Perfection of
Giving
Giving is essential to Buddhism. Giving includes charity, or giving
material help to people in want. It also includes giving spiritual
guidance to those who seek it and loving kindness to all who need
it. However, one's motivation for giving to others is at least as
important as what is given.
What is right or wrong motivation? The Anguttara Nikaya, a
collection of texts in the Vinaya-pitaka section of
the Pali
Canon, lists a number of motivations for practicing charity.
These include being shamed or intimidated into giving; giving to
receive a favor; giving to feel good about yourself. These are
impure motivations.
The Buddha taught that when we give to others, we give without
expectation of reward. We give without attaching to either the gift
or the recipient. We practice giving to release greed and
self-clinging.
Some teachers propose that giving is good because it accrues merit
and creates karma that will bring future happiness. Others say that
even this is self-clinging and an expectation of reward.
In Mahayana
Buddhism in particular, any merit that might come with
giving is to be dedicated to the liberation of others.
Giving with pure motivation is called dana paramita, or "perfection of
giving." It is first in a list of paramitas, or perfections, that
are to be cultivated in Buddhist practice. The Six Perfections
are:
The last paramita, wisdom, ties back to the first. As long as we
are sorting ourselves into givers and receivers, we are still
falling short of dana paramita. Wisdom teaches us that there is
giving and receiving, but there are no givers and no receivers.
At the same time, there is no giving without receiving. In a sense,
giving and receiving are one. If giving is "good," then receiving
is equally good.
Shohaku Okumura wrote in Soto
Zen Journal that for a time he didn't want to receive
gifts from others, thinking that he should be giving, not taking.
"When we understand this teaching in this way, we simply create
another standard to measure gaining and losing. We are still in the
framework of gaining and losing," he wrote.
In Japan, when monks carry out traditional alms begging, they wear
huge straw hats that partly obscure their faces. The hats also
prevent them from seeing the faces of those giving them alms. No
giver, no receiver; this is pure giving.