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Shunryu Suzuki-roshi in At Home with Dying
When you give something you feel good because at that time you feel at one with what you are giving.
When you give something
Include Yourself
“We should ask the question whether we are capable of loving ourselves as well as others. Are we treating our body kindly – by the way we eat, by the way we drink, by the way we work? Are we treating ourselves with enough joy and tenderness and peace?” –Thich Nhat Hanh
The next time you find yourself doing something generous for someone else, also do something nice for yourself. It could be the same thing – you listened to your best friend complain about her marriage for forty-five minutes, so now you will listen to yourself with equal exquisite attention by writing in your journal for forty-five minutes. It could be something different – you wrote a college letter of recommendation for a friend’s daughter, so you take yourself out to a beautiful lunch. Give yourself something wonderful the next time you do something wonderful for someone else. Notice the effect it has on you. Is it more likely that you will be generous to yourself and others in the future?
Advice to care for yourself.
Imagination
Opening Words:
"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions."
— Albert Einstein quoted in Zen and the Art of Making a Living by Laurence G. Boldt
Check-in/Sharing
Topic:
In Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another Donald, McCullough discusses a wide repertoire of practices that can serve as an antidote to the incivility of our times. In the following illustration, he reveals the dynamics of imagination as a lever of compassion.
"One day Gandhi stepped aboard a train as it started to move, and one of his shoes slipped off and dropped on the tracks. Unable to retrieve it, he calmly took off his other shoe and threw it back along the track to land close to the first. When an amazed passenger asked why he had done that, Gandhi smiled and said, 'The poor man who finds the shoe lying on the track will now have a pair he can use.'
"With the eyes of his imagination, Gandhi saw a man with bare feet, saw him coming across a lone shoe and desperately searching for the other, and saw the disappointment on his face when he didn't find it; seeing these things, Gandhi did what he could to help."
For Reflection/Journaling:
Generations of people have grown up in environments hostile to the imagination. Talk or write about your personal experience, covering the role of imagination in your childhood, at home, in school, or in a religious community. What do you think can be done today to advance the cause of the imagination?
Check-out/Likes and Wishes
Closing Words:
"We tend to consider imagination too lightly, forgetting that the life we make, for ourselves individually and for the world as a whole, is shaped and limited only by the perimeters of our imagination. Things are as we imagine them to be, as we imagine them into existence. Imagination is creativity, and the way we make our world depends on the vitality of our imagination."
— Thomas Moore in The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life
To Practice This Thought: Always be on the lookout for ways to imaginatively practice compassion and kindness.
A program for individuals and small groups on the spiritual practice of imagination.
Buddhism for Busy People
"Giving is the most basic way we have of showing our concern for others. We all know the cliché about it being better to give than to receive — but why do we find it so hard to give?
"Fear that we won't have enough for ourselves if we give too much away may be part of the answer, but only a small part. This is not so much an issue about our level of affluence as it is about our state of mind. My wife has a far more generous nature than I do — the difference being that she notices people in need and is more spontaneous in her response than I am. Not so long ago we went out shopping. As we walked past a supermarket, I was so deep in my own thoughts I didn't even see the elderly man struggling to lift his cart onto the pavement until Janmarie began helping him. There wasn't any lack of willingness to help on my part — I just didn't notice the need.
"As busy people with demanding lives, it's easy to be so preoccupied with our own concerns that the difficulties of others pass us by. Once again mindfulness is emphasized as a foundation practice.
"Even when we are aware of the needs of others, we may still hold back, perhaps because we're simply not in the habit of giving. Buddhism is very pragmatic in its approach to generosity, suggesting that we start small and progress from there. A woman who'd been suffering from depression for months said her recovery began one day when she was at a food store. The check-out assistant made some envious comment about a bag of loose chocolates she'd just bought — so she gave her a couple, then and there. The assistant's reaction to this spontaneous gift gave her such a rush of good feeling that she walked about in a glow for the rest of the day. For the first time in months she felt good about herself.
