From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EJ7n2Wnb2Ts

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

[Music]

so

okay so not to fear no dependent

origination tonight

no links

just a fun talk

this talk is about the subject of donna

or generosity and giving

and there's going to be a number of

little suttas that i've kind of pulled

out of things

and it's kind of fun stuff you know i

always enjoyed

the the subject of generosity when i

started going through this whole process

because

it you know you start talking about the

benefits of it

and it's really kind of exciting

you know it's things that you can do

to

make things better you know we're all

looking for our 401ks

well this is the donna 01k or

however you want to say it you know the

things that you can

benefit yourself in the

future um

so last time i did like a half hour and

this time i'm just going to do a full

talk i was talking to delson

and i said we don't really cover we

there's three pillars of the dhamma

and that's morality

which is precepts and all of the rules

and there is

donna which is

generosity

and then there is bhavana which is

meditation

so

you're all doing you know the first and

third ones all of the time

but the second one is more for after the

retreat

um

yeah you can be generous in some ways on

this retreat but for the most part

you're you're just busy developing the

mind

and the precepts are all kind of

automatic

you're just following those uh as

part of your retreat

so the the first you know when you get

out into the world

um the challenge will be those first two

precepts and of course keeping some

meditation going but making sure that

you're following your rules

and doing things that will help your

mind like donna

so the first thing i'm going to do

is read from suta number majima nikaya

142

the

dakina vibanga suta

this is the exposition of the offerings

thus of i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in the sakian

country

at kapalavatu in negrodus park

then maha prajapati gotami took a new

pair of cloths and went to the blessed

one

now maha prajapati was his mother his

stepmother because his original mother

died seven days after he was born

and she arose into

when i said two seat to heaven i'm not

sure which one it was but his actual

mother

died within seven days of when he was

born and this happens to all buddhists

all buddhas are born in what is at that

time india

and they all go through the same path

now somebody

somebody was saying the next buddha

though this this buddha went through

seven years

of austerities

but the next buddha

i heard

from somebody that he'll only have to go

through seven days

so

he's going to have a a lot easier

after paying homage to him she sat down

at one side and said to the blessed one

then i will sir this new pair of cloths

has been spun by me

woven by me especially for the blessed

one

venerable sir let the blessed one accept

it from me out of compassion so she's

making a gift

when this was said the blessed one told

her give it to the sangha

gotami when you give it to the sangha

both i and the sangha will be honored

a second time and a third time she said

to the blessed one venerable sir

accept it from me out of compassion

a second time and a third time the

blessed one told her

give it to the sangha

when you give it to the sangha both i

and the sangha will be honored

then the venerable ananda said to the

blessed one venerable sir let the

blessed one accept the new pair of

cloths from

maha prajapati

gotami

maha pajapati gotami has been very

helpful to the blessed ones so ananda

thinks that it's being

rejected

has been

so mahapajapati gotami has been very

helpful to the blessed one venerable sir

as his mother's sister she was his nurse

his foster mother

the one who gave him milk

she suckled the blessed one when his own

mother died

the blessed one too

has been very helpful to maha pajapati

gotami venerable sir

it is owing to the blessed one

that maha pajapati gotami has gone for

refuge to the buddha

the dhamma and the sangha

it is owing to the blessed one that maha

pajapati gotami abstains from killing

living beings

from taking what is not given

from misconduct and sensual pleasures

from false speech and from wine liquor

and intoxicants

which are the basis of negligence

it is owing to the blessed one that maha

pajapati gotami

possesses unwavering confidence in the

buddha the dhamma and the sangha

