What is a Sangha? Thich Nhat Hahn

What is a Sangha? Thich Nhat Hahn

I want to express my gratitude for my sangha that's in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hahn. 

We met this morning and it seems be growing, in both numbers and maturity. 

Grateful to see that. Thich Nhat Hanh "considers (sangha) so important that he often says, the future Buddha is a Sangha." I'm aware that many in this group don't have a sangha to attend. But as Thay points out in another article that even during the time of the Buddha, his sangha wasn't perfect. So if our group here is your sangha home, this too is imperfect. You're not alone and have support which is excellent.  

 

https://wkup.org/what-is-a-sangha/

What is a Sangha?

Sangha is the word used for a community of fellow practitioners in Buddhism. But a Sangha does not necessarily have to be Buddhist.

Thich Nhat Hanh, also called Thay, wrote in his recent book Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society the following text (it has been shorted for an abridged version):

It is difficult to make a change alone. In the Sangha there is a powerful collective energy of mindfulness and concentration. It can help us make a breakthrough; it ignites our insight. Our practice together of walking, sitting, breathing, eating, is very important. When we practice with the Sangha, it’s easier than practicing alone. Sometimes something may carry us away.

But thanks to the collective practice, we can regain our solidity. Even if we’re distracted, our Sangha can help us remember to come back to the present moment, to touch what is positive, to touch our own peace, to see how to undo the difficulty.

The Sangha doesn’t need to be Buddhist. Buddhism is made of non-Buddhist elements anyway. When I met Martin Luther King Jr., in 1966, we spoke about Sangha building. We spoke a few times about the beloved community. The beloved community is the Sangha.

In the Sangha there are those who bring happiness to many people. There are those who cook very well, and there are those who take care of the garden beautifully and grow nutritious vegetables. There are those who organize festivities in a very beautiful, creative way. There are those who don’t have these talents, but when they do sitting meditation they are very happy, and when they walk they are also very happy and this brings happiness to others. Such people are of great benefit to the Sangha.

Everybody contributes their part. You don’t need to be exactly like others. This is true whether you are thinking of your family as your Sangha or of the larger beloved community. Everyone has their own abilities.

You don’t need to be like others; you just need to be yourself. You don’t need to have perfect health or a perfect mind without any worries and anxiety. You can still have some pain in your body or some pain in your mind.

But thanks to the practice, you can create more joy, peace, and understanding that nourishes you, nourishes the Sangha, and nourishes the world.

The Sangha is therefore an important support in your practice. Thay considers it so important that he often says, the future Buddha is a Sangha.

“Against the Defilements.” By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

4 September 2024

“Against the Defilements.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

When you listen, you have to make sure that you fully understand. When there’s understanding, it will stay with you or in your heart. You’ll start thinking in line with what you’ve heard. When you’re able to think on your own, you won’t then really need to listen so much, because you’ll be more inclined to think on your own than to listen.

The Buddha compared the Dhamma from listening to someone else as water in a jar, whereas the Dhamma that arises from your own mind and contemplation is like an immense amount of water in an ocean.

But first, you have to rely on the wisdom of respectable teachers to motivate you as you don’t yet know how to cultivate your own. However, whether you gain something from them depends mainly on your meditation practice. If you have yet to gain concentration, your defilements will be overpowering.

It is like anaesthetising a patient before an operation: without anaesthesia, the patient will scream and move, making it difficult to perform the operation. But with anaesthesia, the patient will be unconscious and still, making it easy for the doctor to operate.

It is the same with contemplating Dhamma. If your defilements are still active, they will intervene after a short while of contemplation. They will obstruct, oppose, and trick you into thinking about something else. In order to gain substantial results from your cultivation of wisdom, you will first need to gain concentration (samādhi). It will then result in experiential wisdom (bhāvanā-maya-paññā).

As for the wisdom derived from listening to Dhamma talks or thinking, it does not require so much concentration.

Just as you’re listening to today’s Dhamma talk, it doesn’t require a lot of concentration. You just need to have enough concentration to focus on listening and you’ll gain some benefits from it. It won’t yet turn into experiential wisdom, which is gained through cultivation.

