(4) Penance, liberality, righteousness, kindness, truthfulness, these form his Dakshinâs (gifts bestowed on priests, &c.)

(2) Yea, and all those gifts of the Good Spirit have been given (back in gratitude) to Thee by the mind and the deed of the bountiful man, whose soul goes hand in hand with the Righteous Order in the settlement, in homage toward the One like You , O Mazda! and with the chants of the (thankful) praisers .

(1) As to those (three gifts of blessings), Immortality, the Righteous Order, and the (established) Kingdom of Welfare, which Thou, O Mazda! hast given through (holy) deeds, words, and the sacrifice unto these (Thy servants here in my sight ), gifts (shall) be offered by us in return to Thee, O Ahura! and with the foremost of them all.

(16) The generous, being satisfied, said to him: I give thee now another boon; that fire-sacrifice shall be named after thee, take also this many-coloured chain.'

(2) Such an one from this proceeds to the accurate knowledge of whom he ought chiefly to give to, and how much, and when, and how.

(68) No, that deed is well done of which a man does not repent, and the reward of which he receives gladly and cheerfully.

(108) Whatever a man sacrifice in this world as an offering or as an oblation for a whole year in order to gain merit, the whole of it is not worth a quarter (a farthing); reverence shown to the righteous is better.

(342) If you have given that which honors you ..., you have given not to man, but you have given for your own pleasure.

(21) (Yea, this Kavi Vîstâspa) the man of Âramaiti is bounteous, and with understanding in his words and his actions. (And as a reward) may Ahura give him that Righteousness which is blest, (but) with the Religion (alone), and that Sovereign Power which is established through the Good Mind (in His folk). And this same blessing would I pray from His grace .

(5) In particular, the habit of liberality which prevails among us is called "righteousness;" but the power of discriminating according to desert, as to greater and less, with reference to those who am proper subjects of it, is a form of the very highest righteousness.

(1) To win this jewel of the Thought I offer perfect worship to the Blessed Ones, to the stainless gem of the Good Law, and to the Sons of the Enlightened, oceans of virtues. All flowers, fruits, and healing herbs, all gems and all waters clear and pleasant in the world, likewise mountains of jewels, forests sweet in their solitude, climbing plants bright with ornaments of flowers, trees whose branches bend with goodly fruit, fragrant incenses, trees of desire, and jewelbearing trees in the worlds of the gods and their kin, lakes bedecked with lilies and wondrously pleasant with the cries of swans, harvests springing without tilth and crops of grain, and all else adorning them whom we worship, all things that are bounded by the spreading ethereal sphere and are in the possession of none, I take in spirit and offer as guerdon to the Supreme Saints and their Sons. Worthy of choicest gifts and great of compassion, may they mercifully accept this of me! I am exceeding poor, and without righteousness; there is naught else for me to offer. So may their care for others' weal be for my weal, and let the Lords take this in their native grace. Yea, I give to the Conquerors and their Sons myself entirely. Take me for your chattel, O noble beings; I make myself in love your slave. By being your chattel I am freed from fear in life, and work good for living creatures; I escape my former sins, and do evil no more....

(2) And therefore get this gift whoso by grace get may: for whoso hath it verily, he shall well con govern himself by the virtue thereof, and all that longeth unto him. He should well give discretion, if need were, of all natures and all dispositions. He should well con make himself like unto all that with him communed, whether they were accustomed sinners or none, without sin in himself: in wondering of all that him saw, and in drawing of others by help of grace to the work of that same spirit that he worketh in himself.

(34) d) Charity (dana) is the Bodhisattva's pure land, for when he attains Buddhahood, living beings who can give away (to charity) will be reborn there.

(3) 'Unblessed, surely, are the worlds to which a man goes by giving (as his promised present at a sacrifice) cows which have drunk water, eaten hay, given their milk, and are barren.'

(18) But if one say to us, that some sinners even obtain according to their requests, [we should say] that this rarely takes place, by reason of the righteous goodness of God. And it is granted to those who are capable of doing others good. Whence the gift is not made for the sake of him that asked it; but the divine dispensation, foreseeing that one would be saved by his means, renders the boon again righteous. And to those who are worthy, things which are really good are given, even without their asking.

(5) But Thou wilt give these gifts, and through Thy (most blessed and most) bounteous spirit, O Ahura Mazda! to this Thy holy saint, for they are whatsoever is the best; but far from Thy love the wicked has his portion, abiding in the actions of the Evil Mind.

(12) “The Tathagata replied:

‘Virtuous one, the offering of Dharma is preached by all Buddhas in profound sutras but it is hard for worldly men to believe and accept it as its meaning is subtle and not easily detected, for it is impeacable in its purity and cleanness. It is beyond the reach of thinking and discriminating; it contains the treasure of the Bodhi-sattva’s Dharma store and is sealed by the Dharani-symbol; it never backslides for it achieves the six perfections (paramitas); discerns the difference between various meanings; is in line with the bodhi Dharma; is at the top of all sutras; helps people to enter upon great kindness and great compassion; to keep from demons and perverse views, and to conform with the law of causality and the teaching on the unreality of an ego; a man, a living being and life and on voidness, formlessness, non-creating and non-uprising. It enables living beings to sit in a bodhimandala to turn the wheel of the law. It is praised and honoured by heavenly dragons, gandharvas, etc. It can help living beings to reach the Buddha’s Dharma store and gather all knowledge (sarvajna realized by) saints and sages, preach the path followed by all Bodhisattvas; rely on the reality underlying all things; proclaim the (doctrine of) impermanence, suffering; voidness and absence of ego and nirvana. It can save all living beings who have broken the precepts and keep in awe all demons, heretics and greedy people. It is praised by the Buddhas, saints and sages for it wipes out suffering from birth and death; proclaims the joy in nirvana as preached by past; future and present Buddhas in the ten directions.

(2) When the (promised) presents were being given (to the priests), faith entered into the heart of Nakiketas, who was still a boy, and he thought:

(11) And he who does any duty for the sake of recompense, is he not held fast in the custom of the world, either as one who has done well, hastening to receive a reward, or as an evil-doer avoiding retribution? We must, as far as we can, imitate the Lord.I And he will do so, who complies with the will of God, receiving freely, giving freely, and receiving as a worthy reward the citizenship itself. "The hire of an harlot shall not come into the sanctuary," it is said: accordingly it was forbidden to bring to the altar the price of a dog.

(3) [Sakalya said:] * What divinity have you in this southern (daksina) quarter? ' ' That Yama — on what is he based? ' ' On sacrifice.' t And on what is sacrifice based? ' f On gifts to the priests (daksind}' priests. Verily, on faith the gifts to the priests are based/ ' On the heart,' he said, ' for with the heart one knows faith. Verily, on the heart alone faith is based/