Dāna-pāramī: About Generosity

Dana-parami: About Generosity: There are ten perfections on the spiritual path in Buddhism. The virtue of generosity is the basis of all perfections in the practice. MC Brigitte shares her insights about the first parami in this talk.

Transcript

Hello.

Nice to have you here for our Sunday Dharma Talk.

Today I start talks about the ten parami,

The ten virtues that we have to develop on our spiritual path,

Ten perfections.

The first of these perfections is dhanaparam.

That's what I try to talk about today.

In all,

We have ten perfections,

Ten paramis.

Dhanaparam,

The first one,

Generosity.

Then we have sila parami,

The second,

That is perfection of moral conduct.

The third parami is nekama parami,

Which means kind of renounce,

Practicing renunciation from certain things.

That's what we often do when we come to a temple or another place to do a retreat.

And usually we renounce some comforts or things that we normally do.

But in a retreat to support our development of mindfulness and concentration,

We renounce from this sense.

The fourth of the parami is pannya parami,

The perfection of wisdom.

The fifth is virya parami.

Virya is effort,

Doing the,

Making the effort,

Like something that is taught in the Buddha's teaching from every Buddha,

Is the effort to develop wholesome things,

The effort to overcome unwholesome things,

And the effort to stand above both of them,

Or to purify the mind,

So this virya parami.

Then the next one is kanti parami,

Or the perfection of patience,

Also very important perfection.

And that's followed by satya parami,

The perfection of truthfulness,

Speaking truth.

And the eighth parami is aditana parami,

The perfection of determination,

Making a determination and going true with it,

Whatever it may cost me.

Then ninth parami,

Very high parami already is mettaparami,

The perfection of loving kindness,

Compassion.

And the last one,

The tenth parami is upeka parami,

Or equanimity,

Practicing equanimity is the highest parami.

So within the next few weeks,

We go to all of them.

And today,

Starting with dana parami,

Generosity,

It's the base of everything.

You can see that especially here in Asia,

In Thailand,

Where I live,

It's the most important for people here.

So every day,

People wake up early in the morning,

And they cook rice,

They cook curries,

Whatever they have at home,

And prepare meal.

And the best part of that meal are the first spoons from the rice pot and the first spoon from the curry they cook or whatever they have in their cooking pot.

They put in a plastic bag to give it to the monks and nuns in some temples.

The nuns can also go for alms rind,

Some not.

So they do that,

And then they wait.

They go out of their house and wait on the road where they know the monks and nuns will pass,

Wait for them to come.

So here in our temple,

Monks go out,

Six in the morning.

Here they have to go by car because we're in a Muslim area here,

So there are not many Muslims who give alms foot.

So they go to the parts of the village where there are more Buddhists who give alms foot.

And then usually it's the elder people here in Thailand who do that.

They give alms foot because the elder ones,

They are at home.

They are taking care of the young children of the babies,

Whereas those in the middle age,

They go to work.

They bring home the funds,

The money that they earn when they are working.

So the grandma,

Grandpa takes the baby on the arm and they go out to see the monks and nuns.

It's really sweet to see.

They take the hand of the baby.

The baby holds the spoon and then they take a spoonful of rice and put it into the bowl of the monk.

These little kids,

So they are trained from baby age where they don't know much yet,

But as soon as they can walk by themselves,

Stand by themselves,

They want to go out.

They say they want to go Sai Bhat.

In Thailand it's called Sai Bhat.

Sai means putting in Bhat is the bowl.

So they want to go out to put something in the monks bowls.

And it's a part of their life.

It gives them joy.

And so they are trained from early childhood on.

So it's a part of their life.

They know in the morning,

Okay,

I do my first wholesome deed,

Feeding the monks and nuns.

The nuns and monks,

Of course,

They have the duty then to give back because they live from that.

We live from the arms of the people.

We eat food,

We eat ropes,

We eat our shelter,

Medicines or any financial support we need.

It's all coming from the lay people.

So we live from that.

And therefore it's interactive.

We have to give something back.

You cannot just receive,

You have to give,

You cannot just give,

You will also receive.

So what we do is what we call Dhamma Dhamma.

That means we give the Dhamma as our dhamma.