Experiential wisdom will arise from having gained concentration, or samādhi. You will have taken into consideration the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self characteristics that are inherent in forms, sounds, odours, tastes, and touch. You will have contemplated the nature of body, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness so consistently—your awareness becomes uninterrupted—to the point where these aggregates become interconnected and all encompassing.

It will be the same as how you might have noticed that all of the Buddha’s teachings are, in fact, interrelated. 

The development of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) aligns with the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths, in turn, align with the three marks of existence (tilakkhana)—they all come together. You’ll understand and see how the pieces all come together to form a big picture. At the moment, you still see it as individual pieces, not yet together to form a larger whole.

But once you’ve gained samadhi and have kept contemplating, you’ll discern the big picture. You’ll appreciate it. All of the Buddha’s teachings—84,000 in total—lead to one thing: suffering and the cessation of suffering. It is not unlike water in the oceans: no matter how expansive the oceans may be, the water still tastes the same—salty. No matter how many teachings there are, they all point towards suffering and the cessation of suffering—the Four Noble Truths.

In the beginning, if you don’t yet know how to derive this wisdom, you have to rely on listening to Dhamma talks.

You’re very fortunate that you have all this equipment these days—to have listening devices that are easy and convenient to use. It is a matter of how you listen to the Dhamma talks. There are two ways: you can just hear but not understand them, like a ladle that sits in a pot of soup. Or you can listen and absorb the content like tasting soup with your tongue. You don’t need to understand everything, but you should understand some of it. If you don’t understand anything you’ve listened to, then it is useless.”

“Against the Defilements.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Sacred Equation by Ajahn Dtun Thiracitto

The Teaching of Ajahn DtunThe Sacred Equation by Ajahn Dtun Thiracitto

Layperson: Will we be able to attain to the Dhamma by only watching the arising and ceasing of all mental objects within the mind? I have many Dhamma-friends who say that sitting meditation isn’t necessary, and that the practice of watching the mind is a more direct and effective approach. I was told that Dhamma practice for modern people should be more mind-oriented, because we are required to think a lot and have also received a better education than previous generations?_

Ajahn Dtun: It is true that in this modern age people have received a very good education and possess much knowledge. However, regardless of whether someone has graduated with a BA a Masters or a Ph.D, even if they are an academic, their knowledge is only the worldly kind of intelligence, it is not wisdom. Wisdom is what enables us to free our hearts from the defilements of greed, anger and delusion. I’m sure you’ve seen cases of highly intelligent people, or people with a high rank and position, who when they are given the chance are quite capable of behaving corruptly because their minds are being influenced by greed. If anger dominates their mind, they might think to use their power and intelligence to take the life of somebody else. This is the intelligence of the mental defilements at work.

The strength of ordinary mindfulness combined with our intelligence is not strong or incisive enough to see the mental defilements and bring about their cessation by completely letting them go from the mind. If a high level of education and much acquired knowledge were sufficient, all people in the world with those advantages would by now have attained the various stages of enlightenment and Nibbāna.

The Dhamma Army, the fighting force that battles with the kilesas, must comprise the forces of sīla, samādhi and paññā. All three forces must unite to resist the Kilesa Army, which is collectively formed by the forces of greed, anger, sexual lust and delusion. If it was possible to attain to the transcendent path, its fruitions and Nibbāna by merely using our mindfulness to watch the mind and our wisdom faculty to contemplate the arising and ceasing of all mental objects, the Buddha wouldn’t have taught us to cultivate moral virtue so as to create a foundation for the development of concentration. He taught that concentration ultimately gives rise to sati-paññā, mindfulness and wisdom.

In the higher ordination ceremony to become a Buddhist monk, the preceptor instructs the candidate on five essential meditation objects: hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and skin. Monks must reflect frequently on these five objects in their meditation practice. The purpose is to aid the meditator to see the true nature of the body: that it is impermanent and totally devoid of any ‘self’ entity. This insight enables the meditator to attain the Noble Path to Liberation, its fruitions and Nibbāna. If a preceptor fails to instruct a candidate on these five principal objects, that is, if he fails to make the candidate aware of their importance, that person’s holy life will not be fruitful; he will be unable to attain to the Dhamma.

