Giving from the Heart
The Practice of Giving
The Buddha said that the practice of giving will aid us in our efforts to purify the mind. Generous gifts accompanied by wholesome volition help to eradicate suffering in three ways. First, when we decide to give something of our own to someone else, we simultaneously reduce our attachment to the object; to make a habit of giving can thus gradually weaken the mental factor of craving, one of the main causes of unhappiness. Second, giving accompanied by wholesome volition will lead to happy future births in circumstances favorable to encountering and practicing the pure Buddha Dhamma. Third, and most important, when giving is practiced with the intention that the mind becomes pliant enough for the attainment of Nibbana, the act of generosity will help us develope virtue, concentration and wisdom (sila, samadhi, pañña) right in the present. These three stages make up the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, and perfecting the path leads to the extinction of suffering.
by Susan Elbaum Jootla
'My wealth has been enjoyed, my dependents supported, protected from calamities by me. I have given supreme offerings & performed the five oblations. I have provided for the virtuous, the restrained, followers of the holy life. For whatever aim a wise householder would desire wealth, that aim I have attained. I have done what will not lead to future distress.' When this is recollected by a mortal, a person established in the Dhamma of the Noble Ones, he is praised in this life and, after death, rejoices in heaven.
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Giving is good, even if it is little. If the generosity is given with a wholesome motivation, it yields good fruits.
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Giving is good, even if it is little. If the generosity is given with a wholesome motivation, it yields good fruits.
"In giving a meal, the donor gives five things to the recipient. Which five?
He/she gives life, beauty, happiness, strength, and quick-wittiness.
Having given life, he/she has a share in long life, either human or divine.
Having given beauty, he/she has a share in beauty, either human or divine.
Having given happiness, he/she has a share in happiness, either human or divine.
Having given strength, he/she has a share in strength, either human or divine.
Having given quick-wittiness, he/she has a share in quick-wittiness, either human or divine.
In giving a meal, the donor gives these five things to the recipient."
The enlightened person giving life, strength, beauty, quick-wittiness — the wise person, a giver of happiness — attains happiness himself. Having given life, strength, beauty, happiness, and quick-wittiness, he has long life and status wherever he arises.
— AN 5.37