We share the dhamma up to the ability of the monk and nun.

We try to share what we know about the dhamma.

We have to practice the dhamma.

The first thing,

We have to practice meditation.

We have to study the dhamma to keep it up.

The lay people know we feed the monks and nuns so they keep the dhamma up and the dhamma will be taught also in future.

It will be shared to our children,

Grandchildren in future.

If we don't support them,

No one is practicing the dhamma.

If we are not supported,

We have to,

We will have to go out and live a normal lay people's life,

Have to work,

Don't have so much time to do intensive practice of dhamma.

So that's why these lay people make a lot of wholesome karma by supporting.

And we give the dhamma back in exchange.

We know living beings are suffering.

They suffer because of ignorance.

They don't know the true nature of body and mind.

They don't know the true nature of what is arising inside your mind or what is going on out there.

And so they suffer.

They suffer because of this ignorance,

Greed,

Desire arises,

Anger arises and it's a cycle of suffering.

But by sharing the dhamma,

We try to help them to understand where is this suffering coming from and how to overcome suffering.

So that's our dhamma dana,

The greatest dana you can do,

Because it's not just like giving a dana right now,

I give water to a thirsty person.

That's very good to give them relief from being thirsty or give them food to be hungry,

But it doesn't last.

They will be thirsty again.

They will be hungry again.

But giving the dhamma should help sentient beings to overcome suffering,

Really overcome suffering in the long run.

So,

Yeah,

That's about dhamma dana.

So again,

Back to the three levels of dana.

There's dana,

Dhanaparamī,

Giving material things.

But dhanaparamī means also we help beings with the things we are able to do,

Knowledge we have,

Some skills we have and we help with that.

That's also dhanaparamī.

And helping,

Yeah,

In a physical or mental way with things we know where we can help them to improve things.

That's all dhanaparamī.

The second level is then a bit less easy to practice and that is dhanapaparamī.

Dhanapaparamī is giving parts of our body to help sentient beings.

What is the most common still often practiced by us is giving like blood donation.

We donate our blood to help others to overcome their illness or even save their lives.

It's very good to do that.

And we're also giving parts of the body like donating a kidney or even donating this body after you passed away.

With the intention that they might use parts of the body,

Be it eyes,

Be it heart,

Be it whatever,

And help others to survive with that.

So that is danaupaparamī.

It's not easy for us to do that.

And the hardest is the third level of parami is dana paramatta paramita.

And that would be giving your life,

Really giving your life for the benefit of others.

Giving your life to protect others,

Which is of course not an easy thing to do.

The Buddha himself as a bodhisattva or every Buddha as bodhisattva is giving his life an uncountable lifetime.

There are many stories in the so-called chattaka stories,

Stories from past existences of the bodhisattva before he attained Buddhahood.

There are many stories where he had given his life to benefit others.

There are many stories also where the Buddha consciously decided to be reborn as an animal,

For example,

And being useful for the animal realm,

Helping the sentient beings there.

One of the stories I really like very much is the chattaka story of the Buddha when he was reborn as a rabbit.

So the bodhisattva was a rabbit and he had a brother rabbit.

And that was the bodhisattva,

Maitreya.

Maitreya will be the next Buddha.

So our historical Buddha,

Chakyamuni or Gotama Buddha and his brother,

Maitreya bodhisattva,

They were happy little rabbits hopping through the grass and then they came to a big hole in the earth.

And in that hole,

There was a tigress with her newborn cubs of baby tigers.

And they saw,

Okay,

This tigress is starving.

She's too weak.

She can't get out of that hole.

So she can't find food.

And sometimes she took a little baby tiger in her mouth and wanted to eat it.

But it's her own baby.

So she put it down again.

And our historical Buddha,

Gotama Buddha,

I have to tell as well,

Each Buddha has one main perfection.

One of these ten has the main perfection.

And from Gotama Buddha,

Our historical Buddha,

The main perfection was wisdom,

Banya,

Bhāma.

So wisdom sometimes it's compared to a very sharp sword,

Blade of the sword.

And so wisdom,

The sword cuts to ignorance,

Cut to it very swiftly and everything is understood.