The view that people in this modern age need only use their mindfulness to see the arising and ceasing of all mental objects to attain to the Noble Path and ultimately realize Nibbāna is a product of the kilesas. These mental defilements are actually much smarter than we are, as they can convince us that it’s not necessary to develop concentration because this is difficult to do. This deception will prevent any uninformed believer from ever attaining to the Noble Path. ‘Why undergo the difficulty of developing concentration?’ our kilesas tell us. The defilements are so clever, they make people believe this. Actually, they want all beings to remain in saṃsāra. They don’t want us to attain to the Noble Path, its fruitions and Nibbāna. If we fail to develop concentration, we will not possess sufficient mindfulness and wisdom to let go of the kilesas from the mind.

Simply using one’s mindfulness to watch the mind, without ever developing concentration and contemplating the body, will not take one to the transcendent path that leads to the stages of enlightenment and Nibbāna. An untrained mind, one that has not developed concentration, while sometimes aware of some of its emotions, will not perceive them with any real clarity. The untrained mind will therefore attach to the emotions in the belief that they are the self or the mind. In doing so, the mind blends together with its thoughts and emotions until they are inseparable; they become one and the same. The mind is then left incapable of separating itself from the stream of thoughts and emotions.

For a cell phone to be in good working order, it must be charged frequently. If we use the phone but never recharge the battery, its charge will run down until it can’t be used.

Mindfulness is no different from a cell phone. If we never strengthen our mind through the practice of concentration, it will gradually weaken until it is incapable of letting go the emotions from the mind. If mindfulness is used only to watch the mind and we never develop the strength of concentration to support it, our mindfulness will be unable to keep up with all our thoughts and emotions, or to know them according to the truth. Any attempts to contemplate the body will also be unsuccessful, because our mindfulness and wisdom will lack the strength and clarity needed to see body’s impermanence and the absence of self.

The teaching of the Buddha is never outdated or unsuited to any age, because it is a timeless teaching. He taught a path of practice that leads beings to gain insight into the Four Noble Truths and takes them out of suffering. His path of practice consists of three factors: moral virtue, concentration and wisdom.

Any being in any age or era who cultivates all three factors of the Path with the aim of achieving insight into the Four Noble Truths, that is, of fully comprehending suffering, its cause, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation, will be capable of attaining the Noble Path, its successive stages of enlightenment and, ultimately, Nibbāna. All of us must therefore remain firm in the way of practice of the Lord Buddha and his arahant disciples. We have to look at how they practised to attain to the Dhamma and realize Nibbāna. All of them had to cultivate the path of sīla, samādhi and paññā, and also reflect on the body to realize the Dhamma–the Truth.

*******
The Sacred Equation by Ajahn Dtun Thiracitto
https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/authors/ajahn-dtun?language=English

The man with four wives ~ Ajahn Brahm

The man with four wives
~ Ajahn Brahm

A man, who was successful in life, maintained four wives. When his life was about to end, he called to his bedside his fourth wife, the most recent and youngest.

'Darling,' he said, stroking her legendary figure, 'in a day or two I will be dead. After death, I will be lonely without you. Will you come with me?'

'No way!' declared the illustrious girl. 'I must stay behind. I will speak your praises at your funeral, but I can do no more.' And she strode out of his bedroom.

Her cold refusal was like a dagger to his heart. He had given so much attention to his youngest wife. He was proud of her in fact he chose her as his escort to important functions. She gave him dignity in his old age. It was a surprise to find out that she did not love him as he had loved her.

Still, he had three more wives, so he called in the third wife he had joined in middle-age. He had worked so hard to win the hand of his third wife. He loved her deeply for making so many joys possible for him. She was so attractive that many men desired her; yet she had always been faithful. She gave him a sense of security.

'Sweetheart,' he said, grasping her tightly, 'in a day or two I will be dead. After death, I will be lonely without you. Will you come with me?'

'Absolutely not!' asserted the seductive young woman in businesslike manner. 'Such a thing has never been done. I will give you a lavish funeral, but after the service I will go with your sons.'

The third wife's future infidelity shook him to the core. He sent her away and called for his second wife.

He had grown up with her second wife. She wasn't so attractive but she was always there for him, to help him with any problems and give invaluable advice. She was his most trusted friend.

