Generosity and Gratitude
By, Sosan Theresa Flynn
Since we are in the middle of our sustaining donors campaign, I thought it would be helpful to share some teachings from our Buddhist tradition about giving. I hope this will help you as you consider what to give to Clouds. Of course, we deeply appreciate your gifts of actual money, but more than that, we hope that you will be able to practice Dana Paramita, or the transcendent practice of giving or generosity.
What is Dana Paramita?
Zen Master Dogen tells us: "Whether we give or receive, we connect ourselves with all beings throughout the world." Giving-and-receiving has to do with realizing that we are not separate, that we cannot exist on our own.
At Clouds in Water retreats, before eating we chant:
May we, with all beings,
realize the emptiness of the three wheels:
giver, receiver, and gift.
Emptiness doesn't mean there is no giver, receiver or gift, it means there is no separation. Giver, receiver, and gift are one. Practically speaking, one cannot happen without the others. In a boundless sense, in giving and receiving there is a manifestation of the dharma that is going on beyond our understanding of it.
The Buddha expresses this boundlessness by saying that generosity is a kind of wealth and that a person with this wealth is "freely generous, open-handed …devoted to charity, delighting in giving and sharing." This is not a teaching that says, "If I am wealthy, if I have enough money, I will give." It's a teaching that says, "Giving itself is wealth."
Many of us don't have the experience of generosity as wealth, even if we have enough money. Instead, we suffer from fear of not having enough. It may benefit us to look deeply at this fear and consider: Where is that fear located in my body? How can I get in touch with my generosity? How can I get to a place where I can delight in giving and sharing? Dogen has some suggestions:
It is like offering treasures we are about to discard to those we do not know. We give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the [Buddha] ...Even if this gift is not our personal possession, our practice of offering is not hindered. No gift is too small, but our effort should be genuine.
To develop our generosity, we begin by offering things we would otherwise throw away, or things we don't need. For some of us, even this may be difficult. We can cultivate generosity in our hearts by offering flowers blooming on a distant mountain. How? Just by thinking and intending, "I'd like to share these flowers." Wecould offer a sunset or the moon to a companion by saying, "Look at the beautiful sunset!" or "There's the moon!"
Even if we make a small gift, we can invite our effort to be genuine. We can invite ourselves to get in touch with joy. To give with joy, it helps if we notice what we already have and how it came to us. We can practice gratitude for the gifts that we have received, and call to mind the positive feelings that arose when we received them.
Finally, in practicing generosity, we can remember that Dogen says, "Giving to ourselves is also giving." Being generous to all beings also means being generous to ourselves.
In this way, giving becomes a path to liberation.
Sosan Theresa Flynn is the Guiding Teacher of Clouds in Water Zen Center. She has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. She has officiated at many ceremonies (daily & special liturgies, weddings, baby namings, and memorial services), and offers premarital and couples counseling. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion. She has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and has worked in both community mental health and staff training. Sosan and her husband of 36 years live a short distance from Clouds in Water.
For more information, see Sosan’s website.