This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. My... understanding of these Wednesday night Dharma talks when they're part of the practice period is that they're devoted usually to the practice period theme. And tonight I want to talk about giving or generosity. And so I'll explain what In my mind, that has to do with the practice period theme, which is practicing with intention, making a difference in the world.

[01:04]

So I think we all have lots of different kinds of intentions in our life, for our life. large and small, near-term and long-term, maybe deep and shallow intentions. As Mahayana Buddhists who practice as bodhisattvas, we vow to wake up. And I think that for many of us here, our intention in being here is to wake up. I've said in earlier talks that I intend to use the words intention and vow pretty much interchangeably.

[02:09]

I'm aware that they have different connotations maybe and different nuances of how we respond to them. but I intend to use them in that way. And my intention is to wake up, and my vow is to wake up with all beings. And I think that's a vow and an intention that we have. much in common even though we may prefer one word or the other. So we practice with the teachings about waking up and there are several traditional sets of teachings about how to wake up that we've

[03:20]

that have been handed down to us by the Buddhas and ancestors from ancient times. And one of those sets of instructions is the six perfections, or the six paramitas in Sanskrit. So these six perfections, are six practices or six qualities that a bodhisattva cultivates that lead to wisdom and compassion, that lead to awakening. So it's a path to awakening. And the six practices or qualities are generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom.

[04:27]

The Pali word for generosity is dana. I think most of us have heard that word. And dana comes from the same root as the word donation. So dana means strength, to work with others and relate with others, people's energy as well as our own. And I think that's a really wonderful definition of what donation is about. If we limit ourselves to our own strengths and abilities and resources, What we can do is pretty limited. We can't do a whole lot. But if we offer our resources and let them be combined with other people's and their energy and their labor, we can accomplish a great deal.

[05:37]

And that's what happens when we... our time or money or energy or labor either to a person or some cause or organization. So I think that's what Donna is. Another set of instructions for waking up comes from a fascicle written by our staff Soto Zen founder in Japan, Ihei Dogen, and it's called Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. So it's another way of expressing a path to awakening. And the four practices, the four qualities that we cultivate on this path are

[06:40]

giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity action. So I'm going to say just a little bit about each of those. So giving, of course, is the same as generosity, and it's about letting go of attachment, letting go of clinging and self-interest. speech last week we had a Dharma talk about speech that was given by Linda Gallion who's the current director at Tassajara and she's been studying the last year or so how to skillfully have difficult conversations with people when it's necessary to do that And she's been giving teachings to the staff here about how to be skillful in difficult conversations.

[07:44]

So if you missed that talk, I recommend finding it on our website and listening to it. It's on the audio-only portion of the website. And the third of these four methods of guidance is beneficial action. which is action based on taking care of all people, regardless of their position or wealth or importance or anything about them, recognizing the absolute value of all human beings and holding them as equal to each other and ourselves, putting everyone on the same plane as ourselves. And the fourth one, identity action, I think is the most mysterious sounding. What can that mean, identity action?

[08:46]

And Dogen defines it as action based on the realization that I am the same as you, that there is no separation or boundary between us, that we're alike, that we're the same. So it's action that doesn't have a subject and an object, that doesn't have a subject acting on an object. I think an example of that might be dancing. So if we're really absorbed in dancing, we experience dancing, not me doing a dance. Maybe another example would be playing an orchestra. Losing ourselves in the wholeness of the musical event rather than being so tied to our individual experience of playing a particular instrument.

[10:03]

So I think that's what identity action is, or that's one way of describing it. So both of these sets of instructions, the six perfections and the Bodhisattvas four methods of guidance, are paths to awakening, paths to wisdom and compassion. So wisdom in this description is seeing reality as it is through the eyes of compassion. And wisdom and compassion are sometimes called the two wings of enlightenment, that you really can't have enlightened activity without both of them. They're equally important. And although these practices appear to be activities that we do to help others or to make the world a better place or to alleviate suffering, the emphasis when we practice with them is on our own awakening, on how they will help us to awaken.