and that she possesses the virtues loved

by the noble ones

it is owing to the blessed one that maha

pajapati is free from doubt about

suffering

about the origin of suffering

about the cessation of suffering

and about the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

the blessed one has been very helpful to

mahapa japati gotami

now i would say that little phrase there

meant that maybe she had some experience

of nibana

that is so so the buddha says that is so

ananda that is so

when one person owing to another has

gone for refuge to the buddha the dhamma

and the sangha i say that it is not easy

for the former to repay the latter by

paying homage to him

rising up for him

according him reverential salutation and

polite services and providing robes alms

food resting places and medicinal

requisites

when one person owing to another has

come to abstain from

killing living beings

from taking what is not given from

misconduct and sensual pleasures from

false speech and from wine liquor and

intoxicants

which are the basis of negligence

i say that is not easy for the former

to repay the latter by paying homage to

him

when one person owing to another has

come to possess unwavering confidence in

the buddha the dhamma and the sangha

and to possess the virtues loved by the

noble ones

i say that it is not easy for the former

to repay the latter by paying homage to

him

when one person owing to another has

become free from doubt

about suffering about the origin of

suffering about the cessation of

suffering

and about the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

i say it is not easy for the former to

repay the latter by paying homage to him

there are so

he's saying it's

it isn't easy

to repay all of the gifts that the

buddha has given her

and

this whole section here i'm not sure it

is really needed

so let's get into the

this

he's he's saying he he understands that

she can offer the gift of course but

he's taking this opportunity to talk

about giving about the benefits of

giving

and what giving is

there are fourteen kinds of personal

offerings of nanda

one gives a gift to a tatagata

accomplished and fully enlightened a

buddha

this is the first kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to a pachaka buddha

this is the second kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to an arhat disciple of

the tataugata

this is the third kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to one who is entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of our heartship this is the

fourth kind of personal offering

one gives a gift to a non-returner

this is the fifth kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to one who is entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of non-return

so what is

entered upon the way that's the path

knowledge

so there is path knowledge and fruition

knowledge for each

attainment so we're working down from a

buddha down down the line here

through all of the attainments

one gives a gift to one who is entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of non-return this is the sixth

kind of personal offering

one gives a gift to a once returner this

is the seventh kind of personal offering

one gives a gift to one who is entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of once returned

this is the eighth kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to a stream enterer

this is the ninth kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to one who's entered

upon the way to the realization of fruit

of the fruit of stream entry

this is the tenth kind of personal

offering

so these are offerings to people that

have attained nibana

from the highest down to the lowest

noble noble person

but jacob buddha is a buddha who has

decided to not teach

he's just he goes there's actually a

realm where a bunch of pacheco buddhas

hang out and just um

they're just there they just be with

each other

so

and you can have i think as delson said

last night

kind of like a pacheco arahat

who says okay i've realized everything

but

it's my decision to just go into the

forest and just enjoy my state of mind

here in ananda okay oops

okay so now we go outside one gives a

gift to one outside the dispensation who

is free from lust for sensual pleasures

this is the 11th kind of personal

offering one gives a gift to a virtuous

ordinary person

this is the 12th kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to an immoral ordinary

