Numbered Discourses 4.40

4. Situations

With Udāyī

Then Udāyī the brahmin went up to the Buddha, … and asked him, “Does Master 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 ongoing family sacrifice.

The kind of sacrifice that’s allowable and timely, well prepared and non-violent, is attended by disciplined spiritual practitioners.

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