Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, and#8220;Dana = Generosityand#8221; is brought to us by Sangharakshita, founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. An excerpt describing the practice of dana from the brilliant talk and#8220;Altruism and Individualism in the Spiritual Lifeand#8221; given in 1969 as part of the pivotal series and#8220;Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal.and#8221;
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
Dana = Generosity
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by free Buddhist audio, the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. [music] Now, "dana" means literally "giving." It means "generosity." And it represents the practical, the altruistic aspect of the bodhisattva's life and career and activity. And "dana" or "giving" is the first of the six-polemitas, the six perfections or transcendental virtues. What the term "polemita" means, or really means we shall see just a little later on. Now, it apparently is not without reason that "dana" is enumerated first as among these six-polemitas. And in fact, it seems that there is a definite reason for this. For "dana" giving generosity coming first right at the head of the list. It seems that our natural human tendency is to take. To draw towards ourselves, for ourselves. If any new proposition comes up, whether it's in connection with the business or home, working life, professional activity, any sort of sport, entertainment. Our usual reaction, at least half-consciously, at least unconsciously, is for what is there in this for me. There's always a self-reference, what can I get out of it as it were? What can it offer for me? There's always this sort of tendency, this sort of grasping, this sort of clinging. You may remember those of you who've seen the Tibetan Wheel of Life that, right at the hub, there are three figures, three animals. And one of these is a cock, and this cock represents craving, it represents first. And it's right there at the hub of the Wheel of Life, right there in the mister sitware of our own hearts. And it symbolizes, it gives recognition to the fact that craving, not just ordinary, healthy desire, but craving occupies a very, very important place in our total life and activity, and very often dominates our life, dominates our activity, at least unconsciously. We're all in the grip of this craving, all swept along as it were, by this craving, impaled by this curse. So everything that we do, everything in which we become interested, has a sort of self-reference underneath. Now the Bodhisattva has got to reverse this tendency if he's to get anywhere near enlightenment. He's got to put it completely into reverse, or to turn it as it were inside out or upside down. And therefore, giving comes first, because giving is the direct opposite of grasping, which is the normal, or at least the usual human tendency. It's as if to say, it's as if the teaching said to us, well you may not be very moral. You may not be very strict about your observance of the precepts. You may not be able to meditate for hours at a time, in fact even five minutes may be difficult. You may not be very learned in the scriptures, you might not have read very much. But if you want to lead a spiritual life, if you aspire to lead any sort of higher life at all, then at least, the very least that can be expected of you is that you will give. That you will be a little bit open-handed, because if you are generous, if you can give, then whatever else you may be, you may be a thief, you may be a murderer, you may be a prostitute, you may be anything else, but if you can give, then there is some hope for you from a spiritual point of view, at least, certainly, from the Mahayana on the point of view. Conversely, we may say that the ungenerous person, the person who finds it difficult to give, difficult to part with things, difficult to look outwardly to the needs of others as it were, such a person cannot, at least not for the present lead, as spiritual life. They may be rigidly virtuous, they may strictly adhere to all the precepts, they might even be quite well-versed in Buddhist philosophy. But, for the present at least, spiritually speaking, from the standpoint of the Mahayana, there is no hope for them. Now, the bodhisattva is the giver, par excellence. If you like the ideal giver, and it's not just a question of transferring possessions, it's not just a question of giving this to that particular person. Giving or generosity is above all else an attitude of heart and of mind. Indeed, it's an attitude of one's whole being, one doesn't just give with one's hand, one doesn't even just give with one's heart, one gives with one's whole, one's total being. One's whole being is involved in the act of giving. And this is why Walt Whitman says, in a very, very memorable line, he says, "When I give, I give myself." That is not, I give personally with my own hand, but I give my whole being when I give. My whole being is involved in the gift. I give myself because nothing less than that will do. And this is very much the bodhisattva's attitude. If we want to get away from bodhis philosophy and technical, traditional definitions, if we want to forget even about enlightenment as a concept, and if we want to define the bodhisattva in some new, some original way which will mean something more perhaps to us, we may perhaps describe the bodhisattva as the person who gives himself, gives himself all the time and gives himself to every body. Now, the bodhis scriptures have got much to say on this topic of dhana, generosity, or giving. In fact, we may say there's one of their favourite topics. They're always going on about it. It is a very popular theme for discourse in the east. If you go along to any eastern bodhis country, if you go to a temple, especially in the evening, or especially on full moon days, if you just sit amongst the people listening to us, then you're always going along. If you go along to the people listening to the sermon, and if you just listen to what the monk or the lama is saying, usually seated on a high sort of throne where everybody can see him, if you just sit, if you just listen, you're in nine cases out of ten, finding, speaking on this subject of dhana, generosity, or giving. Now, these scriptures consider generosity or giving under a number of different headings. Those of you who've had any sort of study of Buddhist texts will know that they're rather fond of doing this. They sort of divide and subdivide and sub-divide and so on. Sometimes you can get a little bit lost in this way, but for serious study, it's quite helpful. So, this evening, so far as dawn, so far as generosity, so far as giving is concerned, I'm going to follow that tradition, but let's remember that we're concerned with the spirit of giving, not just with the technical details, not just with the letter of the teaching. The scriptures usually deal with dhana under the headings of one to whom the dhana is given. Then two, what is actually given? Three, how it is given, and four, why it is given. And these four headings are believed to exhaust the whole subject of dhana with, of course, their subdivisions. We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bight. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/dhoney, and thank you. [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] [BLANK_AUDIO]