[11:41]

So that's how I want to talk about them tonight. And you'll notice that both of these paths put giving or generosity first. So the six paramitas... although you practice all of them at the same time and cultivate all of them at the same time and they enhance each other, they're still arranged in kind of a linear way, the idea being that the first one is the easiest to practice, the most accessible. And it makes a lot of sense to me to begin practice where it's easiest. where we can encourage ourself and build some momentum that will carry us in the practice. So that's why I want to talk tonight about giving and generosity.

[12:42]

So generosity, of course, is important for practical reasons, for moral and ethical reasons. Charity helps others and reduces suffering in the world. But I want to keep emphasizing that these practices are to help us. They're conducive to awakening. They help us to see things that wake us up. So they're designed to show us, I think, experientially, That there is nothing to want or get or own that's actually separate from us. And we already are completely connected with everything and everyone.

[13:48]

So we're already complete and whole. We have everything we need. We're part of wholeness. So when we can experience this, we're less grasping after things, I think. The sutras list three things that a bodhisattva should give. And they are material things, dharma, and fearlessness. So giving material things is pretty obvious. And it begins with providing the basic necessities of life, food, clothing, shelter for people who need them. And I think the world religions practice this kind of charity.

[14:52]

to help reduce suffering and misery in the world and help people. But also, it's really not possible for someone who's starving or homeless or desperately poor to have a spiritual concern or practice. So if we want to offer the possibility of a spiritual life to people, first, their basic needs need to be taken care of. And I think that's what a lot of religious charitable institutions do. That's what they're about. In addition to those things, we can give money, our labor, our practical help, energy, time. Those are material gifts that we can give. And the sutras tell us that a bodhisattva gives gifts of dharma.

[16:00]

So literally teaching the dharma and demonstrating, embodying the dharma, letting go of our selfishness and putting up while being on a par with our own. That's a practice as bodhisattvas. So the third one is fearlessness. And is it possible even for me to be fearless? And is it possible for me to enable anyone else to be fearless? How can we give fear? So I want to read a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh about giving fearlessness. Fearlessness is not only possible, it is the ultimate joy.

[17:03]

When you touch non-fear, you are free. If I am ever in an airplane... and the pilot announces that the plane is about to crash, I will practice mindful breathing. If you receive bad news, I hope you will do the same. But don't wait for the critical moment to arrive before you start practicing to transform your fear and live mindfully. Nobody can give you fearlessness. Even if the Buddha were sitting right here next to you, he couldn't give it to you. You have to practice it and realize it yourself. If you make a habit of mindfulness practice, when difficulties arise,

[18:13]

know what to do. So Thuc Nhat Hanh's way of giving fearlessness is to teach us mindfulness, to teach us to calm ourselves and soothe ourselves and rely on our own deep resources and find joy inside ourselves. Buddha's teachings were mainly, I think, for monks and nuns who don't have anything, who don't have material things to give very much. So what can we give if we don't have a lot of material wealth? And I think we all know that there are many, many things that we can give and ways that we can give a gift that's meaningful and helpful.

[19:21]

We can give recognition, seeing a person deeply, noticing their condition, their circumstances, how they are today in the present. acknowledging their presence and letting them know that they're important to us. We can give understanding, listening, empathy, and compassion. And when we listen to someone, when we see another person and we see their suffering and how they want happiness just as we do, our heart goes out to them and we have compassion. And that compassion helps our heart and mind. It changes our reality.

[20:24]

It helps us to awaken. We can give... And I think of this in connection with giving money to panhandlers. You know, I don't know how it is for you, but it's pretty easy, I think, to come up with some amount of money that you can spare to give to a person or even give them food. give them a sandwich or something like that. But if they're unsavory and smelly and dirty, the hard part is connection, actually wanting to be close to them or involved with them or be in a position where they might want more from us, more of a connection. So it's the human connection that's most important, most a gift and hardest to give.