So Gotama Buddha at that time as a rabid bodhisattva saw this tigress starving.

And he immediately jumped into the hole,

Give his body,

Give his life for the tigress so that she can survive and the babies can survive.

Metreya Buddha,

The bodhisattva at that time,

On the other hand,

He didn't jump.

And there I have to tell his main perfection is virya or effort.

So Metreya bodhisattva hoppled away to the edge of the forest and there he cleaned his whole body.

He licked himself clean,

Perfectly clean.

And then he wrapped his rabid body in jasmine flowers so they smelled very,

Very well.

And then he hopped back to that hole and he also jumped in.

He offered his body and life to the tigress.

But in the most perfect way,

That is also one sign of virya,

You don't just give dana,

You don't just give because you have it or whatever,

But you give it in the most perfect way.

Very beautifully,

Perfectly,

Beautifully arranged with the most perfect smell,

Very clean.

So that was Metreya Buddha giving his dana,

His paramaṭṭha-pāmaṭṭha,

Dana-pāramatta-pāmaṭṭha.

It's a very nice story I like.

You find it in the Chataka stories.

Yeah,

So if you want to be a Buddha,

Of course,

You have to give life,

Many,

Many lifetimes to benefit others.

It's not absolutely necessary if you want to only be enlightened one,

Arahant.

But as a Buddha,

Yes,

You have to practice that many lifetimes.

So these are the three levels of dana-pāmaṭṭha.

Then we have to also see three ways of giving.

Like some people,

The lowest level of that is some people like to give like a beggar.

So a beggar,

Giving like a beggar is giving away the things you don't need anymore.

You don't need them anymore.

You don't want them anymore.

So anyway,

It just gets dusty or whatever.

So you give them away.

That's giving like a beggar.

Then the second level would be giving like a friend or a brother,

Sister.

You give away things,

Knowledge that you have.

Because it's easy.

You love your siblings.

You love your friends.

So you can share with them.

That's pretty easy for us because if we love someone,

It's easy to share and give.

That is giving like a friend or sibling.

And then the third level is giving like a kin.

And that is real,

With real generosity.

You give wholeheartedly to all beings living in your country or whatever because you want all of them to live in a suitable way,

In a good way.

So that is real,

Open-hearted generosity,

Giving like a king.

So these three levels of giving.

Yeah.

Then what we also have to consider by Dhanaparam,

Generosity,

Are three things like the intention.

Why do we give?

We should try to avoid to give because we want something in return,

Wishing something in return.

We give because we think we get something back.

The intention to give because out of spite,

Just to shame others.

That is not a right intention to do that.

Or giving out of fear because you fear the neighbors speak bad about you if you don't give.

Or fear because someone forced you to give something.

That's not a real good way to give.

So we should try to avoid this kind of intention.

Then the thing is sometimes,

Like especially here in Thailand,

I see the people come and they give mainly because they know they get something back.

The knowledge of karma,

Like giving,

You give and you get it back multiple times,

That knowledge is there.

The people know about the law of karma.

Whatever you give,

There is something coming back.

So they come,

Give incense,

Candles and flowers to the Buddha,

Put whatever five baht in the donation box and then they wish for me,

I win in the lottery this time,

One million.

So this is out of balance.

Giving because you want something back.

It's not the correct intention to give.

But still,

If you see there's still some intention like that,

You know giving is good.

And if you give,

You never have to worry not to have enough.

If this is still there,

Be aware of it and still give.

Like everything else we practice in our life,

Everything else that should help us to develop our mind,

Develop on the spiritual path,

We have to train it.

So we also have to train this dana param giving and it will become more and more pure,

A natural way or a new habit of your mind to be generous to give.

So it has to be trained.

So don't give up on it just because you see the intention is not yet 100% pure.

So then another thing we have to see by dana is what do we give,

The object we give.

So yeah,

We give material things,

We give help,

Physical help,

Or we give spiritual advice,

Whatever.

So we have to be careful to give the right object.

We shouldn't give objects like weapons,

Poisons,

Drugs,

Because by giving these objects,

We will create more suffering.

So it's not suitable as an object of dana.

Also,

Think of the right time to give things.

So like here in the temple monks,

Nuns,

They don't eat in the afternoon.

