The Perfection of Giving in Buddhism

In Buddhism we can find advice on how to live a noble life as we embark on a path towards enlightenment. Regardless of your belief system these teachings can assist in bringing clarity towards your intentions and actions in life and can aid in shifting delusion, ill will and greed by stepping away from egocentric practices. Through this focus one can generate greater compassion and an appreciation for life “as it comes” rather than as “it should be”.

The Buddha talked about Dana (The Perfection of Giving) in relation to the teaching of ‘The Six Paramitas’ or ‘The Six Perfections of Character’ (there are 10 listed in Theravadan Buddhism). The Six Paramitas are the perfection of giving, morality (proper conduct), patience (or tolerance), effort, meditation and wisdom (or discernment) and are to be cultivated if we wish to move away from suffering towards peacefulness and happiness.

Dana : The Generosity of Giving

The Perfection of Giving is considered to be one of the first Paramitas to be developed as it develops the skill of metta (loving-kindness). As we develop greater metta we awaken our hearts furthering unconditional giving and selflessness. It is important to highlight that being the giver and being the receiver are of equal importance in this interaction. The Western awkwardness of “politely” rejecting gifts whether they be material, time, money or work, does not allow for a harmonised experience of giving and receiving. This conditioning of politeness can show us how far our conditioning can throw us from peaceful living. By denying a person the opportunity to give, we deny them the joy of giving and developing their metta further.

Giving and receiving arise as one, you cannot give without having a receiver and you cannot receive without having a giver so both sides must be respected in equal measure.

A personal experience of caring and rearing two wild-born black rats from the age of 1-week old to 6-weeks provided me with my first taste of selfless giving. In their pure innocence and vulnerability of needing to be cared for in order to survive, they gave me my first real taste of selflessness and the pureness and joy of giving.

To be accomplished in The Generosity of Giving can be expected like so:

“What is accomplishment in generosity? Here, a noble disciple dwells at home with a mind free from the stain of miserliness, freely generous, open-handed, delighting in relinquishment, devoted to charity, delighting in giving and sharing. This is called accomplishment in generosity.” 

AN 4:61, NDB 450

The Eight Reasons For Giving

The Buddha mentions eight reasons that we may give a gift and these eight reasons can be interpreted as moving from lower levels of awareness filled with greed, delusion and hatred towards higher levels of awareness that bring us closer to our enlightened selves. These are as follows:

1. One gives a gift from desire.

2. One gives a gift from hatred.

3. One gives a gift from delusion.

4. One gives a gift from fear.

5. One gives a gift based in mental conditioning and obligation, thinking, ‘Giving was practiced before by my father and forefathers; I should not abandon this ancient family custom’.

6. One gives a gift in consideration of good kamma in the next life, thinking: ‘Having given this gift, with the breakup of the body, after death, I will be reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world

7. One gives a gift for the purpose of joy, thinking: ‘When I am giving this gift my mind becomes placid, and elation and joy arise.’

8. One gives a gift for the purpose of ornamenting or beautifying the mind and increasing the skill of metta.

As you move down the list of reasons for giving, the giver becomes less and less identified with themselves as an individual needing to accomplish something in life and more in tune with the wholesomeness of the practice where the giver and receiver are one. As we develop this practice we move away from expecting outcomes from our gift giving realising that the act of giving is to let go of the ego rather than to fuel it further.

The next time you find yourself involved in the act of giving, give yourself the opportunity to reflect before, during and after on the above points. Perhaps you can identify the intention behind your gift giving based on one or more of the points. Where possible avoid rational thinking and reasoning from taking charge and instead be aware that this action is resulting in mental proliferation (trying to “figure it all out”). Be aware that the act of giving felt like this and trust in the present moment awareness where no action is needed to be taken and the awareness itself is all that’s needed.

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