When he said this, the householder Dasama said to Venerable Ānanda: “Honorable Ānanda, suppose a person was looking for the entrance to a treasure trove. And all at once they’d come across eleven entrances! In the same way, I was searching for the door to freedom from death. And all at once I found eleven doors to freedom from death for cultivation. Suppose a person had a house with eleven doors. If the house caught fire they’d be able to flee to safety through any one of those doors. In the same way, I’m able to flee to safety through any one of these eleven doors to freedom from death. Sir, those of other religions will seek a fee for the tutor. Why shouldn’t I make an offering to Venerable Ānanda?”

Then the householder Dasama, having assembled the Saṅgha from Vesālī and Pāṭaliputta, served and satisfied them with his own hands with delicious fresh and cooked foods. He clothed each and every mendicant in a pair of garments, with a set of three robes for Ānanda. And he had a dwelling worth five hundred built for Ānanda.

Numbered Discourses 11.17 2. Recollection The Cowherd

“Mendicants, a cowherd with eleven factors can’t maintain and expand a herd of cattle. What eleven? It’s when a cowherd doesn’t know form, is unskilled in characteristics, doesn’t pick out flies’ eggs, doesn’t dress wounds, doesn’t spread smoke, doesn’t know the ford, doesn’t know satisfaction, doesn’t know the trail, is not skilled in pastures, milks dry, and doesn’t show extra respect to the bulls who are fathers and captains of the herd. A cowherd with these eleven factors can’t maintain and expand a herd of cattle.