:: Buddhapadipa Thai Temple

When we hear the word Dana, those of us that are familiar to the temple and it’s every day life, will probably think of the offerings that people bring to the venerable monks.

It is said that those who give alms are bestowed with a fourfold blessing; being a long life, good appearance and happiness and strength.

Most of us would welcome these blessings. Even so this shouldn’t be the reason why we give anything to any one. It is best for us if we have noble intention when giving and just that. Giving for giving’s sake and then directly from our hearts. We give because that is what we want to do and without any thought at all, of any reward or return for ourselves.
So Dana is giving and it counteracts any selfishness and greed that we may harbour in our being.

Dana also is the first kind of meritorious activity. We are talking about Dana tonight and the many forms it can take. The most obvious form that we may think of is of a material nature. We can give someone what they need, when they need it. That literally means giving them what they need and not something that we don’t want just so that we can be rid of it ourselves. If we were to meet a man in the desert who was dying from a lack of water. We give him water. A pile of money would be of no use at all to him. Circumstances decide ours and others needs. And needs are different to wants.

To give and then to let go and be happy and be glad that we have made someone else happy. But that is all; we have to remember that the recipient of our gift owes us nothing. We gave, they accepted our gift and that is all there is to it. There was once a young novice monk here called Mitti, he once told me that the best way of giving is to hide it behind the Buddha’s statue. A figure of speech which means that we don’t have to make a big show of our giving. We could even give and no one else may know of it. That is true Dana. Praise from others for our offerings isn’t necessary; it’s our giving from our hearts that is necessary.

Dana isn’t just about giving to monks; it’s about giving, period. Those of us with families know all about giving. We give and take in these relationships. There would be no harmonious living if this wasn’t so. But even in these situations there are some who take more than they give. It’s then that resentments can form and build and often do so. This scenario make us realise that our giving has to have no strings attached Strings tie and bind us. No string and we are free. There is no happiness in being bound. We can also give Dana with physical work. We can do what needs to be done for someone with our physical labour and maybe the use of some skill we have. Our bodies then give Dana. We use our strength for another’s benefit. Another great way to give Dana is with loving words. To comfort and console another in their sorrow is a very Noble way to give Dana. Also to share in another’s joy is equally a way of giving Dana.

There is also Dana of the heart; it should all be Dana of the heart, however true Dana of the heart is true beauty in action. It comes from love and is filled with love. The Buddha demonstrated this many times in his life as the Buddha and in his previous lives.
In the basket of conduct texts there are ten such accounts. In our modern times there is a true story, which happened in San Francisco a few years back. A man was driving over the big red bridge, as you may know there are toll booths, and as the man stopped to pay his toll, he said to the cashier to take for the vehicle behind also. When the next car drew up and went to pay, the cashier told him that it was already taken care of. The driver was astounded and pleased and he had no idea who his benefactor was at all. From this action was born the slogan, Practice random kindness and senseless acts of Beauty. This doesn’t mean senseless as in a stupid way, but senseless as in being spontaneous in an act of generosity. A kind heart ultimately becomes a happy heart.

When we give we gain merit. This isn’t, of course the reason why we give, however we gain the merit anyway. Good deeds will bring us happiness in the future because of the Karmic law of cause and effect, as taught by the Buddha. Giving brings benefits in the present life and in lives to come. The amount of merit gained is determined according to three factors, the first is our motive in giving, the second is the spiritual purity of the recipient and the third is the kind and size of the gift.

It’s best if we use wisdom in our acts of giving, especially in a premeditated act of generosity. A fundamental distinction is made between acts of giving that lack wisdom and those that are accompanied by wisdom. I read an example of this and it was of a young girl placing flowers on a shrine, simply because her mother told her to, it was a good act, yes, but unfortunately the girl had no idea of the significance of her act.
And so we can see that generosity with wisdom before, during and after the act is the highest type of giving.

There is a lovely story, in the Dhammapada Commentary, about a man called Sivali.
At the time of Vipassi Buddha, a previous Buddha, the citizens of a country were competing with their king to see who could make the greatest offerings to the Buddha and the Sangha. The citizens had obtained everything for their offering, except fresh honey. So they sent out messengers, each with plenty of money, to obtain the missing item. One of these men met a villager, who happened to be bringing a newly harvested honeycomb into the city to sell. The messenger was only able to buy it from the peasant when he had offered his entire allowance of a thousand pieces of money, which of course was far more than a single honeycomb, was worth. When offered so much money for his wares, the villager said, “Are you crazy? This honey isn’t worth a farthing, yet you offer me a thousand coins for it” The messenger told him that the honey was worth so much to him because it was the final item on the menu for the citizens offering to the Buddha.
The peasant spontaneously replied that if that were the case he would not sell it to him for a price. He added that if he may receive the merit of the offering, then he would give it to him.

The citizens were impressed by the faith of this man who so readily gave up a windfall, and so they enthusiastically agreed that he should receive the merit of the offering.
Because of this simple gift the villager was born numerous times in the celestial planes and eventually became the prince who inherited the throne of Benares. In his final lifetime he became the Elder Sivali and attained Arahatship as a disciple of the present Buddha. The gift of the honeycomb continued to bear fruit, then, for aeons.

So we must, I feel, come to the conclusion, that giving is good for all of us to do. Sometimes we will be the recipients and some times the donors, its all swings and roundabouts anyway. I found a poem on the internet. It was written by a young American boy and the verses were reportedly engraved on the wall of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta. It’s called anyway. I believe it’s about Dana in all of its forms.

People are often unreasonable, illogical
And self centred,
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you,
Of selfish ulterior motives,
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
False friends and some true enemies,
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
Someone cold destroy overnight,
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
They may be jealous,
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
People will often forget tomorrow,
Do good any way.

Give the world the best you have,
It may never be enough,
Give the world the best you have anyway.

That’s the talk on Dana, although there is much more that could be said. We all know what it means really, don’t we?