Dharma Talk by Dr. Reeves - Generosity

"Generosity"
June 03, 2001

The Rev. George Mullins, an Episcopal minister from Australia, gave a talk as a personal testimony. He showed a picture of a tree near the precious Sputa of the One Vehicle, in which Founder Nikkyo Niwano's remains are resting. The central trunk of the tree looked dead, but it is surrounded by many new branches with green leaves. Referring to this tree, Mullins said that even though the lifetime of a human being is limited and not eternal, as we see with the passing of Founder Niwano in 1999, the Dharma taught by the Founder has been enthusiastically inherited by his disciples, and thus is flourishing eternally.Then Dr. Gene Reeves gave his Dharma talk entitled as "Generosity."

The bodhisattva way, which can be understood simply as doing good or being helpful for others, is advocated in the Lotus Sutra. Within the traditions of Buddhism there are many ideas about the bodhisattva path, but one of the practices found throughout Buddhism is generosity, the first of the six bodhisattva practices or "perfections" (generosity, morality, patient endurance of hardship, persistence, concentration and wisdom).

"Generosity is a translation of the Sanskrit Buddhist term dana. It has been translated into Japanese as fuse, the original meaning of which is to give coins, especially to monks.

There is a story about a king and his three sons, namely Mahapranada, Mahadeva and Mahasattva. One day the king took the three princes for a walk in the garden. The boys wandered off by themselves into the woods, where they met a female tiger with five cubs who had just been born. The mother tiger was so exhausted after delivery that she could not move to get food for her hungry, newborn cubs. The three princes were afraid of the tigress, but they did not have anything to give to feed her. These princes discussed with each other "What should we dofor this tigress?"

Mahasattva, then, decided to give his body to feed the tigress and threw his body in front of her. But she did not try to eat him. Realizing that she hardly had enough energy to move, Mahasattva cut himself with a bamboo stick, so that the smell of his blood stimulated the tigress to eat his body.

We are told that Mahasattva later became Shakyamuni Buddha, and that having made such an extreme act of generosity was a cause of his enlightenment. This story illustrates extreme generosity in order to encourage people to become more generous.

There are two meanings of "generosity" in English. The first is liberality in giving, which can be translated into Japanese as kandai, and the other is freedom from smallness or narrowness of mind, which corresponds to the Japanese phrase kokoro ga hiroi. Dr. Reeves said that both of these two meanings are included in the Buddhist notion of dana and correspond to the Japanese translation of fuse whose broad meaning includes both being generous in giving and openness.

Dr. Reeves explained several types of generosity. Making donations of money or things to others and to organizations is a basic component of giving and generosity. Most religious organizations, for example, have to have donations to survive.

However, in the Lotus Sutra, more important than giving money or things is to give the Dharma to others. One who has the received the Dharma from others is to pass it on to others, so that Dharma-wheel rolls on and on.

The so-called transference of blessings is also a sign of generosity. In Chapter 7 of the Lotus Sutra we find:

"May the blessing from this recitation
extend to all,
That we with all the living
together attain the Buddha way."


This is a kind of generosity related in the Lotus Sutra. The purpose of this expression is to open our hearts to share what we have done with others. From this sense we can understand that we are a part of wide and extensive community, and that we recite not only for individual benefit but for the benefit of others as well.

In addition to these meanings, moral support or encouragement is also a kind of embodiment of generosity. The Founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, Nikkyo Niwano, was always very generous with his smile. It always encouraged us and was a kind of gift.
The other side of generosity is openness. This might mean exercising skills of listening so that one is really able to hear others. Listening to people who are angry or disappointed may require an extra effort, but it will heal those people.

To be generous, not only in giving, but in having an open attitude toward others or other religious movements is also an act of generosity and the mark of a generous person. Thus, we should never say that all truths are in Buddhism.The Lotus Sutra teaches that wherever and whenever people are doing good the dharma is present, whether or not anyone has ever heard of Buddhism. In this sense, the important notion of generosity can be understood not only as giving, a kind of outgoing, but also as receiving, a kind of welcoming. Thus there are both directions to generosity, namely away from attachment to things and to self and away from selfishness and self-centeredness.

Dr. Reeves concluded by referring briefly to Chapter 17 of the Lotus Sutra, which teaches how to be generous.

It says if we are generous we will be rewarded. But if we are generous in order to be rewarded, we will be disappointed. This tells us we should be generous both in the sense of giving and in sense of openness toward others. But if our real intention is to gain rewards, then we are the opposite of generous."Let us be generous with one another!"