Generosity
GENEROSITY IS CENTRAL to Buddhist practice and manifests in many ways: giving of material support to those in need; giving of spiritual advice to those in despair; giving of love to those who are abandoned; or giving of protection to those who are threatened. Beginning with the recognition that they are not yet generous, Buddhists engage in a way of life that cultivates generosity. The practice of Buddhism is an ethical, psychological and philosophical challenge to the habit of selfishness. It embraces the whole of one's life, is humbly aware of one's mortality, and aims at contentment for oneself and others.
Principles and Values
THE FIRST QUESTIONS are those arising from the unavoidable facts of birth, sickness, ageing and death, concerning the nature, origins and transcendence of which Buddhists seek enlightenment. Buddhists all over the world follow both the example of the historical Buddha, as well as that of subsequent teachers, to find a way to reach such enlightenment. These ways and the philosophies that underlie them differ according to the cultures in which the traditions have arisen.
Gautama, the historical Buddha, emphasised the importance of both self-reliance and pragmatism in defining one's own practice. Historically, the major developments in Buddhist thought and practice have come about as responses to the specific demands of new situations. Today, as Buddhism encounters a world transformed by science and technology, it is challenged to draw on its insights in a way that responds effectively to the crises of our times while remaining true to the values of its traditions.
The task of Buddhists is to create, sustain and exemplify a way of living that embodies Buddhist values. This is particularly important at a time when religious and spiritual values - simplicity, generosity, kindness - are seen by many as irrelevant to tackling the world's problems. Buddhists have the responsibility not only to keep alive but to make the flame of such values burn more brightly.
The principal Buddhist values are concerned with directing one's life around the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. "Buddha" refers to the state of wisdom and compassion realised by Buddha Gautama who lived in India around the 6th century BCE, and subsequently by his followers. The realisation of such wisdom and compassion is a possibility open to all human beings -irrespective of their social position, sex, race etc. As long as there exist people in the world who personify these values, Buddhism can be said to be a living spiritual tradition. A contemporary example of the Buddha principle would be Tenzin Gyatso, the present Dalai Lama of Tibet, who, through his skills in interpreting the Buddhist teachings to meet present needs, embodies wisdom, and through effectively serving as political leader for his exiled people embodies the compassion many Buddhists seek to emulate.
The way of life the Buddha personified and taught is the "Dharma." Two and a half thousand years ago Gautama taught that temporary material welfare is not the be all and end all of human existence; that the aim of human life is the transformation of the individual from a self-centred, greed-driven way of being to one that is other-centred and greed-free. For change to be genuine, it must begin in an authentic change in the human heart. The Dharma is the way whereby Buddhists seek to realise such change. It is revealed in words through the recorded teachings of the Buddha and his interpreters and through experience by the actualisation of those instructions in one's own life. Although Buddhist practices vary from tradition to tradition, they are all concerned with effecting such a liberating transformation of the individual.
"Sangha," the third central value in Buddhism, means "community." The realisation of the wisdom and compassion taught by the Buddha is not a solitary affair but one grounded in living relationships with those likewise committed to such a way of life. In a narrow sense, "Sangha" refers to the communities of ordained monks and nuns, i.e. those who symbolise the values of Buddhism by their very vocation. In a broader, practical sense it refers to those around one - friends, teachers, colleagues - who affirm and clarify one's spiritual values. And in the widest sense, such a community encompasses all living beings, implying that the potential for wisdom and compassion are present in every relationship into which one enters, and that all human beings can turn from delusion and greed towards enlightenment and detachment.
Wants and Needs
THE BUDDHIST VIEW of the kind of world we live in is based on an understanding of the nature and origins of suffering. The suffering we experience has its origin in the delusion of perceiving oneself as an isolated independent being, existing in a world of isolated independent things. Such a sense of separation of oneself from the world is the basis for the innate belief that by amassing quantities of things which one associates with pleasure, one will eventually secure a lasting and stable happiness. This is the assumption from whence greed develops into an insatiable habit. It has as its corollary aversion to whatever is seen to stand in the way to such happiness. Since this selfishness and greed are based on an irrational basis (although this may be supported by sophisticated rationalisations), to undermine it requires spiritual practice. Adoptinga world-view that sees life in this way will help, but without committed practice will have little effect on habituallyntrenched ways of behaviour.
Buddhism seeks a middle way between sensual indulgence and the extremes of life-denying asceticism. To lead fulfilled lives, human beings require the provision of basic necessities: nutritious food, warm and dry housing, adequate clothing, medical care etc. It is only when one is driven by the insatiable demands of greed to believe that additional wants to these are in fact needs, that problems begin. Buddhism criticises consumerism on precisely these grounds: that the level of greed is stimulated to a degree that is not only unnecessary to meet one's needs but, contrary to its avowed claim to bring happiness, actually increases disatisfaction, frustration and suffering.
Moreover, such a lifestyle is damaging to the natural environment, leads to exploitation of the underprivileged, and in the long term is unsustainable. At the time of the Buddha, the simple fact of accumulating wealth did not entail large-scale environmental destruction or social injustice. The Buddhist approach emphasises enhancing the quality of life without damaging either the present environment or the prospects of others. This is not an appeal to poverty, but rather the advocation of simplicity -a quality that becomes increasingly attractive the more one's life accords to the values taught by the Buddha.
Traditionally, Buddhism spoke of greed, aversion and delusion as the three mental poisons. In Asian agrarian economies, such poisons could largely be contained within the immediate environment of human beings. Now it is as though they have spilled beyond the borders of the human mind to poison, quite literally, the earth, the seas and rivers, the very air we breathe. A Buddhist economic agenda therefore emphasises a profound re-evaluation of needs over wants.
The Practice of Generosity
by Stephen Batchelor
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