Dana Paramita

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any standards good morning
it's a beautiful morning the first weekend of autumn of this year
it's really really nice out
so today we're having a a fundraising event
right after this lecture which will have food and wonderful music and
a variety of activities and raffle and silent raffles and a a tour of one of our remodeled apartments and all of this is ah
the arising of
donna or generosity in this in this community as it arises in our practice
and in our life ah and as it's a it's a core it's one of the perfections to first perfection
of the bodhisattva ah
oh donna generosity the bar meta or as suzuki roshi put it donna project part of me to because
this act of free giving his ah
suffused with wisdom
with selfless wisdom on self centered wisdom
so i'm going to talk about that a little today
added the same time i feel
cold
i don't feel like i can sit here
in the seat and not
acknowledge see ah
the police killings of terence crutcher in tulsa
and of keith lamont scott in charlotte north carolina and then it seems this morning there was
ah a mass shooting in
berlin can washington
of ah still undetermined course and i think that the the gunman is still at large
so this
obviously
there's fear and there's vile instead is
how deeply imprinted in our society and it's deeply imprinted in each of us and i'm no exception to that
and i don't have
any effective
systematic ah idea of how to transform that a various approaches that i think
would be useful and quite frankly i think the most useful thing would be just
the get rid of guns
because all of us have
afflicted of emotions fear all of us have violence within us
and when there's a gun at hand
he's going to get used
so i'm not going to expand on that
much
but it's certainly something i think that each of us needs to be talking about
in our day to day life we need to be talking about that as a question as we decide whom we wish to vote for the upcoming elections
and what we need to do is to turn this inside out
it's not that we're going to get rid of the fears that we have
but the action of giving
which involves the identity of the giver
the receiver
the gift
the mutuality of receiving and giving
that has to me that's a context for transforming
our behaviors transforming what we do in the world so that ah
who we give we give as buddhas
rather than giving as
diluted beings
so i just felt that i could not
sit here and not acknowledge that that's happening
and
i'm also hoping hoping having
you know kinda hoping this
really painful subject i'm also there's room for
there's room for joy is room for celebration is room for community and to me community ah
in the widest sense
her recognition
of our mutuality is
the best remedy i can think of the best antidote i can think of for the
more negative sides of our society
so we can have a hopefully we'll have a good time as afternoon this morning and i a certain point i'm gonna steal away to a park behind ah
city hall because there's an ah an old time music
the festival going on this weekend is a contest which ah i'm expecting to lose
but will play old time music ah so this word donna
you find it in sanskrit and pali and it's we translated often as generosity or given
it also means
ah
letting go relinquishing
but in that
had the essence of of donna is ah
the creation of relationship
so i've often talked and in the past i've i come back to have a book that some of you may have read
by lewis hyde it's called the gift a read it
yeah ah it was one of our dormice is demille scots favorite books and it's a ah it's a kind of
oh
very ah
a view that includes anthropology and include spirituality spirituality include psychoanalysis that includes literature and it looks at
the way giving
and receiving shape the world that we
that we encounter has individuals and as as a community
so in buddhist terms ah there's constant flow of giving
on the most basic level there's the giving of material things
of food medicine
ah shelter
clothing
and then there's also the given of the teachings
which is partly what we do here every saturday week we share the buddhist teachings
had interestingly
in the in the conventional interpretation of donna ah there's also the giving of fearlessness
that that's one of the that's fun of the highest and deepest gifts and that's that's actually it's not separate from the teaching of of gamma
because this fearlessness he is at the heart of our aspiration to be able to meet each circumstance each moment as it arises ah from this moment right now
to the last moment and last breath of our life