[21:30]

I think. We can give love, respect, admiration, appreciation. And these are things we all want so much. When they happen for us, we're so happy. It makes our day. It's a gift. We can give kindness and forgiveness. We can offer an apology when we make a mistake or do something wrong or hurt someone, and it acts as a salve to a wound, or it can. It's helpful and healing. We can offer smiles, laughter, warmth, friendliness. We all need this every day from our friends and from the people around us. So these are just some of the things that we can offer and look for opportunities to offer to people.

[22:37]

I want to read a little bit from Dogen's fascicle, the Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. Oh, it's getting late. Giving... means non-greed. Non-greed means not to covet. Not to covet means not to curry favor. Even if you govern the four continents you should always convey the authentic path with non-greed. It is like giving away unneeded belongings to someone you don't know, offering flowers blooming on a distant mountaintop to the Tathagata, or again, offering treasures you had in your former life to sentient beings.

[23:48]

Whether it is of teaching or of material, Each gift has its value and is worth giving. Even if the gift is not your own, there is no reason to abstain from giving. So I'm going to unpack that just a little bit. I think the point of all these practices is to cultivate non-attachment, our willingness to let go, to open our hand, to give away, to allow energy to flow out from us into the world and to feel like it's not going away from us when it goes into the world, that it's shared by all of us. Coveting is jealously wanting something that seems like it's separate from us, that we're afraid that we might lose or not get and that we feel we need complete us.

[25:07]

Currying favor is trying to get something from someone. having an ulterior motive or dishonest intention. And most importantly, I think, it's thinking that others can bestow something on us, that others create the circumstances of our lives. And that's very demeaning and demoralizing. What's encouraging is to realize that we create the circumstances of our lives through our activity, and we don't have to rely on favors. That's a rather unhealthy mindset, I think. Giving away unneeded belongings is looking at our needs,

[26:10]

And also looking for an opportunity to benefit someone else, which means looking at other people, looking at how they are and what they can use. So it's connecting with other people through moving material energy in response to shifting needs. So maybe at one time we need something, And right now we don't need it, and maybe it can benefit someone else. So it's not a matter of higher or lower or rich or poor. It's just resources moving in response to need and circumstances, like water flowing on level ground. giving what no one owns.

[27:12]

So I really love Dogen's expression about offering flowers blooming on a distant mountaintop to the tapagata, or treasures you had in a former life to sentient beings. So when you give things that don't belong to anyone, And we do this. We can wish for someone that we love to see a beautiful sunset. Have you ever been in that situation? Maybe someone you love is not with you at the moment, and you see something beautiful and wish they were there to share it with you. But we can also send such gifts to people in our minds. We can offer the things of nature to people. that we love or people that we even don't love. The beautiful sky, the green grass, the warm sun, whatever.

[28:16]

And when you give things that nobody owns, it's inexhaustible. You can just keep giving and giving. There's not some bank account that's going to get overdrawn if you give it to too many people. And nothing actually belongs to us anyway in any kind of permanent way. Or everything belongs to us. Do you know that postcard with a picture of Suzuki Roshi? And I think he's in the Doka-san room and he's holding up a pair of glasses. Have you seen that picture? So... I think what's going on in that picture is that he's talking about the precept of not stealing. And this is what he says.

[29:16]

Actually, everything in the world belong to us. For example, my glasses. They are just glasses. They do not belong to me or to you. or they belong to all of us. But you know about my tired old eyes, and so you let me use them. I know something about glasses. I've been wearing glasses since I was two years old, and my poor mother would find them on the stair steps or wherever... I happened to be when I decided to take them off. But even if I didn't lose them or break them, every so often I would need a new pair because my eyes had changed and the old glasses didn't work for me anymore.

