Food for Feeding

The feeding the multitude is a story to behold. There is either two versions or two stories, both involving Jesus performing miracles. The first, Feeding of the 5,000 is also known as the miracle of the five loaves and two fish while the second Feeding of the 4,000 is also known as the miracle of the seven loaves and a few small fish. In the first story, Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 followers while in the second, he fed 4,000 followers with just seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. In comparison, Buddha received food from lay people rather than served them. In Shravasti, during the time of the historical Buddha, a wealthy lay Buddhist, Anathapindika fed large numbers of the Buddha's monks daily and I suppose, Buddha too; whom had in the course of his eventful life been offered food many times but most notably by Sujata and Cunda. Sujata, a farmer's wife had fed an emaciated Gautama Buddha a bowl of milk-rice pudding, giving him enough strength to continue his search for an end to life's suffering while Cunda, a silversmith offered him his last meal before he entered parinirvana.

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