and on the highest level the by the way they're having a ceremony down the block at the thai temple
i'm not i think it might be the end of the rains retreat i'm not sure does anyone know
anyway
within this act of giving his ha
connection and relationship and so ah lewis hyde talks about this ah
there's a story that he tells about having dinner you know
yeah an inexpensive restaurant in a village in the south of france
ah he writes the patrons sit at a long communal table
and each finds before his plate a modest bottle of wine
before the meal begins one person will pour wine in not into his or her own glass but into his neighbors
and the neighbor will return the gesture filling the first persons empty glass
in an economic sense nothing has happened
no one has any more wine
then they would have if they had poured their own class
but society has appeared
where there was none before
relationship has a beard and this is very much ah
you know if you visit japan the the custom is to poor t
for the person you're next to and same thing with saki you know you so it's all within this context of building relationship ha you know andina you know if we're looking at things through an economic lens while
that doesn't make any sense can be erotic you could just as well aboard the wine for yourself but there's something different going on and that is donna pressure power meter
and so it's the circular activity of it's a living ritual
ah ritual nodded some dry sense but but in in a beautiful warm human sense ah

often when you have
when you google these buddhist or zinn
topics ah
it's often not surprising that what comes up as some lecture by sojourn
that's because our while they've really good lectures but it's also because for years we used to post our lectures we we supposed and we still do post excerpts of lectures online and that's all searchable and you know they made me more of your lectures than most other
people

to get some good thing yeah
for often left side effects and god
that may be who you know
but there's a lecture that dove from chap wilson center that i i came across this week or
ah
about donna and so generous she says pure donna is giving beyond any special purpose of attachment given for the sake of giving itself
says we donate money or we give someone a present and we look for feedback can you put my name on a plaque
or did you like it harm
there's generosity there he says there's generosity there but it's easily tainted
there are many levels of generosity
pure generosity is simply giving and forgetting
we say the emptiness of the giver the gift and the one who receives
so with an empty hand i offer an empty gift to an empty receiver and pure gratitude arises
simply giving is enough
sometimes it is beneficial to given gift anonymously
but even if we give a good if gift anonymously
we should be careful about pride
all of our all of these tainted aspects or dualistic ultimately the greatest gift is a free offering
ah

for bodhisattva for resent i'm still according from his lecture for a bodhisattva for a zen student the gift of dharma is most important dharma is freely given without any thought of return
throughout the year we gives us an instruction to people but never expect anything return to
it's only one who acts as an instruction this morning
okay well great welcome ah
we don't expect you to get your check books out not necessary
ah but you're being here is really feels good
ah we simply give the gift without any expectation because giving without expectation is an expression as of our inmost nature
ah when we come to practice
this is ideally
but it's also actually when we come to practice we bring our ego and we laid at the foot of the buddha sometimes we may not be aware that that's what we're doing but
that's what we're doing simply by coming to practice and sitting zazen hob
we bring our ego and we laid at the foot of the defeat of buddha
my old teacher used to say that we are half ordinary being and half buddha
but when one finally comes to practice and has a realization of what that is
one can offer oneself to practice freely giving even though problems arise
sometimes we resist that we resist we have a resistance to the difficulties of experience but nevertheless even though there is resistance
we freely give ourselves without expectations and little by little our ego becomes absorbed by buddha
given time i let buddha lead and i follow
the severely helpful teaching
