J78 Illīsa Jātaka - The Big Indian Pancake and the Miser

 

MORAL
Stinginess, possessiveness (macchariya)

INTRODUCTION

“... to ascetics or brahmins (samaṇa brāhmaṇa), a man or woman that does not offer food, drink, clothing, transport, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, and lamps, he or she, after death, may be reborn in a realm of misery, n a bad destination, a lower realm, in hell. But, if he or she returns as a human being, he or she will be poor. This is the path that leads to poverty – 

for not offering requisites to the ascetics and brahmins.

— Majjhima Nikāya 135: Cūḷakammavibhaṅga Sutta

Thus, although one is able to make offerings, one does not do so because of stinginess, because of possessiveness (macchariya): although one is perhaps even rich, one does not make any offerings. Such kamma produces rebirth in a woeful state, and if one is reborn as a human being, one will be poor.

STORYBOARD of Illīsa Jātaka

Read the Chinese picture book.