The City Beggar Woman

This short Mahayana sutra, The City Beggar Woman (Skt. Nagarāvalambikā; Tib. གྲོང་ཁྱེར་གྱིས་འཚོ་བ།, Wyl. grong khyer gyis 'tsho ba) tells of a beggar woman from the city of Shravasti whose modest offering of a lamp at Prince Jeta's Grove, Anathapindada’s Park, is contrasted with the lavish offering of lamps being made at the same time by Prasenajit, who was the king of Kosala and a major benefactor of the Buddha Shakyamuni and his community. While King Prasenajit's extravagant donations fill a thousand large lamps with oil and burn so bright that a wide area around the monastery is illuminated, the beggar woman has only a tiny amount of oil with which to make her modest offering. As she lights the lamp, she does so with the sincere prayer that she too may one day achieve enlightenment and become a teacher of the Dharma, just like the Buddha. Her small lamp burns bright through the night and cannot be extinguished, no matter what Maudgalyayana does as he tries to douse it. When the beggar woman returns the next day and sees her lamp still burning, she is filled with joy, whereupon the Buddha gives one of his magnificent smiles that lights up the cosmos. Asked by Ananda to divulge the reason for his smile, the Buddha prophesies the almswoman’s fortuitous future rebirths and her eventual awakening as a Buddha. He then reprises the whole tale in a series of verses.

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The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 205

• English translation: The City Beggar Woman