person this is the 13th kind of personal

offering

one gives a gift to an animal

this is the fourth 14th kind of personal

offering

so again we've gone from a very virtuous

moral

ordinary person which you know could be

a priest it could be

you know it could be

somebody who's who believes following

morality is very good and that's what

they do but they they're not buddhist

they may be another religion

but they live their life in a virtuous

way

and all the way down to somebody who is

immoral

say perhaps a homeless person

who's just you know

doing some drugs or

alcohol and

steels and and that's an immoral person

down to an animal which is you know an

animal

however here in ananda by giving a gift

to an animal

the offering may be expected to be

repaid a hundred fold

by giving a gift to an immoral ordinary

person the offering may be expected to

be repaid a thousand-fold

by giving a gift to a virtuous ordinary

person

the offering may be expected to be

repaid a hundred thousand fold

by giving a gift to one outside the

dispensation who is free from loss for

sensual pleasures

the offering may be expected to

repay a hundred thousand times a hundred

thousand fold

so just giving what the buddha is saying

here is just giving a gift

feeding something to an animal

has a hundred fold return in terms of

the karmic results that will come back

to you

feeding something giving a gift to a

homeless person giving

some some food or some money or

something

to a homeless person holding this sign

out there

can return

a thousand-fold

and then giving a gift to just somebody

who lives their lives as an ordinary

person who's you know they'd have a job

and everything

you get up into the

hundred thousand fold

so

giving gifts is very powerful

it's not to be taken lightly

however doing immoral things can also

have opposite and

extreme results as well but let's talk

about

the good things here

so that's why i'm i'm i like to i mean

if if duke comes around or the cat i'm

giving him something to eat

and

i'm just preparing

my heavenly mansion

or just in case if i come back as duke's

brother

i'll get plenty to eat my next lifetime

who knows

we want to be prepared

you know

buddhism and religion and all these all

these things

we don't get involved with it because

so much of what it can do like today

although it can do a lot

we get involved because

we're trying to plan for our future

because we all have futures we have a

future in this lifetime

and if you believe it we have a future

in

future lifetimes

and those lifetimes

it's very important because some of

those lifetimes in in these other realms

can be extremely long

and so we want to be in the right one

so we should learn what it takes to get

into those

in the same way when you go to work

and they say are you planning for your

future

no i'm just getting my money in my

paycheck and you know get my new

mercedes and no you should save some

money so here we have a 401k plan

and you need to invest the money in

something that's reasonable now put it

in the in some stocks and bonds and

here's a good allocation sometimes

people come in to you know

seminars on what you should invest in

and what are you doing you're taking

care of yourself for the future this is

this is

uh very smart planning

so here we're taking care of ourselves

for the future as well

now your meditation practice practice is

going to benefit you in this very life

for sure

and also the giving in a way

but karmically gifts take a long time to

mature

one place i read that it took

a gift in this made in this lifetime had

almost no effect

in the next lifetime it had

it started to have a major effect

in the lifetime afterwards it had its

main fruit that would occur

so that's why when you give gifts

you don't see results quickly

matter of fact you could say well giving

doesn't lead to anything and have

doubt about whether it's giving is good

and of course that's why there's

ignorance and that's why

because people don't know they do things

and they don't see an immediate result

so they

well maybe this doesn't work but there's

many other gifts to giving

which we're going to get into not just

financial gain or you know getting stuff

there's definitely more things matter of

fact let's talk about some of those

there's this suto right here

okay

okay from the guter nikaya 5.256

this

what it says right here is that without

abandoning these five qualities

one is incapable of entering and

remaining in the first jhana

would you like to know what those are

so you can remain in the first jhana and

it says the first jhana the second john

the third jhana the fourth jonah

incapable of realizing the fruit of

stream entry

the fruit of non-returning the fruit of

so on up to our hot ship

so what would be those things

that would prevent you from

well number one is stinginess as to

one's monastery or lodgings

in other words stinginess

not sharing your house

your

say somebody wants to come and they

don't have a place to stay you say oh

come here's a place to stay

uh

stinginess as to one's family of

supporters

now this is one's family for a monka be

supporters

you might say

if somebody needs some help you say oh

this supporter over here knows all about

computers

go go talk to him about your computer

let me let me i'll put you in touch with

him so you help

people to

use your

resources

um

stinginess as to one's gains

well your gains

financial

giving away money

buying things buying people's people

meals

whatever you can to help people to

live their life better

one status

stinginess as to one's status

that's a little more sticky one's status

i suppose sharing the

the limelight if you will and not

preventing anybody from

getting their own

recognition

or giving good comments to people

and stinginess as to the dhamma

and not so that would mean of course not

sharing what you're learning here

when you share the dhamma

the dhamma is the best gift

when you share with somebody

how to make their life

