At the request of a Bràhmin from Veranjà, the Buddha was, on one occasions, staying at Vera¤jà with a group of monks.
While they were at Vera¤jà, the bràhmin failed to look after them. The people of Vera¤jà, who were then facing a famine,
could offer very little to the monks when they went on their alms-round. In spite of all these hardships, the monks were not disheartened; they were quite contented with the small amount of shrivelled grain which the horse-traders offered them daily.
At the end of the vassa (rainy season), after informing the bràhmin from Vera¤jà, the Buddha returned to the Jetavana Monastery, accompanied by the monks. The people of Sàvatthi welcomed them back with choice food of all kinds.
A group of people living with the monks, eating whatever was left over by the monks, ate greedily like true gluttons and went to sleep after their meals. On waking up, they were shouting, singing and dancing, thus making themselves
a great nuisance. When the Buddha came in the evening to the congregation of monks, they reported to him about the
behaviour of those unruly persons, and said, “These people living on the left-overs were quite decent and well-behaved
when all of us were facing hardship and famine in Veranjà.
Now that they have enough good food they are going about shouting, singing and dancing, and thus make themselves a great nuisance. The monks, however, behave themselves here just as they were in Veranjà”
To them the Buddha replied, “It is in the nature of the foolish to be full of sorrow and feel depressed when things go wrong, and to be full of gladness and feel elated when things go well. The wise, however, can withstand the ups and downs of life.”