'Beloved,' he said, gazing into her confident eyes, 'in a day or two I will be dead. After death, I will be lonely without you. Will you come with me?'

'I'm sorry,' she said apologetically, 'I cannot go with you. I will go as far as your grave side, but no further.'

The old man was devastated. He called for his first wife, whom he had known seemingly forever. He had neglected her in recent years, especially after he had met his alluring third wife and distinguished fourth wife. But it was this first wife who was really important to him. working quietly behind the scenes. He felt ashamed when he saw her come in ill-dressed and very thin.

'Dearest,' he said imploringly, 'in a day or two I will be dead. After death, I will be lonely without you. Will you come with me?'

'Of course I'll go with you,' she replied impassively. 'I always go with you from one life to life.'

The first wife was called Karma. The second wife's name was Family. The third wife was Wealth. The fourth wife was Fame.

Please read the story once more, now that you know the four wives. Which of the wives is most important to take care of? Which will go with you when you die?

~ OPENING THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART, pp.218-19
by Ajahn Brahm

Image: https://www.deviantart.com/missnoserious/art/Ajahn-Brahm-646964857

Teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh

Teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh

In Buddhist mythology the Hungry Ghost is portrayed with a large belly and a very skinny throat, just wide enough for a needle. He wants to eat and feel full, but he can not do it. No matter what he eats, no matter how much he eats, he is always hungry.

Traditionally, the Hungry Ghosts represented ancestors who had not been properly provided with what they need to flourish in the afterlife. Thich Nhat Hanh, however, often uses the Hungry Ghost to describe a psychological condition:

When we feel disconnected with our source of life, with our ancestors, with our traditional values, we begin to wither and become a hungry ghost, going around and looking for something to help us revive, looking for a source of vitality again. Someone who is alienated feels that he or she is a separate entity that has no connection with anyone. There is no real communication between him or her with the sky, with the earth, with other human beings, including his father, her mother, brother, sister and so on. Those who feel cut off like that have to learn how to practice so that they will feel connected again with life, with the source of life that has bought him or her there. (From the essay, "Touching the Earth.")

It is rare to grow up anywhere in the world today without having a little bit of the Hungry Ghost in us. For some of us, it is a primary drive, though often unconscious. It expresses itself as generalized disappointment and restlessness. Where we are, what we have, who we are, is not good enough. We want to be somewhere else, doing something else, being someone else.

Mindfulness practice soothes the Hungry Ghost in us. We come back to our bodies and to the direct experience of the present moment. We begin to see glimpses of our interconnectedness. (I love the way the Japanese Zen teacher Uchiyama says it: “We’re universal whether we think so or not, and reality doesn’t care what we think.”)

A specific Hungry Ghost therapy developed by Thich Nhat Hanh is the movement meditation known as the The Five Touchings of the Earth. In the Five Touchings we bring to conscious awareness the ways we are connected to our blood and spiritual families, to the people we love and the people who have made us suffer, and to our country and its history. We acknowledge what is and also see the potential for transformative change in ourselves and in others.

https://www.stillwatermpc.org/dharma-topics/soothing-our-hungry-ghost/

The teachings of Nhat Hhat Hanh

The teachings of Nhat Hhat Hanh

Our feelings play a very important part in directing all of our thoughts and actions.  

In us, there is a river of feelings, in which every drop of water is a different feeling, and each feeling relies on all the others for its existence.  To observe it, we just sit on the bank of the river and identify each feeling as it surfaces, flows by, and disappears.

There are three sorts of feelings-- pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral.  

When we have an unpleasant feeling, we may want to chase it away.  

But it is more effective to return to our conscious breathing and just observe it, identifying it silently to ourselves:  "Breathing in, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me.  Breathing out, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me."  

Calling a feeling by its name, such as "anger," "sorrow," "joy," or "happiness," helps us identify it clearly and recognize it more deeply.

We can use our breathing to be in contact with out feelings and accept them.  If our breathing is light and calm--a natural result of conscious breathing-- our mind and body will slowly become light, calm, and clear, and our feelings also.

Peace in every step 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Generosity: The Inward Dimension by Nina Van Gorkom

Generosity: The Inward Dimension
by Nina Van Gorkom

As from a heap of flowers many a garland is made, even 

so many good deeds should be done by one born a mortal. 

