At this time of year, the Buddha
could have just walked down 34th
Street, pointed to Macy's, and said, “Dukkha,”
and everybody would have gotten the First Noble Truth without a
second word needing to be spoken. But 'tis the season of
giving. Bright, fresh-faced, rosy-cheeked children sitting lovingly
on Santa's lap in the department store, the jolly Salvation Army
bell-ringers with kettles overflowing with donations, peace on earth,
good will toward men, fake snow on palm trees in Australia and
Africa, and all the rest of the Norman Rockwell world that is the
holiday season associated with Christmas. Religious or secular, here
it is, the time when people give. I could go into the realm of
conspicuous consumption, commercialism, what's ostensibly a Christian
holiday (with possible pagan origins) being thrust upon the rest of
the world as a capitalist orgy, and I guess I just did. But that's
not news.
Reality may be slightly different than the greeting cards might
imply. It's not all “peace, love, and crunchy granola.” Families
get together for the first time since the last wedding, last funeral,
or last Christmas. And quite often, telling the difference between
Christmas and one of the other two may not be easy. There's a good
chance of excessive consumption of alcohol, much wailing and gnashing
of teeth, arguments, and resentments. And then there are the
funerals. Along with all that, there is a sense of being placed
sometimes forcibly, into the role of gift-giver. Maybe random names
are drawn from a hat at the office, where you get to play “Secret
Santa,” which invariably results in wondering what face that name
goes with, or maybe worse, drawing your boss's name: “Don't want to
look unappreciative, so it's gotta be nice, but it can't be too nice,
or he'll think maybe I don't need that pay raise.” What do you get
for the person who...you don't even know, much less know what s/he
has and wants/needs more of, or something that shows you care, or
that they'd even like?
'Tis the season of giving, of giving grudgingly, mandatory giving,
guilt-laden giving and the occasional giving associated with warm
feelings for someone, out of compassion, maybe just to see the smile
on someone's face when they receive something donated anonymously,
and of being OK with someone appreciating a gift or maybe not.
There's probably some of all the above to varying degrees with all of
us. There are some assumptions in all these situations: A) There's a
giver; B) there is a gift; C) there is the recipient of said gift
from the aforementioned giver.
The first of the Six Perfections (Paramitas) is dana,
or generosity. By the very act of giving, we release attachment and
clinging, at least in a best-case scenario. Generosity is a
perfection, so it must be a good thing, right? The temptation might
be to renounce all our worldly possessions, to assume a post-ghost
Scrooge stance, showering the world with all the worldly goods we
can. And that's fine, so long as it's done in the actual spirit of
generosity.. If we are generous just to be generous, without any
expectation of reciprocation, maybe anonymously, Wonderful! Even if
we are generous with maybe a tinge of puffing ourselves up, maybe to
get a little pat on the back, Wonderful! Do it anyway, with more
practice, maybe that will wear off. Maybe not. I'd guess the homeless
guy who just received a gift of food really doesn't much care about
the motives of the giver. There's just, “Mmmmm.” Perhaps spending
some time on the cushion, looking deeply at our motivations might be
in order though.
Then there's the version of the
recipient actually asking for a handout. The original Sangha,
including the Buddha, relied on donations of food and shelter. It's
common practice in many countries that there is a day set aside for
the laity to make donations directly to the monks. I'm not fond of
megachurches and ashrams demanding donations, especially when the
clergy end up living lives of wealth and fame. That's fine, it's just
not where I'd choose to send my generosity, any more than to the
organizations who run the $1,000 per week meditation retreats. Go to
any Zen center website, and more often than not, there's probably a
“donate” button. That's fine too. The Dharma is free, but mats,
cushions, incense, rent, etc. tend not to be. So go ahead, donate.
The Zen Center probably needs donations to stay afloat, and trust me,
being a Zen priest isn't exactly the way to wealth and fame. (If
you'd like to further investigate the commodification of Zen in the
West, Dōshim
Dharma wrote a book entitled “Brand-Name Zen,” which details all
this quite well).
In China, where the peasantry
probably had virtually nothing to give, Master Baizhang Huaihai is
attributed with having set up the dictum of, “No work, no food.”
Apparently when his student monks hid his tools because a Great Sage
shouldn't have to do such menial chores as planting and spreading
manure, Baizhang essentially went on hunger strike. This wasn't out
of some Zen Master pouting, it was his way of living the ethic of “No
work, no food.” It could be said that the monks' generosity to the
peasantry was that they didn't demand that they support the temple.
Baizhang generosity was to set the example of no one being special.
There's also the story of the monk living alone as a hermit being
visited by robbers one night. He remarked to them that they must
really be in need, so he gave them what possessions he had--the
clothes on his back. The monk's generosity, much less the sight of a
naked monk, did nothing to deter them from stealing however.
My writing this, instead of
finding someone in need of something and giving is probably “self”
indulgent. I can justify it in terms of the Dharma being a gift, that
any insight I might have that saves all beings demands it must be
shared. If I really looked on this cold wintry night at 1:00 AM, I
could probably find someone who needs something. But maybe someone
will read this and be moved to find that homeless guy and give him a
sandwich. Whatever merit is accrued can be dedicated to some other
sentient being. It does call for some time on the cushion to
investigate this further.
As I mentioned previously, there
are three grounds to generosity: the giver, the gift, and the
recipient. If any of the three is missing, then generosity is merely
a concept, not an action. And our practice is all about action. “It
is better to give than to receive” is at best a miscalculation if
not downright wrong. “Lie” might be too strong a term for it, due
the three grounds of generosity, but it falls way short of the entire
process of generosity. Someone gave me the idea to write this. That's
right, gave me the
idea. I accepted it. It was an entirely natural process, give idea,
receive idea, no thought required. That's much different from “No,
I couldn't possibly accept this from you.” That attitude does
nothing but perpetuate superiority, the duality of self/other, and
give rise to false humility. It's as “I, I, I, I” “want,”
want,” “want” as one would see in Macy's any of these days.
One of the acts of generosity
that can be performed is to receive.
There's no, “Oh, I couldn't possibly” to it. There's no false
“I”-based motivation to it, if done in the true spirit of
generosity. The Second Precept is “Do not steal; do not take that
which is not freely given.” A corollary of that is to graciously
and without attachment accept that which is freely given.
Not to do so is in effect stealing the opportunity from someone to
practice the First Perfection. Who am I to deny you the opportunity
to perform the Perfection of Generosity? Would I deny you the
opportunity to meditate or act morally, or any of the other
Perfections? So far as I'm concerned, the “I-ness” involved in
that is potentially as dangerous to the well-being of all beings as
being greedy. Self-lessly giving is best accompanied by self-lessly
receiving. To paraphrase the Diamond Sutra, if you think of yourself
as a Bodhisattva, and that are beings to save, and saving to be done,
you're not a Bodhisattva. But regardless, we act as Bodhisattvas and
save all beings. Giver, gift, and recipient are all subject to causes
and conditions and characterized by emptiness as giver and gift, but
in the spirit of the Bodhisattva, give a gift, and just as willingly,
receive a gift. Now go out and find a homeless guy and give him a
sandwich. Thank you. You're welcome.
