iti.100 Itivuttaka

The Holy Offering of the Teaching

This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
“I, Mendicants, am a brahmin, committed to charity, always open-handed, bearing my final body, a healer, a surgeon.
You are my rightful children, born of my mouth, born of the teaching, created by the teaching, heirs in the teaching, not in material things.
There are these two gifts.
A gift of material things and a gift of the teaching.
The better of these two gifts is the gift of the teaching.
There are these two kinds of sharing.
Sharing material things and sharing the teaching.
The better of these two kinds of sharing is sharing the teaching.
There are these two kinds of support.
Support in material things and support in the teaching.
The better of these two kinds of support is support in the teaching.
There are these two offerings.
An offering of material things and an offering of the teaching.
The better of these two offerings is an offering of the teaching.”
The Buddha spoke this matter.
On this it is said:
“The Realized One, compassionate for all living creatures,
unstintingly offers up teaching.
Sentient beings revere him, first among gods and humans,
who has gone beyond rebirth.”
This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.