Ep.22 : Sukaramaddava : The Last Meal | The Life of the Buddha

Ep.22 Sukaramaddava : The Last Meal The Buddha asks Ananda to fetch Drinking Water Once Buddha was walking from one town to another with a few of his disciples. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. As Buddha was thirsty, he told one of his disciples to get some water from the lake.The disciple gladly obliged and walked up to the lake. The disciple couldn’t possibly take the dirty water to Buddha. So he returned to Buddha and told him the water was dirty and not fit to drink. A half hour later, Buddha again told the disciple to get water from the same lake. The disciple, though perplexed, obediently agreed and walked up to the lake. This time, however, the disciple noticed that the water was crystal clean. The mud had settled down and the water was fit to drink. So he collected some water in a pot and took it to Buddha. On the morning of the full moon of the sixth lunar month, the Buddha takes a meal of pork, his last meal, at the house of Cunda The Buddha, together with the company of monks, journeyed from the area of Vesali by stages to the town of Kusinara, the place he had designated as the place for his passing away, reaching Pava on the 14th day of the waxing moon on the sixth lunar month. It was one day before his passing away. He went to stay in a mango grove belonging to Cunda Kammaraputta. Cunda was the son of a goldsmith. He heard that the Buddha with a company of monks had gone to stay in his mango grove, and so went there to listen to a teaching. After listening to the teaching Cunda invited the Buddha and the company of monks to take the next day's meal at his house. On the next morning Cunda offered food to the Buddha and the monks at his house. One of the foods Cunda offered to the Buddha was known as sukaramaddava. The Buddhist commentaries and teachers have not reached agreement as to just what this sukaramaddava actually was. Some say it was "piglet" (translating literally from sukara, "pig." and maddava, "young" or "baby"). Some believe it was a kind of mushroom, while others say it was a certain kind of fine delicacy that Indian people used to cook specially for people for whom they had the highest respect, such as deities. It was a food even more refined than milk rice. The Buddha told Cunda to offer that sukaramaddava only to him, while the other food was to be offered to the other monks. And when the Buddha had finished eating the meal, he summoned Cunda and told him to bury the ukaramaddava remaining from the Buddha's meal in a hole, because no one other than a Buddha could digest it. Then the Buddha inspired Cunda with a teaching, causing him to rejoice in his own meritorious actions, and took leave of him to travel on to Kusinara. .................................