• Bilālapādaka

A rich man of Sāvatthi. Once a resident of Sāvatthi invited the Buddha and all his monks to a meal and went from house to house asking the householders to share in the almsgiving. Bilālapādaka, annoyed at the request, gave only as much as could be grasped by three fingers -  hence his name -  ("cat foot"). The man took the gifts and added them to the others, but Bilālapādaka, suspecting that he might be disgraced in public, went to the almsgiving with a knife concealed on his person, ready to kill the man if he should mention his gift in ridicule. But he heard the man offer the alms to the Buddha, expressing the wish that all who had joined in the almsgiving should receive a rich reward. Moved by the man's largeness of heart, Bilālapāda fell at his feet, confessing his guilty intentions and begging for pardon. The Buddha thereupon preached to Bilālapāda, who, at the conclusion of the sermon, became a sotāpanna. DhA.iii.17ff.