"There is some good, and some bad, in all of us. What we discover when we practice generosity, even on a small scale, is that it strengthens the positive side of our nature, and reinforces the likelihood of our acting altruistically again. It's in this altruism that our true fulfillment lies."
David Michie on practicing kindness on a small scale.
Two Treasures
"Every person, no matter what their wealth, is equally capable of practicing generosity. Some people think that they can practice generosity only if they are wealthy. This isn't true. Some people who are very wealthy do practice generosity, but many only do charity with the aim of gaining merit, profiting, or pleasing others. People whose lives are grounded in compassion are seldom rich because they share whatever they have with others. They are not willing to enrich their lives financially at the cost of others' poverty. Many people misunderstand the Buddhist expression 'practicing generosity' to mean casually giving five or ten cents to a beggar on the street if we happen to have it in our pockets.
"The practice of generosity is more beautiful than that. It is both modest and grand. Practicing generosity means continually acting in a way that will help equalize the difference between the wealthy and the impoverished. Whatever we do to ease human suffering and create social justice can be considered practicing generosity. That is not to say that we must become active in any political system. To engage in partisan political action that leads to a power struggle among opposing parties and causes death and destruction is not what we mean by practicing generosity.
"How can a person practicing 'knowing how to feel satisfied with few possessions' also practice generosity? It is by living simply. Almost everyone who spends his or her life serving and helping others, sacrificing themselves for the sake of humanity, lives simply. If they live their lives worrying about making money and gaining merit, how can they practice generosity? Mahatma Gandhi lived a very simple life; nevertheless his merit helping humanity and saving human beings was immeasurable. There are thousands of people among us who live very simply, while being very helpful to many, many others. They do not have as great a reputation as Gandhi, but their merit is no less than his. It is enough for us just to be a little more attentive and aware of the presence of people like these. They do not practice generosity by giving money that they do not possess, but rather by giving their time, energy, love, and care — their entire lives.
"Practicing generosity in a Buddhist context means to consider everyone equal, not to discriminate against anyone. There are cruel persons and kind persons among the poor and destitute, just as there are among the wealthy, and we must not exclude the cruel ones from our practice.
"As the sutra states, 'Bodhisattvas consider everyone, friends and enemies alike, as equal. They do not condemn anyone's past wrongdoings, nor do they hate those who are presently doing harm.' This expresses the spirit of Mahayana Buddhism. Poverty creates anger, hatred, and wrongdoing. If we teach Buddhist philosophy through lectures, but do not practice generosity to ease the suffering of others, we have not yet attained the essence of Buddhism. We should practice generosity with compassion and not disdain, without discriminating against people who, because of their poverty, have caused anger and hatred."
Thich Nhat Hanh on practicing generosity in a Buddhist context.
The Questions of Jesus
"The most frequently asked question in all four Gospels is perhaps the most beautiful: 'What do you want me to do for you?' With this question, we discover not so much a God who demands to be waited on, but a God who is eager to serve," writes John Dear, a priest, retreat leader, author, and peace activist. He has served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith peace organization, and as a Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at the Family Assistance Center in New York City after the 9/11 attacks. Dear is the author or editor of more than a dozen books including Mary of Nazareth, Prophet of Peace.
The spiritual practice of questing includes a very positive view of questions. As a spiritual teacher, Jesus perfected the use of questions as an art form, as a catalyst to transformation, and as a source of wisdom. In chapters on 125 questions of Jesus, Dear covers important and enlightening topics including invitation, identity, purity of heart, conversion, love, healing, vision, compassion, the meaning of life, the reign of God, God's generosity, faith, truth, understanding, obedience, discipleship, the cross, and the resurrection. The appendix lists the questions according to the Gospel in which they appear.
