The Benefits of Dana

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The benefits of Dana need no elaboration. The good deed of feeding a small animal just once brings about long life, beauty, prosperity, strength and wisdom for the next one hundred existences. When reborn in human or deva world, due to his dana in this life, he outshines other beings.

In the time of Kassapa Buddha, there were two monks who were good friends. One of them was a generous donor while the other was not. Since both observed sila (precepts), they were reborn as human and deva up to the time of Gotama Buddha.

In each and every existence, the generous always excelled the other in status. In their final existence, they were both reborn as humans in the court of King Kosala.

The generous donor became a prince while the other became a son of a minister. While the prince slept in a golden cradle under the regal white umbrella, the other slept in a wooden cradle.

Although both attained Nibbana ultimately, the benefits they enjoyed in each existence were quite different.

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