old-path-white-clouds-thich-nhat-hanh

Chapter Fifty
A Handful of Bran
The following year the Buddha spent the retreat season in Vejanra with five hundred bhikkhus. Sariputta and Moggallana served as his
assistants. Halfway into the retreat season, drought hit the area, and the heat was almost unbearable. The Buddha spent most of each day
beneath the refreshing shade of a nimba tree. He ate, gave Dharma talks, meditated, and slept beneath this same tree.
By the beginning of the third month of retreat, the bhikkhus were receiving fewer and smaller food offerings. Food was scarce because
of the drought, and even the food reserves maintained by the government for difficult times had dwindled to almost nothing. Many monks
returned to the monastery with empty bowls. The Buddha himself often returned from begging with an empty bowl, and he filled his
stomach with water to ease the hunger. The bhikkhus grew thin and wan. Venerable Moggallana suggested they all move south to
Uttarakuru for the remaining days of the retreat, where food would be easier to find, but the Buddha refused, saying, “Moggallana, we are
not the only ones suffering. All the local people, with the exception of a few wealthy households, are suffering from hunger. We should not
abandon the people now. We have a chance to share and understand their suffering. We should remain here until the end of the retreat
season.”
The wealthy merchant, Agnidatta, had invited the Buddha and his bhikkhus for the retreat season in Vejanra, after he heard the Buddha
teach. But he was away on business and had no idea of the situation back home.
One day Moggallana pointed to a glade of healthy green trees and grasses growing near the monastery and said to the Buddha,
“Teacher, I believe those plants have remained fresh and strong thanks to the rich nutrients in the soil. We could dig up some of that rich
humus and mix it with water to make a nutritious food for the bhikkhus.”
The Buddha said, “It would not be correct to do so, Moggallana. In fact, I tried doing just that during my days of self-mortification on
Dangsiri mountain, but I noticed no nutritional benefits. Many living beings live in the soil protected from the heat of the sun. If we dig up the
ground, many of those creatures will die, and plants will be killed also.” Moggallana said no more.
It had long been monastic custom for bhikkhus to place a portion of the food offerings they received into an empty receptacle set out to
provide food for bhikkhus who did not receive adequate food offerings. Svasti noticed that in the past ten days, the receptacle had
remained empty of even a grain of rice or piece of chappati. Rahula privately confided to Svasti that although no bhikkhu was receiving
adequate food, the people tended to offer food first to the elder bhikkhus. Younger bhikkhus received little or nothing. Svasti had noticed
the same. He said, “Even on days when I receive a little food, I still feel hungry after I eat it. Is it the same for you?”
Rahula nodded. He found it difficult to sleep at night because of his hunger.
One day after returning from begging, Venerable Ananda placed an earthenware pot on a three-legged outdoor stove. He gathered
some pieces of wood and began to build a fire. Svasti came to see what he was doing and offered to tend the fire. Svasti was more skilled
at such matters, anyway. In no time at all, he had a fine fire blazing. Ananda lifted his begging bowl and poured something that looked like
sawdust into the pot. He said, “This is bran. We can roast it until it is fragrant and then offer it to the Buddha.”
Svasti stirred the bran with two small sticks while Ananda told him how he met a horse merchant who had recently arrived in Vejanra
with five hundred horses. Because the merchant saw the plight of the bhikkhus, he told Ananda that anytime the bhikkhus were unable to
receive food offerings, they could come to his stables and he would offer each bhikkhu a handful of the bran he used to feed his horses.
That day he offered two handfuls to Ananda, one meant for the Buddha. Ananda promised he would announce the merchant’s generous
offer to the other bhikkhus.
The bran was soon toasted and fragrant. Ananda scooped it back into the begging bowl and invited Svasti to accompany him on the
walk to the nimba tree. Ananda offered the bran to the Buddha. The Buddha asked Svasti if he had received any food offerings, and Svasti
showed him the sweet potato he had been lucky enough to receive. The Buddha invited them to sit down and eat with him. He lifted his
bowl with great reverence. Svasti held his potato mindfully in his hand. As he watched the Buddha scoop up the bran and eat it with grateful
appreciation, he felt like weeping.
After the Dharma talk that day, Venerable Ananda told the community about the horse merchant’s offer. Ananda asked them to visit the
stables only when they had received no food offerings at all, as the bran was meant for the horses and he didn’t want them to go hungry.
That night beneath the moon, Sariputta paid a visit to the Buddha sitting beneath the nimba tree. He said, “Lord, the Way of Awakening
is so wondrous! It has the capacity to transform everyone who hears, understands, and practices it. Lord, how can we assure that the Way
will continue to be transmitted after you are gone?”