Although it would have been very easy to make this paperback an erudite study, Dear avoids that error by imbuing the text with lively personal stories and a treasure trove of quotations from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Gustavo Gutierrez, and many others. Again and again, the author zeroes in on Jesus' love, compassion, justice, forgiveness, and nonviolence. Dear is quite right when he writes: "While the majority of people in the United States profess faith in God and Jesus, when push comes to shove, they place their trust in weapons of mass destruction. Their security is not found in God but in first strike nuclear weapons, in huge armies, in the Pentagon, in the flag." Jesus' questions shift our priorities and enable us to start practicing nonviolence.
Think what positive things could be done if service of others — even our enemies — was put forward instead of revenge and retaliation? Dear notes: "The only way to insure that such terrorism never happens again is to renounce our own terrorism, to stop our own wars, to dismantle our own weapons, to stop hoarding the world's resources, to share our wealth, to feed the starving masses, and to win over humanity through our loving service to the world's poor, regardless of their race, class, religion, or nationality." Let the questions of Jesus crack you open and send you with zeal on the path of serving others in the name of peace, justice and compassion.
Opens up new doors and leads us on the paths of peace, justice, compassion, and nonviolence.
Re-enchantment
"Bodhicitta possibly accounts — there seems no other explanation — for the most inexplicable, mysterious characteristic of the Dalai Lama. Around age seventy he has begun slowing down a bit, but he has been a perpetual engine, a human dynamo who does not stop, who can interact with scores of people and do hundreds of things a day, day after day after day. The fuel he runs on, evidently, is helping others, and the more he helps the more energy he has. Bodhicitta is the opposite of 'self-cherishing,' and self-cherishing — upholding one's self-image, pursuing a personal agenda, worrying about the future — apparently uses up a lot of fuel. By ceasing self-cherishing to the extent that he has, the Dalai Lama seems to have unlocked the source and unblocked the flow of his energy."
This is just one of the many fascinating observations by Jeffrey Paine, author of Father India, in this splendid survey of the coming of Tibetan Buddhism to the West. The author describes Christian monk Thomas Merton's fascination with this religion, thanks to its down-to-earth brand of mysticism and its detailed set of instructions for the ethical practices of loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity. There is something very appealing about Tibetan Buddhism, and it is no wonder that it is the fastest growing form of Buddhism in the United States.
Paine begins with the adventures of Alexandra David Neel who put the country of Tibet and its religion on the map for Westerners. He goes on to profile Lama Yeshe and Chogyam Trungpa, two spiritual teachers who tried to help Westerners understand and accept their own goodness. Yeshe demonstrated the benefits that can result from the study of one's mind and coming to terms with oneself. Trungpa founded over 100 centers and established Naropa, the first and only fully accredited Buddhist university. He brought the truths of ancient Tibetan Buddhism to the West in terms that men and women could understand, and loved to wake people up through shock techniques.
Paine does a fine job covering individuals who discovered Tibetan Buddhism and allowed it to transform their lives. Tenzin Palmo, an English woman from London, spent 12 years in a six-by-ten foot cave meditating. According to those who have been in her presence since this remarkable feat, her most salient personal quality is "her steady clarity, uncluttered by preoccupations and preconceptions of 'worthwhile' versus 'trivial.' " Another much written-about person is an American lama, Jetsunma (Catherine Burroughs), the first Western woman to be recognized as a reincarnated Buddhist figure. Jan Willis, Robert Thurman, Harold Abbott, and Jarvis Jay Masters are also profiled. Each incarnates through practice and presence a different dimension of Tibetan Buddhism.
Paine's commentary on the contributions of the Dalai Lama to this tradition is thought-provoking. The author concludes that this exuberant, relaxed, and insightful spiritual teacher may have had "a larger number of meaningful encounters with more people than anyone in history. He may also hold the record for the range of subjects, from the nature of the universe to pragmatic politics to domestic advice, on which he's spoken knowledgeably and offered counsel."
