Generosity for us Buddhist is a term that is almost second nature to us. But in this blog I would like to take it to a deeper level. Sometimes I think we don't appreciate, at least as lay people, the depth of generosity Buddha spoke of. Over the past year and a half I have come to appreciate generosity at a deeper level: that does not mean that I am able to practice it at the same level but I appreciate it to the level generosity can be taken and can be developed. That is what I am going to write in my blog today.
So what is generosity? Well usually what we know of generosity to be of is, giving things to others. Be it food, clothes, money, offerings to the temple, donations, gifts to our loved ones and also to those who are less fortunate. When you go a little deeper than that comes giving our time, effort to someone or something without expectations or getting paid for what you do i.e. volunteering your time and effort to charity or Rotary, UN or the temple. Usually that is the level of generosity that people typically practice. I am talking at a very general level. But this is mostly what people call as being "Generous".
But Buddha takes generosity to a totally different level. This is where he starts teaching us how to move our minds from a mundane level to a super mundane level. Entire Buddhist Philosophy rests on the foundation of generosity. It is the concrete on which everything else is built upon....without teaching yourself to practice genuine generosity you cannot expect to march on in the Noble Eightfold Path because the Path requires enormous acts of generosity.
So Buddha started with little things first. Give food, clothes, money etc to whomever, whenever, because that is the first step. Then he said to keep the precepts. Did you think that keeping precepts were acts of generosity?! Well they are. Think about it. When you undertake the precepts to NOT to kill, you give another being the gift of life. When you undertake the precept to NOT to lie, you give another being the gift of truth. When you undertake the precept to NOT to commit adultery you give security and trust to another being, when you undertake the precept to NOT to steal you commit to protect what belongs to someone else and when you undertake the precept to NOT to get intoxicated you give another being the security of mindfulness and protection from breaking all the other precepts. So, here you put in the first efforts to firming that foundation of generosity.
Then comes the generosity of the heart! This is enormous. I mean until you become an arahant one continues to develop generosity of the heart. The development of the quality ends with the total extinguishing of the ego. For with any ounce of ego, there cannot be total generosity. In the same way, every act of generosity no matter how small it maybe, chips away at the ego.
So what is generosity of the heart? This is very hard to develop and few ever think of it. Even if they think of it, ever undertake it because it is hard to do. Easiest ways to develop generosity of the heart is to develop loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity (of course it's easier said than done) but we must try.
Simple things like forgiveness, letting-go of grudges, being able to deal with your angry feelings, feelings of frustration will be a good start. Sometimes, the pit fall of developing these qualities is that we think there is a goal to be reached. NO...there is NO goal to be reached. Only the journey to be savoured. If you make a mess out of the journey then you know for sure you will not enjoy the goal whatever that goal maybe. So in the name of being a person who is full of metta if all you can be is get everyone out of your way so you can have a peaceful life and a meditation then you are NOT travelling the Buddha's path, for sure! If all you do day and night is chant the metta sutta with diligence and you know all the words by heart and meanings and all of it but when the conditions are not right, you tend to get frustrated then you have lost the meaning of it somewhere. So please attend to yourself diligently!
Beyond the four sublime qualities, meditation IS the way to develop generosity in the heart. HOW? WHY? Even I used to ask they question. Even I struggle with that kind of giving where you have to give yourself totally. It's almost like there is nothing to hold on to except the teachings and your confidence in it. So you have to open your heart a lot. You cannot force it. It's like a flower. You cannot make a flower blossom. Just like that you cannot make generosity blossom in your heart. You have to give the right conditions, water, sun light, soil whatever it maybe, keep putting the conditions in so that the flower of generosity may unfold gradually, someday. But meditation requires a lot of generosity of the heart (after sila has been fulfilled of course..please note that one cannot expect to meditate with a soiled mind....words and actions needs to be purified before the mind purification starts and they all work hand in hand and one supports or hinders the progress of the other).
The other thing (of course digressing here) everything from our small days, we learn as lists. We learn the four noble truths as 1,2,3,4 and then the noble eightfold path 1,2,3...8 and so on and on and on.....numerous lists but only a few years ago it dawned on me that all what the Buddha taught it so interlinked that they don't go from one to the other to the next. They go like in circles and that it probably why it's called the turning the wheel of dhamma....they are tightly interlinked that we cannot separate one from other other. We cannot take what we like and practice just that just because we like it and not practice the other...you know some people say have just an odd drink...glass of wine is OK..it's really not drinking??!!!! So like that people tend to make exceptions to suite there likes and dislikes. But Buddha's teachings don't work like that. That's where generosity comes to play.
You have to give yourself to it completely. You cannot take bits and pieces just because you like it and exclude what you dislike. If you do, you cannot receive the Dhamma in it's totality either. I mean when you are sick and when the doctor prescribe medication to you, do you take the ones you like only?! And if you do can you expect a full recovery?!
Anyway, generosity at it's deepest level requires your whole body and mind. You need to give up both in order to experience Nibbana. But that's a long way away. In the meantime we have to savour the journey one step at a time.
If you are not a generous person (be honest for goodness sake, there is nothing wrong with it) try starting from giving little things away. Maybe your old clothes that have been hanging in the closet for many years. I know people who have had clothes they have not worn for 20 years and they still have them. Please give them away. Also examine why you cling to these. People do these things out of habit. They just like to see many things. Have many things. Have "Just In Case" things. Look at yourself. DON'T look at the other person...look at yourself. Try giving a little bit of your money away as well to charity.
If you have gotten past the first stage, then start practicing the precepts. Also be mindful. Know when you do these things. Don't just do these things just like when you brush your teeth in the morning. The Buddha said you have to have the Right Intention. Even if you do good deeds, you will not reap the full benefits or the full force unless you put intention behind it. Put your mind behind your good deeds and intend them.
If you already keep the precepts, then practice generosity of the heart. The beauty of the Dhamma is that the more you practice the more it will open doors for you to practice the Dhamma. As crazy as it may sound, it does and I believe it to be true with all of my heart. It's a silent force. Unfortunately, we are so in tuned with all the sounds in the world and the noises of our voices to hear the sound of Dhamma.
I have written a lot. I will stop with something I recently told my husband. It was on Nibbana. I think to experience Nibbana one must have an enormously large heart filled with generosity. Only then can Nibbana enter it. Because Nibbana is all encompassing. A small, shrivelled up heart, filled with greed, hatred, desire doesn't have the capacity to hold up something as big as Nibbana.
May your hearts experience the bliss of Nibbana!
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