become an accomplice to the bad things that they do, because you helped them do their evil deeds. If you give food to even one good person, then the good things he does after he eaten his fill are deeds that, you could say, you helped him accomplish. That is why it doesn equal giving food to a single good person.

Giving food to a thousand good people is not as good as giving food to one person who holds the Five Precepts. ood " here implies every kind of offering: food, drink, jewels, money, even your head, your eyes, your brains, and your marrow. If you give your life energy to help people do good things, then the good deeds they do are done with your help. But if you give your life energy in order to help bad people, you actually create offenses. Therefore the merit and virtue of feeding one thousand good people is not as great as that which accrues from giving to even one person who holds the Five Precepts.

Giving food to ten thousand people who hold the Five Precepts is not as good as giving food to a single Srotaapanna. eople who hold the Five Precepts " here refers to people who have taken refuge with the Triple Jewel, who hold the Five Precepts, and who cultivate the Ten Good Deeds. The merit and virtue of giving food to ten thousand people who hold the Five Precepts is not as great as that of making an offering of food to a single Srotaapanna, a sage of the first fruition.

Giving food to a million Srotaapannas is not as good as giving food to a single Sakridagamin. Giving food to a million Srotaapannas, sages of the first fruition, wouldn be as good as giving food to a sage of the second fruition, a Sakridagamin, because those of the first fruition do not know the state of those of the second fruition. Sages of the first fruition have already broken through delusion in views; those of the second fruition have also cut off six grades of delusion in thought in the desire realm. This was discussed in a previous section. Therefore, making an offering of food to a Sakridagamin of the second fruition has more merit and virtue than making an offering to a Srotaapanna of the first fruition.

Giving food to ten million Sakridagamins is not as good as giving food to a single Anagamin. Giving food to ten million sages of the second fruition, who have cut off six grades of delusion of thought in the desire realm, would not be as good as giving food to a single Anagamin, a sage of the third fruition. An Anagamin has cut off all nine grades of delusion of thought in the desire realm.