Whereas other religions emphasize creeds, dogmas, and rituals, Tibetan Buddhism puts the accent on qualities of the human spirit such as kindness, compassion, patience, generosity, and contentment. Many seekers are attracted to this approach which promises personal growth where they need it most — in the midst of the complexities of work and the web of human relationships.
Richly developed profiles of Buddhist teachers in a substantive historical overview of this movement.
The Way of Passion
"One day Rumi asked one of his young, snotty disciples to give him an enormous amount of rich and delicious food. This young disciple was rather alarmed because he thought Rumi was living an ascetic lifestyle. Rumi used to pray all night and eat hardly anything. The disciple thought, 'Aha, now I've really got the master — what he really wants to do is to go off somewhere secretly and eat all this food!' So he decided to follow Rumi. He followed him through the streets of Konya, out into the fields, out into yet further fields. Then he saw Rumi go into a ruined tomb. 'I'm finally going to unmask his pretensions,' the young disciple thought. But what he found was a totally exhausted bitch with six puppies, and Rumi was feeding the dog with his own hands so that she could survive to feed her children. Rumi knew that the disciple was following him, of course, and turned to him smiling and said, 'See?' The disciple, extremely moved, said, 'But how on earth did you know that she was here? How did you know that she was hungry? This is miles away from where you are!' Rumi laughed and laughed, 'When you have become awake your ears are so acute that they can hear the cries of a sparrow ten thousand miles away.' "
See our map for A Celebration of Rumi
An excerpt on generosity and awareness.
The Essential Chogyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa was born in Tibet in 1940 and died in 1987. He was a pivotal figure in the presentation of the dharma to the Western world. As the founder of the Naropa Institute, he was respected as a meditation master, scholar, and artist. The excerpts in this superior work edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian have been drawn from his books by Shambhala over the last 30 years. Here are 40 selections from 14 different sources. The editor singles out "being" and "how to be" as the touchstones of his Buddhist vision.
In Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, Chögyam Trungpa writes: "A great deal of the chaos in the world occurs because people don't appreciate themselves." In many of his writings, this Buddhist teacher explores the riches of human goodness and the necessity for human beings to be gentle with themselves. But he also explicates the sources of pride in exploring what he calls "spiritual materialism": "Ego is able to convert everything to its own use, even spirituality."
The reader will find evidence here of the author's unique perspective on creativity: "Transcending aggression is the root of all the artistic talent one can ever imagine." Chögyam Trungpa writes cogently about "crazy wisdom," which he sees as a unique blend of perceptiveness, fearlessness, and bluntness. The book also contains many thoughtful and practical passages on compassion, generosity, the six realms, healing, the teacher-student relationship, and the sacred path of the warrior.
Forty selections from this Buddhist meditation master, scholar and artist.
River of Fire, River of Water
Taitetsu Unno, who teaches religion at Smith College, is America's foremost authority on Pure Land Buddhism as developed by Honen and Shinran in thirteenth-century Japan. From its start, this path has had great appeal to common folk because of its understanding that the "dojo" or training place for the practice of Buddhism is in the midst of everyday life.
According to Unno, deep hearing enables individuals to awaken to "the Name-that-calls," the boundless compassion that sustains all of life. Through faith, the practice of the recitative nembutsu is begun — the daily intoning of "I entrust myself to Amida Buddha.'" Out of this devotion grows the realization that the true self is a manifestation of dharma or "reality-as-is."
The Pure Land tradition emphasizes the inner discipline of self-cultivation which aims at the unfolding of humility, compassion, and generosity. Unno discusses other components of Shin Buddhism including the conspiracy of good, nonduality, interdependence, the world of dew (impermanence), unrepeatable life, and the view of death. River of Fire, River of Water paints an authoritative portrait of a very popular school of Buddhism.
Try a Spiritual Practice on Connections
Paints an authoritative portrait of a very popular school of Buddhism.