Generosity

by Ven. Thubten Gyatso

I heard that last year in Holland a woman found an envelope containing $10,000. She handed it in to the lost property office and, when the money was claimed, this honest woman wanted no reward. The following week, she won $1,000,000 in a lottery.

My own story, not as dramatic, illustrates the same point. At the time when I was just becoming interested in Buddhism, I was leaving a shop and I realised I had been given $5 too much change. "Keep it," said my friend. I was tempted to take his advice but, apart from his having just been released from prison, I thought, "If I am serious about this Buddhist stuff, I have to take it back."

So I returned and explained the situation to the shopkeeper. "Really?" he said, "if I was that stupid, you can keep it." Lesson number one for me and my friend.

Now that I know a little more about Buddhism, it all seems fairly obvious: we cannot experience the result without creating the cause. There is no such thing as pure luck - something good or bad happening without a prior cause. To experience any pleasure, from the relief of a cool breeze on a hot summer's day to whatever level of ecstasy we can imagine; and to experience any pain, from a pin-prick to being burned alive in a volcanic eruption, there must be two things in our mind. The first is a karmic potential established on our mindstream in some previous life when a previous owner of our mind intentionally caused others to experience similar pleasure or pain. (Yes, you have a second-hand mind. Look after it, you will be passing it on at the end of your life).

The second thing that connects us with pleasant or unpleasant experiences is our mental attitude prior to the experience. If, for example, we have a virtuous thought of generosity, this is a suitable basis to ripen karmic potentials established out of generosity in the past. So, twenty people will walk past a ten-dollar note lying on the ground, and we will be the "lucky" one whose eyes are drawn towards the note. The effect of the karmic potential ripened by generosity is that we notice the money on the ground.

To be really Buddhist, however, before claiming the money as our own, we should make a reasonable effort to locate the owner. In such a situation, Buddha advised that we should shout loudly in the four directions, "Does anybody own this money?" If there is no reply, we can keep it without incurring the karma of stealing. These days, perhaps, we should take the money to the lost property office, no?

If we are angry, wanting to abuse or hurt somebody, or our mind is simply filled with dislike, these attitudes will set us up to experience karmas where we have hurt others in the past. We may be attacked by a dog or beaten up by a hostile drunk on the street. Our whole life is the expression of our karma and mental attitudes.

Now, I know you all want to be rich, welcome to the human race, but if the previous owners of your mind were stingy misers, give up. Without the karmic potential for wealth, you have no chance whatsoever, and only rarely does karma created in this life ripen in this life. If you do cultivate the second factor necessary for wealth, the attitude of generosity, that will not be wasted. Your generous actions will become causes for wealth to be experienced by the person who has your mind in the next life. And don't you wish the previous owners of your mind were a bit more generous in their lives?

In Mongolia there is a belief that giving food or money to beggars, or even giving your old clothes away, is not good because you "give away your luck" and you will become hungry or poor yourself. This is pure superstition and a product of self-cherishing. Generosity with the sincere thought to help others out of trouble can only bring good results.

Miserliness is a miserable state of mind that cuts us off from others and brings no enjoyment in life. Its opposite is generosity, the willingness to give and taking pleasure in helping others. There is great contentment in fulfilling others' wishes. Generosity is not only giving material things such as money to the poor, food to the hungry, and shelter to the homeless. There is also the generosity of giving protection to those in danger - using political power or social influence to protect those who are exploited or persecuted by others. Then there is the generosity of teaching morality, compassion, wisdom, and so on to others.

Finally, there is the generosity of giving love. We may have no money, no food, not even a house to live in; we may have no political power or social influence, but we all have the capacity to give unlimited love. This is the best way we can make others happy.

Gyatso

This teaching is by the Venerable Thubten Gyatso (previously Dr Adrian Feldmann), an Australian monk and old friend now working in Mongolia. One of the senior students of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche (and also Geshe Roach) he is currently teaching at the FPMT centre in Ulaan Baatar. These teachings originally appeared in his local English language newspaper in Ulaan Baatar and arereproduced with his permission.

Thanks to Diane Olander (pelmo@got.net), these teachings first appeared on the Internet on the website (www.gepeling.org) of
The Jangchub Gepel Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies,
6960 Highway 9, Felton, CA 95018, Tel: 01 (831) 335 1217
where you can find many more teachings and other interesting material.