Jātaka 005: Taṇḍulanāli Jātaka A Measure of Rice Ashin Sarana: Venerable Lāludāyī was not happy with the way monks, especially him, are allotted their meals, and, getting a chance to show how he does it better, he unwittingly deprived senior monks of their rightful meals. The Buddha explained that in his previous life, as King Brahmadatta’s appraiser, the Buddha-to-be failed to increase the king’s wealth quickly due to his honesty, so he was fired. A simpleton farmhand (Venerable Lāludāyī-to-be) was hired instead and later bought 500 horses for a single measure of rice (a small tube filled with rice). On advice from the old appraiser, the abused horse-seller then bribed the new appraiser to tell the king the price of a measure of rice. When the young man said a measure of rice was worth all the king’s city and suburbs, the king’s ministers and advisers mocked the appraiser and shamed the king, who thereafter reassigned the post to the old appraiser.
Valentina’s drawing There was a bikkhu named Venerable Laludayi, who complained about Dabba, who was giving out tickets because Venerable Laludayi received inferior rice. When he was making another complaint, the other bikkhus handed him the ticket basket, and made him in charge of it, which he thought he was able to do. When Venerable Laludayi tried to give out tickets, everything went wrong, and the other bikhhus said that he was definitely not fit for allotting the tickets. The Buddha heard the commotion and asked Venerable Ananda what was happening, to which he replied that Venerable Laludayi made a big mess in the food allotments. The Buddha then replied that Venerable Laludayi had always been foolish, and that he hasn’t changed.Kids’ drawing
