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# SN 20:4 · Serving Dishes (Okkhā Sutta)
- URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/sn-20-4/
- Published: 2026-06-01T02:42:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-13T16:35:15.000Z
- Description: Saṁyutta Nikāya · SN 20:4. Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
- Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA)
- Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Buddha, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Discourse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library

Staying near Sāvatthī. “Monks, if someone were to give a gift of one hundred serving dishes (of food) in the morning, one hundred at mid-day, and one hundred in the evening; and another person were to develop a mind of good-will—even for the time it takes to pull on a cow’s udder—in the morning, again at mid-day, and again in the evening, this \[the second action\] would be more fruitful than that (the first).

“Thus you should train yourselves: ‘Our awareness-release through good-will will be cultivated, developed, pursued, given a means of transport, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken. That’s how you should train yourselves.”

See also: [MN 21](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/mn-21/); [AN 2:30](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-2-30/); [AN 3:65](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-3-65/); [AN 3:101](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-3-101/); [AN 8:70](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-8-70/); [AN 11:16](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/an-11-16/); [Iti 27](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/iti-27/)

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*Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN20%5F4.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*