Dhammapada, 53

The giving away of useful or pleasant things is an act of generosity. However, if we only pay attention to the outward deeds we do not know whether or not we are being sincerely generous. We should learn more about the mind which motivates our deeds. True generosity is difficult. While we are giving, our thoughts may not all be good and noble. Our motives for giving may not all be pure. We may give with selfish motives -- expecting something in return, hoping to be liked by the receiver or our gift, wanting to be known as a generous person. We may notice that there are different thoughts at different moments, some truly generous, and others having different motives. 

The Buddha taught that there is no lasting mind or soul which undergoes different experiences. Our experiences themselves are different moments of consciousness, which arise one at a time and then fall away immediately. Each moment of consciousness that arises and falls away is succeeded by the next moment of consciousness. Our life is thus a series of moments of consciousness arising in succession. Gradually we can learn to distinguish different types of consciousness. There is consciousness which is unwholesome or unskillful, and there is consciousness which is wholesome or skillful, and besides these there are other types of consciousness which are neither wholesome nor unwholesome. Only one type of consciousness occurs at a time, but each type is accompanied by several mental factors. Unwholesome types of consciousness are accompanied by unwholesome mental factors, such as attachment, stinginess, jealousy or aversion. Wholesome types of consciousness are accompanied by beautiful mental factors, such as generosity, kindness or compassion. 

Three of the unwholesome mental factors are "roots of evil [1] These are the strong foundation of unwholesome types of consciousness: attachment or greed, aversion or anger, and ignorance. 

Each of these unwholesome factors has many shades and degrees. We may know that there is attachment when we are greedy for food or desire to acquire someone else's property. However, we may not realize that there is also attachment when we enjoy natural scenery or beautiful music. In society attachment of a subtle kind is considered good, provided we do not harm others. The unwholesome has a wider range than what we call in conventional language "immoral." It can include states that are weaker than the immoral. We cannot force ourselves not to like beautiful things; there are conditions for the arising of attachment. But we can learn to know the difference between the moments which are wholesome and the moments which are unwholesome. A degree of selfishness persists even in moments of subtle attachment. These are different from selfless moments of consciousness accompanied by generosity, when we do not think of our own enjoyment. There is attachment time and again, when we stand up, move around, reach for things, eat or go to sleep. We think of ourselves and want to acquire pleasant things for ourselves. We expect other people to be nice to us, and this is also a form of attachment. 

We may wonder whether attachment to relatives is wholesome. Attachment to relatives is not wholesome; it is different from pure loving-kindness, which is wholesome. When we cling to the pleasant feeling we derive from the company of relatives or dear friends, there is attachment. When we are genuinely concerned for someone else we do not think of ourselves, and then there is wholesome consciousness. We are so used to living with attachment that we may have never considered the difference between the moments of attachment and the moments of unselfish love. The different types of consciousness succeed one another so rapidly that so long as we have not developed understanding of them, we do not notice that they have changed. 

The unwholesome root of aversion also has many degrees. It can manifest as slight uneasiness or as coarse anger or hate. Aversion does not arise at the time as attachment. When there is attachment consciousness likes the object that is experienced and when there is aversion consciousness dislikes the object. Attachment arises with certain types of consciousness, not with all types, and so does aversion. 

Ignorance is an unwholesome root that arises with all types of unwholesome consciousness. It is the root of all evil. Ignorance does not know what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, it does not know anything about what is real. Whenever there is attachment or aversion, at the same time there is also ignorance. 

The three beautiful roots are: non-attachment or generosity, non-aversion or kindness, and understanding or wisdom. Each type of wholesome consciousness is rooted in non-attachment and non-aversion, and it may be rooted in understanding as well. Each of these beautiful roots has many degrees. Without the assistance of non-attachment and non-aversion wholesome consciousness could not arise motivating acts of generosity. Attachment cannot exist at the same time as generosity. When one is truly generous one gives impartially and does not restrict one's generosity to people one likes or to the members of one's family. The purpose of all kinds of wholesomeness should be to eliminate defilements, to get rid of selfishness. The Buddha taught the wisdom that can eradicate the clinging to the idea of self, but if one does not learn to get rid of stinginess and clings to one's possessions, one cannot give up the clinging to self. 

