Chapter 4 - Story Of Mendaka

Mendaka was a rich merchant in a previous life. In the face of a famine, his stock of provisions gradually ran out and at last he had to send away his attendants and was left with his wife, a son, his daughter in law and a slave. His wife had cooked rice that was barely enough for their consumption, and they were about to eat it when a paccekabuddha appeared to receive food.

At the sight of the paccekabuddha, the merchant thought of his bad kamma, that is, lack of dana in a previous life that had now brought about his starvation. He then offered his share of rice to the paccekabuddha and prayed for abundant supply of food and reunion with the members of his household in his future lives. His wife too donated her share of rice and expressed a similar wish in her prayer. The son and his wife followed suit and prayed in the same vein, that is, for unlimited supply of food and money as well as reunion with the same wife, husband, parents and slaves.

The prayers of the merchant and his family clearly point to the powerful influence of upadana in the sensual sphere and most people today are no less subject to the same kind of attachment. But more appalling is the upadana of the slave Punna. After offering his share of rice, he prayed for abundance of food and rebirth as the slave of the same family! It never occurred to him to pray for rebirth as a king or a merchant; his attachment to his masters and mistresses was so strong that he wanted only to be their slave hereafter.

Once there was a village headman who stood well with Government officials. Those were the days when under British rule most of the high ranking officials were Englishmen. The headman took much delight in paying respect to them. He said that he enjoyed saying, Phaya, “Yes, my Lord,” when he was called by an officer. His attachment was essentially the same as that of Punna.

The paccekabuddha blessed them and departed. By means of his psychic power they saw him fly back to the Himalayas and share the food with five hundred other fellow buddhas.

On that very day, the merchant and his family found their acts of dana bearing fruit wonderfully. They found the rice pot full of rice. They ate to their hearts content, but the pot was always full of rice. They found their granaries, too, overflowing with grains.

Their prayers were fulfilled in the lifetime of the Buddha Gotama for they became members of the same household in Baddiya, a city of the Magadha country. The news of the fulfilment of their prayers was so unusual and amazing that the king made an inquiry through a minister and found that it was indeed true. This story is mentioned in Vinaya pitaka.