[30:24]

And I think this is how everything is for us and why we practice with giving and non-attachment. Now I'm aging and I can see it happening that I keep losing things, you know? You lose friends, you lose position, you lose status, you lose your health, you lose your beauty. All these things go away. And we can either be miserable about it or we can appreciate what we have. And practicing with giving makes it easier during this time when things fall away from us. And then ultimately, our life falls away from us and we have to give it all up and take nothing with us. So that's what we're practicing for. time again.

[31:27]

Okay. I want to say something about the afraid of the meal chant, the Oriyoki meal chant that I think has a lot to do with our understanding of giving. I bet you know which one I mean. May we with all beings Realize the emptiness of the three wheels, giver, receiver, and gift. So I'm going to talk about that a little bit. The emptiness that they're talking about is our impermanence as human beings. The fact that we keep changing and we can't control anything in our lives. Everything's always shifting and changing. And we're completely interdependent and interconnected with everything and everyone.

[32:33]

And we have no fixed or lasting boundaries or individual identity. So that's what it's describing when it... talks about the emptiness of the three wheels, giver, receiver, and gift. And it comes from the tradition in Buddhist time when lay supporters gave food to the monks. And the monks in turn offered teachings to the lay supporters. So it was mutually beneficial. And each party gave and received something of real value. And I think it's particularly wonderful that food is in this example.

[33:36]

It's so graphically instructive. So the lay supporters... give food to the monks who receive the food and eat it and take it into their bodies. And it becomes part of them. It becomes indistinguishable from them. The food is them. There's no difference. It's their body and mind. And nourished by the food, they give teachings to the lay supporters and And those laser take it in and receive it and digest it, and it becomes their body and mind. So it's this wonderful circular thing that is a real teaching for us about how things work in the world. And in this way, food is dharma, and dharma is food, which is something that Dogen keeps saying to us.

[34:44]

So I want to end with a story that I like. And this story comes from a wonderful book that was written by Diane Rossetto about the precepts. It's called Waking Up to What You Do. And this story is from the introduction where she's telling us how she came to practice. So she was a teenage high school dropout with a failing marriage and two infant children 18 months apart. And she had never read a book from cover to cover in her life. And her marriage finally broke up and she went on welfare and realized that this was an untenable life.

[35:59]

And she got her GED and started applying for jobs and You know, she would get the kind of jobs that a high school dropout can get, which are low-pay and terrible hours, and she had to take care of her children, so it wasn't working. And finally, she saw an ad in the local newspaper for a legal secretary. So she applied for the job and went for the interview, and... She lied to the attorney who interviewed her about her skills. She said, I'm very nervous. I can really type and take shorthand much faster than I was able to do today. And she got a friend to give her a reference and back up her story. And the attorney hired her, and she went to work. And very soon it became clear that she didn't have the skills that she said she had had and was really making a mess of things.

[37:16]

So fairly soon the attorney called her into his office and said, this isn't working. He said, I don't want you to tell me why you misrepresented me. your abilities, what I want you to tell me is what you'd like to be doing in five years and what you have to do now to make that happen. So she was dumbfounded and moved. And she went home and thought about it. and came back and told him that she'd like to be a teacher, and that to do that she needed to go to college. So he called up some friends, some contacts, and in a couple of months she was attending night school, going to college.

[38:20]

And in a few years she had graduated, gotten a master's degree, and a teaching credential. Also, she now had a good marriage. And one night, she was waiting for her husband to come home from work, and she picked up a book that he had left on the table that he was reading, and it was Susie Roshi's Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. And that was the beginning of her practice. I love that story for... the attorney who did not exercise his prerogatives, who saw the opportunity to change a person's life, to give a gift, and did it. He saw an opportunity to help, and helped.

[39:22]

And it turned a person's life completely around. And I think we can do that. there are opportunities for us to do that kind of thing. So I hope you're inspired. I'm inspired. And let's see what time it is now. It's 8.30, so I'm going to say that's our bedtime story. And say goodnight. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge and this made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[40:21]

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