When we see that true generosity is beneficial and that selfishness and stinginess are harmful, we would like to have more moments of generosity. However, in spite of our wishes, we notice that unwholesome types of consciousness often arise. Then we are disappointed with ourselves. We should acquire understanding of what conditions the arising of unwholesome consciousness. We must have been full of attachment, aversion and ignorance in the past, even in past lives. Such tendencies have become deeply rooted; they have been accumulated. What is past has gone already, but the unwholesome tendencies that have been accumulated can condition the arising of unwholesome consciousness at the present time. 

We have accumulated not only tendencies to evil but also inclinations to the wholesome. That is why there can also be moments of generosity and kindness at the present time. When an unwholesome type of consciousness arises we accumulate more unwholesomeness; when a wholesome type arises we accumulate more wholesomeness. 

The Buddha taught different ways of developing wholesomeness, and when we learn about these ways there are already conditions for more wholesomeness. We find opportunity for generosity not only while we are giving but also before the actual giving, when we try to obtain the things we intend to give, and afterwards when we recollect our giving. When we are honest with ourselves we can notice that before, during and after the giving, opportunities for generosity are often spoilt by unwholesome consciousness. We may get tired when we have to buy or prepare the gift, and then aversion arises. While we are giving the gift the receiver may be ungrateful and fail to respond to our gift in the way we expected and then we may be disappointed. 

However, when we have right understanding of what wholesomeness is, we should be concerned only with developing wholesome states of mind and not with the reactions of other people. Wholesomeness is wholesomeness and nobody else can change the wholesome consciousness that arises. Before we learnt about the Buddha's teachings we did not consider generosity in this way, we did not pay attention to the moments of consciousness. Through the Buddha's teachings we learn about things as they really are. After the act of giving the opportunity to recollect our generosity with wholesome consciousness can be wasted by unwholesome consciousness. At first we may have been generous, but afterwards we may find that the gift was too expensive and regret have spent our money. 

The Buddha taught that there is no self that can exert power over the different types of consciousness that arise; they arise because of their appropriate conditions. Through his teachings we can learn about the different types of consciousness and about our accumulated tendencies. Thus there will be more understanding of what is real, and this too is wholesome. When one has accumulated the tendency to stinginess it is difficult to be generous, but through the understanding of what the Buddha taught inclinations can be changed. 

We read in the commentary to the Subhabhojana Jataka (Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, Jatakas, Book V, No. 535) about a monk in the Buddha's time who practiced the utmost generosity. He gave away his food, and if he received drink sufficient to fill the hollow of his hand, he would, free from greed, still give it away. But formerly he used to be so stingy that "he would not give so much as a drop of oil on the tip of a blade of grass." In one of his past lives, when he was named Kosiya, he lived as a miser. One day he had a craving for rice porridge. When his wife suggested that she would cook porridge not only for him but also for all the inhabitants of Benares, he felt "just as if he had been struck on the head with a stick." Then his wife offered to cook for a single street, or only for the attendants in his house, only for the family, only for the two of them, but he turned down all her offers. He wanted porridge cooked for himself alone, in the forest, so that nobody else could see it. The Bodhisatta, who was at that time the god Sakka, wanted to convert him and came to him with four attendants disguised as brahmins. One by one they approached the miser and begged for some of his porridge. Sakka spoke the following stanza, praising generosity (387): 

From little one should little give, from moderate means likewise, 

From much give much: of giving nothing no question can arise. 

This then I tell you, Kosiya, give alms of that is thine: 

Eat not alone, no bliss is his that by himself shall dine, 

By charity you may ascend the noble path divine.

Kosiya reluctantly offered them some porridge. Then one of the brahmins changed into a dog. The dog made water and a drop of it fell on Kosiya's hand. Kosiya went to the river to wash and then the dog made water in Kosiya's cooking pot. When Kosiya threatened him he changed into a "blood horse" and pursued Kosiya. Then Sakka and his attendants stood in the air and Sakka preached to Kosiya out of compassion and warned him of an unhappy rebirth. Kosiya came to understand the danger of stinginess. He gave away all his possessions and became an ascetic. 