i wanna go back to something in that first paragraph and in touch back with ha
another piece by lewis hyde
hum
so surgeon says so with an empty hand actually this is my favorite sentence of the whole thing so with an empty hand i offer an empty gift to an empty receiver and pure gratitude arises
so this question of gratitude
ha
this is part of the whole process of giving
gratitude arises
the ability to give can bring forth gratitude in a pure way in the giver and it can bring forth gratitude in a pure way in the receiver
ha and so what loose hide
says and says the languages is complicated but ah
let the share this ah
i would like to speak of gratitude as a labour undertaken by the soul
to affect the transformation after a gift has been received
concept to make sense it's complicated i would like to speak of gratitude as a labour undertaken so it's the inner work
that is not even this really consciously done it's the inner workings it's something that happens within us
after a gift has been received and i think it happens within both parties the giver and receiver
so then he says between the time a gift comes to us so somebody cause me somebody gives me as his cup of water
ah and the time we pass it along
so i made if you were all thursday which you may be i would pass my cup to you harm
but between the time the gift comes to us and the time we pass it along we suffer gratitude
that's really interesting expression that's using the word suffer in in a very broad sense ah
ah
like in the i think it's a biblical line suffer the little children yes
it means allow that's right so so we allow gratitude
but there's something very subtle and language that that lou hide is using here i think her because
there can also be this
slight coloration of suffering
because we're aware
that
gratitude is going to fade the gratitude is of this moment it's alive when the gift is being given
and then it's moment will pass which is actually fine we can suffer we can all we can use suffer as allow
and if we're caught on ourselves if we're caught in this
this matter of pride as as sojourn roshi was talking about then ah
then we're going to suffer
because the
the good feeling that we have
in the giving her in the receiving is only momentary
and the act is to to keep this in circulation
ah
so between the time for gif comes to us and the time we pass it along we suffer gratitude
moreover with gifts that are agents of change
ideas teachings
harrison if you will
ah
it's only when the gift has worked in us
that we can give it away again
in other words if we receive a teaching
until we have embodied that teaching
really taken it in really digested it
ah we're not effectively going to be able to pass it along but if we have really taken it in you know say
selling sites like today i think that that courtney with as as instructor right so corny has been sitting here a long time so she's led g has suffered gratitude and let the gift the excuse me for
you know i don't want to put you on the spot but you know you've allowed that gift to work on you so that
you can freely offered back to other people then it's it's free giving
so when it's on
with gifts that are agents of change it's only when the gift has worked on us that we can give it away again
and passing along he read in finishes his pair of seen passing along the gift
is the act of gratitude that finishes the labour i will oats a personal gift is the is an expression of our gratitude that that complete it
so if you think of ah the monastic the buddhist monastic tradition
ah if you go you can still see this in in south and southeast asia every morning the monks and nuns go out in on arms rounds
ah so they carry
a big bowl
sometimes it's just a big old metal bowl or lacquer and they go from house to house
handed each house where someone is able they they will put some food in the bowl
so they begin with by carrying around emptiness
yeah this this empty thing which
ah
in a ways is the embodiment of who we are
and food is put in this bowl they go back and ah they receive it gratefully because that is actually the food that they eat ah
and
they eat they are nourished
and then what they're doing is they're offering their practice
back
to the community so because they are offering their practice and because people see that these
monks and nuns are
practicing
for everyone
people are happy to support them and give them food
and so this circle of giving
begins
or continues

