Numbered Discourses 4.40

1. Situations

With Udāyī

Then Udāyī the brahmin went up to the Buddha, … and asked him,

“Does the worthy Gotama praise sacrifice?”

“Brahmin, I don’t praise all sacrifices.

Nor do I criticize all sacrifices. …

Take the kind of sacrifice where cattle, goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, and various kinds of animals are slaughtered.

I don’t praise that kind of violent sacrifice.

But take the kind of sacrifice where cattle, goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, and various kinds of animals are not slaughtered.

I do praise that kind of non-violent sacrifice; for example, a regular gift as an propitious sacrifice.

Well-prepared and non-violent,

a sacrifice that’s allowable and timely,

is attended by

disciplined spiritual practitioners.

The Buddhas—who have drawn back the veil from the world,

passing beyond time and rebirth—

praise this sacrifice,

as they are expert in sacrifice.

When you’ve prepared a suitable offering,

whether as sacrifice or for ancestors,

sacrifice it with confident heart,

in the fertile field of spiritual practitioners.

When it’s well-gotten, well-offered, and well-sacrificed,

to those worthy of a religious donation,

a sacrifice is truly abundant,

and even the deities are pleased.

When an intelligent, faithful person,

sacrifices like this, with a mind of letting go,

that astute one is reborn

in a happy, pleasing world.”