We may find it difficult to part with our possessions, but when we die we cannot take them with us. Life is short: thus when we have an opportunity for generosity we should use it in order to combat selfishness. Each moment of generosity now will condition the arising of generosity in the future. 

Good deeds bring about pleasant results and bad deeds bring unpleasant results. This is the law of kamma and its fruit, of cause and effect.

[2] A deed (kamma) can produce result in the form of rebirth. 

Wholesome kamma can produce a happy rebirth and unwholesome kamma can produce an unhappy rebirth. Besides the human plane of existence, there are other planes which are happy or unhappy. Birth in the human plane or in a heavenly plane is a happy rebirth conditioned by wholesome kamma; birth in a hell plane, as a ghost or as an animal is an unhappy rebirth conditioned by unwholesome kamma. Kamma can also produce results in the form of pleasant or unpleasant sense experiences arising in the course of life. Seeing and hearing are types of consciousness that are results of kamma. We see and hear pleasant or unpleasant objects according to the kamma that produces these experiences. 

Stinginess can bring about -- either in this life or in a future life -- the very result we fear: loss of possessions.  can bring about pleasant results, such as prosperity. However, when we perform acts of generosity we should not cling to pleasant results; clinging is unwholesome. Kamma will produce its appropriate result whether we think of it or not. 

While we are giving we can have right understanding of kamma and its result, without clinging. We may do good deeds with the understanding of what wholesomeness is. As we have seen, understanding is a beautiful root which may or may not accompany wholesome consciousness. When understanding accompanies the wholesome consciousness, it increases the degree of wholesomeness. We cannot make understanding arise at will; it arises when there are conditions for it. Learning what the Buddha taught is a condition for greater understanding. 

There are still other ways of practicing generosity, even when we do not have things to give. The application of other people's good deeds is also a type of generosity. When we notice that someone else is doing a good deed we can appreciate his wholesomeness, and we may express this with words of approval and praise. 

We may be stingy not only with regard to our possessions but also with regard to words of praise. Gradually one can learn to be generous in appreciating the wholesomeness of others. 

In Thailand I had an opportunity to learn about this way of generosity, which I had not heard of before. I received a book that was printed on the occasion of the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand. This book mentioned many of her good works, such as promoting the teaching of Buddhism, supporting temples, improving the standard of living of the people in the provinces by setting up different projects for them. When one reads this one can sincerely admire and rejoice in the good works of Her Majesty. In Thailand I also often heard the Thais saying, "anumodana," which means "thanks," with the inclination of their head and clasped hands. 

This they do when they respect and appreciate the wholesomeness of others, usually on occasions of presenting food to the monks or giving books on the Buddhist teachings. It can become a wholesome custom to express one's appreciation on such occasions. 

When we know about this way of generosity we may remember to speak about others with wholesome consciousness. In the development of wholesomeness one has to be farsighted. One should realize that whatever wholesomeness or unwholesomeness one accumulates today will produce its effects in the future, even in future lives. One can become more adept in evaluating the circumstances one is in and the friends one has. One will then be able to judge whether or not one's surroundings and friends are favorable for the development of wholesomeness. 

One will know what kind of speech should be avoided, what kind of speech cultivated. Often conversation tends to be about the bad qualities of others or about useless matters which are not helpful for the development of wholesomeness. Since we often become engaged in conversation with others, we should learn how to turn the conversation into an opportunity for wholesomeness. 

Another way of generosity is the "sharing" of one's wholesome deeds with others. This does not mean that other people can receive the pleasant results of our good deeds. The Buddha taught that beings are "heirs" to their deeds. We each receive the results of the deeds we have done ourselves. Sharing wholesomeness with others means that our good deeds can be the condition for the arising of wholesome consciousness in others when they rejoice in our good deeds. We can share wholesomeness even with beings in other planes of existence, provided they are in planes where they can receive the benefits. 