dogan zingy who we talk about endlessly
ah
here
ah spoke of a donna
hidden not a farcical called the bodies thought that she shall bow the bodhisattvas for embracing dharmas
and it's very interesting ah the beginning of the of this teaching he says giving are offering means not being greedy
said means like not holding on wanting things to hold onto these things for myself
and then he says not been greedy means not to covet
not to want what others have
and then he goes to really interesting place ah he says not to covet commonly means not to flatter
so he moves
he moved from this bodhisattva principle of giving to what is what gets in the way for us
in this practice of giving
and then he sort of pins port pin pointed to a key zeroes in on ah
how we relate to each other
when you flatter someone
it's usually because
you want something from them
in fact i think it's invariably because you want something from them you may want a word or phrase you may want a material thing we may want a verbal thing or even just an attitude but ah basically
he saying that ah
we should treat everything and everyone has a gift
and we should be freely in this cycle of giving and receiving and to be grateful for whatever is given to us even when it's not given to us directly and the is is beautiful line
in this guineans first paragraph he says we give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the togheter to the buddha's
ha so we have the ability
because we are part of everything and everything that's part of us
we can give what even ah doesn't
seemingly belong to us
we can appreciate that and give it along and give and give it with gratitude
and this has the ability
to return to to the
environment of fear
that we encounter
dobyns says when a person who practices donna generosity
comes into an assembly
other people watch that person
with admiration
we should know that the mind of such a person quietly reaches others
and then he gets very practical he says to launch a boat or build a bridge is the practice of donna meter
when we understand the meaning of donna
receiving a body lower body and giving up our body are both offerings
earning a livelihood and managing a business or nothing other than donna
trusting flowers to the wind interesting birds to the season
may also be the
beneficial action of donna
and then he has his this zinger
ah
this says the mind of a sentient being is difficult to change le pen
de nada it's like it's we're really stubborn which is a great quality but it's difficult for us to change
he says we begin to transform the mind of living beings by offering material things and we resolve to continue to transform them until they attain the way
the vastness or narrowness of mind cannot be measured and as if we can't say what small watch large we just
we dedicate ourselves to this act of giving
and the greatest and smallness of material things which can be given cannot be weighed
but there are times when our mind turns things
and there is offering
in which things turn our mind
those things are also they're not just the things that are given there's the there
the beings that are given giving and the act of giving itself and that is transformative
so i'm i'm going to stop there i had promised to pupils in ah
a reasonable time today because resource to go outside
but i wanted to create some to offer some context for ah
what we're doing here today and it's not just were doing this because there's a fundraising event it's said we're giving and receiving every moment
is receiving
in every exhalation is keeping force
and if we keep that in mind
we can suffer gratitude again and again
breath after breath
so if you have any comments or questions we have we have a few minutes
ross
i have started towards the end of your top regard to retrieve the idea that he might not want ah so it's easy for me that
your gratitude and appreciation among friends and family when i'm even go
if that brings happiness and whatnot and i think about the time i receive something from somebody that either intentionally or not
either hurt physically emotionally and how
one can use that as a year and transform it into something that
know the intention may not have been
such because if we think about
we're always giving an oceanography
yeah well the often that's words right
worth thoughts yeah yeah
know
often what happens for me is that
i'll hear something of that that i perceived to be of that nature
and i have a reaction
had my practices to watch that reaction and also my and then ah
to try not to
be reactive not to not to give that back ah but i'm pretty much
he bought at this point to once a step back from the ah
the immediate neuro transmitters that are making me and you know feel like i'd like to get a gun you know which that doesn't happen but ah but you want to you want to have you want to have your retribution perhaps ah
i sit with that
and i literally asked myself
what is the gift here is there's something true
is there there's always some that actually what i records there's always something that i can learn
ah you know even in something that seems really off the wall or really painful so i trust that a soldier oh she said say thank you to kind of stuff one from reacting and we thank you to acknowledges receipt of the words and deed or what have you
in and you say you can look won't ever forget
yeah i start to play it by ear a beat i mean
thank you you know
if you can think thank you and say thank you that's good and in whatever the interaction is thank you might be a provocative expression you know so side i just don't play that by year you know
but i also i really do i don't stop thinking about it and i don't it's like it'll stay with me until i have figured
what is the what is a nugget of truth in this ah so i'm i'm great that's
really
i think of something that comes with practice today
things connected to these very common phrases we have giving in
something about sending someone sits in that seat city and encouraging word
that's the connected giving in giving up
i don't think i mean i think that those words are quite
ambiguous ah i don't think that
i think there's a distinction between acceptance and resignation
you know giving enter giving up maybe acceptance it also may be
resignation were just allowing yourself to be defeated you know allowing yourself to be oppressed ah and you know i don't recommend that you know and in order to this is why we have sanga we have sanga so that we have
we have friends who have hopefully wholesome values ah when that when the
the question comes up am i am i letting go or am i giving up you know there's a difference between those but sometimes i can't see that with with total clarity myself i need the help of of friends
yeah
your i encountered my daily life and work individuals organizations institutions that are pretty driven by greed
the there's stealing
how do i express in
in each
those

i think i'd go back to something in baja
a sermon by martin luther king that
that i've spoken up before are you distinguish between
the individual and the action
what dr king says is
you love individuals which does not miss her mean like them right ah but you
clearly take a position
in relation to actions
so ah i mean i think in a in a practical way
it means not turning away from any be not rejecting the person
but sometimes you know it's like in the the song race in our hero about the bodhisattva never disparage ah his great libraries where it says he just runs off to a safe distance then he turns around and says i will never disparage you it's like yeah you've gotta have some
you have get some boundaries yep some distance you know it's like ah
you have to be careful but still recognize even in these greedy beings
there's the workings of buddha
not what their actions are but who they are
so if that makes sense i think we should we need to end but thank you very much