Itivuttaka 75
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “Monks, these three types of persons can be found existing in the world. Which three? One like a cloud without rain, one who rains locally, and one who rains everywhere.
“And how is a person like a cloud without rain? There is the case where a person is not a giver of food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, or lights to anyone at all: to contemplatives or brahmans, to any of the miserable, the homeless, or beggars. This is how a person is like a cloud without rain.
“And how is a person one who rains locally? There is the case where a person is a giver of food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lights to some contemplatives & brahmans, to some of the miserable, the homeless, & beggars, but not to others. This is how a person is one who rains locally.
“And how is a person one who rains everywhere? There is the case where a person gives food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lights to all contemplatives & brahmans, to all of the miserable, the homeless, & beggars. This is how a person is one who rains everywhere.
“These are the three types of persons who can be found existing in the world.”
Not to contemplatives,
to brahmans,
to the miserable,
nor to the homeless
does he share what he’s gained:
food,
drinks,
nourishment.
He, that lowest of people,
is called a cloud with no rain.
To some he doesn’t give,
to others he does:
the intelligent call him
one who rains locally.
A person responsive to requests,
sympathetic to all beings,
delighting in distributing alms:
“Give to them!
Give!”
he says.
As a cloud–resounding, thundering–rains,
filling with water, drenching
the plateaus & gullies:
a person like this
is like that.
Having rightly amassed
wealth attained through initiative,
he satisfies rightly with food & drink
those fallen into
the homeless state.
