When he said this, those brahmins made an uproar, “Hooray for such sacrifice! Hooray for the accomplishment of such sacrifice!” But the brahmin Kūṭadanta sat in silence. So those brahmins said to him, “How can you not applaud the ascetic Gotama’s fine words?” “It’s not that I don’t applaud what he said. If anyone didn’t applaud such fine words, their head would explode! But, gentlemen, it occurs to me that the ascetic Gotama does not say: ‘So I have heard’ or ‘It ought to be like this.’ Rather, he just says: ‘So it was then, this is how it was then.’ It occurs to me that the ascetic Gotama at that time must have been King Mahāvijita, the owner of the sacrifice, or else the brahmin high priest who facilitated the sacrifice for him. Does the worthy Gotama recall having performed such a sacrifice, or having facilitated it, and then, when his body broke up, after death, being reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm?” “I do recall that, brahmin. For I myself was the brahmin high priest at that time who facilitated the sacrifice.”

5. A Regular Gift as a Propitious Sacrifice. “But Worthy Gotama, apart from that sacrifice accomplished with three modes and sixteen accessories, is there any other sacrifice that has fewer obligations and undertakings, yet is more fruitful and beneficial?” “There is, brahmin.” “But what is it?” “The regular gifts as propitious sacrifice given specially to ethical renunciates; this sacrifice, brahmin, has fewer obligations and undertakings, yet is more fruitful and beneficial.”