The Gospel of Buddha

Preface

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The Gospel of Buddha

The Sower

Bharadvaja, a wealthy Brahman farmer,
was celebrating his harvest-thanksgiving
when the Blessed One came with his alms-bowl,
begging for food. [1]

Some of the people paid him reverence,
but the Brahman was angry and said:
"O samana, it would be more fitting
for thee to go to work than to beg.
I plough and sow, and having ploughed and sown, I eat.
If thou didst likewise,
thou, too, wouldst have something to eat." [2]

The Tathagata answered him and said:
"O Brahman, I too, plough and sow,
and having ploughed and sown, I eat." [3]

"Dost thou profess to be a husbandman?" replied the Brahman.
"Where, then, are thy bullocks? Where is the seed and the plough?" [4]

The Blessed One said:
"Faith is the seed I sow:
good works are the rain that fertilizes it;
wisdom and modesty are the plough;
my mind is the guiding-rein;
I lay hold of the handle of the law;
earnestness is the goad I use,
and exertion is my draught-ox.
This ploughing is ploughed to destroy the weeds of illusion.
The harvest it yields is the immortal fruit of Nirvana,
and thus all sorrow ends." [5]

Then the Brahman poured rice-milk into a golden bowl
and offered it to the Blessed One, saying:
"Let the Teacher of mankind partake of the rice-milk,
for the venerable Gotama ploughs a ploughing
that bears the fruit of immortality." [6]

End Chapter 74

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