Dabba was a monk who voluntarily undertook to perform the various services required of other members of the Sangha. He cleaned their rooms, prepared their bedding, and served their meals. He was often the victim of misunderstanding, resentment, and even false accusations by the other monks. Dabba is said to have recited the words quoted above after one such misunderstanding was resolved.

Punna's eloquence made him known as he foremost in teaching the Dharma. But he had not always been such a fine person. His father was a wealthy landed Brahman in the village of Donavatthu, in the kingdom of Kosala. His mother, Mantani, was the younger sister of Kondanna, one of Shakyamuni's earliest disciples. Mantani reared Punna with the greatest care and affection.

One day, as Kacchayana was approaching a river, he heard weeping. He stopped and, parting the tall grasses, saw an old woman crouching on the riverbank. He asked her in the gentlest possible voice, "What unhappiness makes you weep this way?" At first, she stiffened in fear. But the man's kind eyes gazing down on her eased her alarm, and haltingly she told her story.