At one time Venerable Sāriputta was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then he robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Rājagaha for alms. After wandering indiscriminately for almsfood in Rājagaha, he ate his almsfood by a wall.
Then the wanderer Sucimukhī went up to Venerable Sāriputta and said to him:
“Ascetic, do you eat facing downwards?”
“No, sister.”
“Well then, do you eat facing upwards?”
“No, sister.”
“Well then, do you eat facing the cardinal directions?”
“No, sister.”
“Well then, do you eat facing the intermediate directions?”
“No, sister.”
“When asked if you eat facing all these directions, you answer ‘no, sister’. How then do you eat, ascetic?”
“Sister, those ascetics and brahmins who earn a living by geomancy—a low lore, a wrong livelihood—are said to eat facing downwards.
Those ascetics and brahmins who earn a living by astrology—a low lore, a wrong livelihood—are said to eat facing upwards.
Those ascetics and brahmins who earn a living by running errands and messages—a wrong livelihood—are said to eat facing the cardinal directions.
Those ascetics and brahmins who earn a living by limb-reading—a low lore, a wrong livelihood—are said to eat facing the intermediate directions.
I don’t earn a living by any of these means. I seek alms in a principled manner, and I eat it in a principled manner.”
Then Sucimukhī the wanderer went around Rājagaha from street to street and from square to square, and announced: “The ascetics who follow the Sakyan eat food in a principled manner! The ascetics who follow the Sakyan eat food blamelessly! Give almsfood to the ascetics who follow the Sakyan!”
The Linked Discourses on Sāriputta are complete.