The commentary to the Without the Walls Sutta 

[3] narrates that King Bimbisara offered a meal to the Buddha and omitted to dedicate his merits to other beings. Ghosts, his relatives in a former life, had hoped for this in vain, and because they were disappointed, in their despair they made a horrible screeching noise throughout the night. The Buddha explained to King Bimbisara why the ghosts had screeched. Then King Bimbisara made another offering and uttered the dedication, "Let this be for those relatives." The ghosts benefited from his gifts immediately; they had wholesome states of consciousness and their sufferings were allayed. Lotus-covered pools were generated for them in which they could bathe and drink, and they took on the color of gold. Heavenly food, heavenly clothing and heavenly palaces manifested spontaneously for their use. 

This story illustrates that one can share one's good deeds with departed ones. If one's departed relatives are not able to receive the merit, other beings can. 

It is understandable that we are sad when we lose loved ones, but if we know how to develop what is wholesome we can find great consolation. Instead of becoming filled with sadness and aversion, we should dedicate our good deeds to all those who are able to rejoice in them, then our consciousness will be wholesome. It can become our custom to share wholesomeness with others; we need not even specify to whom we wish to dedicate it. 

It is a Buddhist custom when a meal or robes are offered to monks to pour water over one's hands while the monks recite words of blessings, in order to give expression to one's intention to dedicate this deed to other beings. The water symbolizes a river which fills the ocean, and even so a wholesome deed is so plentiful that it can also be shared with others. 

Good deeds are usually classified as threefold: as generosity, morality, and mental development. This threefold classification should not be considered a rigid one. Morality, or abstinence from evil deeds, can also be seen as an aspect of generosity, as an act of kindness to others. When we abstain from evil deeds we give other beings the opportunity to live in peace, free from harm. If we want to develop generosity, we should not neglect mental development -- the development of wholesome states of mind. 

We should know when consciousness is unwholesome and when wholesome in order to develop generosity and other good qualities. Knowing more about one's different types of consciousness is mental development. 

The "stream-winner" is the noble person at the first stage of enlightenment. He has developed right understanding of the different mental and physical phenomena that appear at the present moment and has seen realities as they are. With the attainment of enlightenment he experiences Nibbana, the unconditioned reality, for the first time. At the moment of enlightenment the wrong view of self is eradicated, and with it stinginess too is destroyed. Stinginess can never arise again, and he thus has perfect generosity. An ordinary person may be able to suppress stinginess temporarily, for example, at the time of giving, but stinginess is bound to arise again so long as its accumulated tendency remains. The stream-winner, through right understanding, has eradicated the tendency to stinginess and can never be overcome by it anymore. 

Learning from the Buddha's teachings how to develop wholesomeness and to eradicate defilements is the greatest blessing. Therefore the teaching of the Dhamma, the Buddha's teaching, should be considered as the giving of the highest gift. In learning what the Buddha taught and in developing wholesomeness we correct our views about what is worthwhile striving for and what is not, about what is real and what is mere illusion. Before we heard about the Buddha's teachings we may have considered the enjoyment of pleasant sense objects to be the goal of our life. 

After we learn the Buddha's teachings we may gradually come to see that selfish attachment gives unrest of mind and that it is harmful to ourselves and others. We may come to understand that wholesomeness is beneficial both for ourselves and for others, that it brings peace of mind. 

Our outlook on what is worthwhile in life can change. We correct our views about reality when we understand what wholesome kamma is and what unwholesome kamma is, when we understand that kamma brings its appropriate result. We correct our views when we understand that not a self but different types of consciousness, wholesome and unwholesome, motivate our deeds, when we understand that these types of consciousness arise because of different conditioning factors. 

There are many degrees of correcting one's views. By developing understanding of realities the wrong view of self can be eradicated, and thereby perfect generosity can emerge. The effect of learning the Dhamma should be that we become less selfish and more generous, that we have more genuine concern for other people. 

Notes:

  

1. Though the PTS translation reads "one gives alms on one's own accord," the accuracy of this translation is questionable. The sutta seems to record motives for giving in ascending order of refinement. If the PTS translation is accepted, the order is disturbed. Moreover, asajja is the gerund of asadeti, which means to strike, offend, assail, insult. 

2. See Nyanaponika Thera, The Roots of Good and Evil (Wheel No. 251/253).  

3. See Kamma and Its Fruit (Wheel No. 221/224). 

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This essay was excerpted from  The Practice of Giving : Selected essays edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi The Wheel Publication No. 367/369   Buddhist Publication Society.      

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