So if you come with a very nice meal for dinner,

It's not suitable because none of them will eat dinner.

So bring it at the right time.

And if you give to friends or other people,

I mean,

If you give a present of a winter pullover in summer,

It's not maybe the best present or giving a bath suit in winter,

Maybe also not.

Except it is needed.

So also choosing the right present for the time.

Yeah.

Then another thing we have to think of is the receiver.

It is said if the receiver has a pure mind,

Of course,

There's a lot of good karma.

If the mind is still impure,

There's less good karma.

At one time,

The Buddha was asked by a Brahmin,

How can I give in a way that I have the most result or the best result coming back to me?

And then the Buddha say it's like with a rice field.

If you have a rice field with a lot of weeds in there,

You don't have much good result.

You don't get much rice out of it because there's a lot of weeds,

Clear.

And if you have a rice field that's very clean,

Almost no weed in there,

Of course,

You get a lot of rice out of it.

And so it's with a receiver,

If the mind is pure,

You get a lot of good results from that dharma.

If the mind is impure,

It's less.

Sure,

If I give someone sitting down on the road and asking for money,

Drinking alcohol,

Of course,

If I give some money,

They will probably buy alcohol again and go on drinking.

So it's not much good result.

And then drunk and they might do kind of bad actions because people are not mindful when they are drunk and then they might beat up their wife or do any other something.

So that's not a very good thing to give in such a way.

But on the other hand,

Giving to poor people,

Even if their mind is not completely pure,

Is a good thing to do.

If they need food,

They need shelter,

They need drink,

They need things for their survival or for living a better life,

Then we should try to do what we can to support them.

That's why the Buddha also say we should not go after that intention like,

Okay,

I give because I want a lot back.

So it's still good to give to them.

But on the other hand,

Also contemplate on that giving to those who have a pure mind,

Who are compassionate,

Who have the wisdom and also the intention to help others,

To help the people in the community,

In the village,

In the city or even the whole country or world,

Help people to experience less suffering,

Less hunger,

Less the environment,

Improving the environment or helping animals or whatever.

Wherever there is a good intention and these beings have a pure mind,

It is immensely useful for our world.

And that's why it is,

Of course,

Good to support them.

So always also consider to support such kind of beings.

Not because you get a lot back from it,

But because it reduces the suffering and increases the happiness in this world.

And we give because we want to reduce our selfishness.

We want to reduce our greed,

Our stinginess.

That's a result when we give.

There's less stinginess,

Less egoistic behavior,

Selfish behavior.

And we learn more and more to think of others and for their well-being.

And that goes out,

You know,

Then those beings around you,

Your own children,

Your family,

They see you give.

It brings joy.

They also want to do it.

They imitate it,

Especially children.

They want to do that too.

They want to give.

They want to also have this joy.

And when others see a lot of joy arising,

You are loved if you're giving,

If you give just a smile.

And also giving a smile makes people,

Makes others happy.

It's also giving.

And then they also want to do that.

So this is increasing.

It changes your whole environment if you do things like that.

More to the positive and there will be less and less suffering.

On the other hand,

If you're stingy,

You only hold on,

You're only greedy.

It's also,

It goes to the outside.

All beings around you or your kids or whatever,

They imitate that.

They are going to be stingy.

They hold on to their things.

They don't share.

They don't care about how others are,

How they feel.

And that is sad if we are like that.

So there's a lot of good done by practicing generosity.

And also if you hold on and only accumulate and want more and more and more,

You are not having wisdom.

You don't understand the true nature of things,

That everything is anicher and it's all impermanent.

All the things you owe are impermanent.

They don't stay with you.

Your life is impermanent.

So even if you collect a lot of stuff and accumulate a lot of stuff,

You can't take it with you.

Not possible.

If you die,

Someone else will have it.

You only owe what you give.

What you give away,

That is really what belongs to you.

What you keep will belong to others.

So that is what I have to say today about Dhanabarman.

I hope to make you a little bit aware of it.

And I wish you a wonderful day.

Have a good time and I hope to see you back soon again.

Reviews

A powerful and complete talk on Dana. Thank you :-)

Fantastic

Gratitude