more happy how to be free of depression

by using forgiveness meditation

and you see results that is a huge gift

so these are these are all gifts

but one of these is one's gains

and that's really what we're kind of

talking about here in the suta

hundred-fold thousand-fold this kind of

thing

so

that's and the dhammapada 223 it says

conquer stinginess with a gift

when somebody

when your neighbor gets upset at you

when you have a problem with

a relative a problem with somebody

give them a gift

just don't no don't make a big deal of

it but just give them something

when they see you coming first thing

they think is this person's no good

and then here you are you're giving them

something

they're going well i'm they're no good

but well okay yeah give me that

and

you got any more of that you know and

then pretty soon and maybe

so you break down that barrier

um of anger of hatred

so

giving breaks down a lot of barriers

what are the rewards of generosity

these are the this is from the angutra

number uh

5.35 lots of good stuff in the fives

there are the five rewards of generosity

one is dear and appealing to people at

large

one is admired by good people

one's good name is spread about

one does not stay stray from rightful

duties of the householder

and with the breakup of the body at

death one reappears in a good

destination

in a heavenly world

so um one is dear and appealing to

people at large

when you give

and you share

word gets around

for sure

um

when you're evil and no good word gets

around

so when you're generous word gets around

and so when people see you and they go

this person's okay you know we we know

about him

one is admired by good people

so the good people know that you're

doing good and they are

at they're admiring of that

people who may be stingy themselves may

think oh that person's just trying to

make a good name and he's he's just

trying to show off and that's envy and

that's jealousy you should be

celebrating that person's

good fortune

um one's good name is spread about one

does not stray from the rightful duties

of the householder

okay i'm not sure about how that works

but then with the breakup of the body of

death one reappears in a heavenly

destination

the way the buddha taught the dhamma

was he would talk about morality and

precepts first

and

following these five precepts which

you've heard many times

and that makes the mind quiet tranquil

there's no guilt there's no remorse

and then he would talk about the

benefits of generosity

and people would start to think about

how they could get some of those

benefits

and their minds would become uplifted

because they'd think oh well i could do

those things and think of all those

great benefits that i would obtain

and they'd start to think you know and

start to be

kind of happy thinking about what they

could become in the future if they did

the right thing

and once the buddha saw that their mind

was uplifted he would then teach them

the dhamma

because it's like

when you obtain a you enter a jhana your

mind is uplifted

and then you're

then you see things and everything

unfolds

but just normally

talking to somebody he would go through

this process in a talk you can see it if

you find some talks like that

you would talk about the benefits the

heavenly worlds and then he would go

into

the dhamma and

and not be his his

point was not to

um

get people to heaven

because once you get to heaven

you can come back from heaven and

there's 31 realms of existence and

there's all these different places

but your karma will only last so long so

the buddha is trying to get you off the

complete wheel of existence

so he's not going to stop with heaven

he's going to say okay now let me teach

you the dhamma which will get you off

this

wheel of existence

in

the next one if beans knew as i know

the results of giving and sharing

they would not eat without having given

nor would this the stain of miserliness

overcome their minds

even if it were their last bite their

last mouthful

they would not eat without having shared

if there was someone to if there were

someone to receive their gift

but because beings do not know as i know

the results of giving

and the results of

oh yeah

of giving and exertion

should be they should be made to

understand this is the way leading to

the cessation of suffering

the stain of miserliness overcomes their

minds

okay that's out of order

i think you get the point though

um

that's why if you can share every single

meal if you can buy everybody's meal if

you can

give give give

um

this is this is all going to come back

and help you

but what else does it do

it actually

makes your mind

less sticky

because your mind is going that's my

money

and i'm not giving it away maybe

somebody else will pay oh that'd be

great

and i'm definitely not going to tip them

very much because i don't like that

waiter you know

whatever

i'll give them

a dollar or something like that because

i got to keep i got to hang on to this

money it's mine i made it

so when you start to let go of things

like that you pay for somebody else's

meal

now it's it it opens your mind it

relaxes the mind

it makes the when you give something it

makes you happy

there's a there's a sense of

uh joy coming from that

and so

it doesn't you know just one gift is not

gonna

make a huge difference but if you do

this every day

your mind completely opens up like this

these flowers

and you're just giving giving nothing

you don't own anything anymore even

though it's your money maybe it's your

k

but you say well you need some money let

me hear

you need a new something i'll buy it

delson lived with the guy

greg halpern

and he loved he said he told story he'd

love to go to the bank with this guy

because he'd go to the bank go to the

atm or guy well at the atm go inside

and get a bunch of cash

and he'd go out and delson would be

waiting in the car he says here's a

thousand bucks uh you know have fun and

tell somebody

a thousand dollars

you know the guy the guy was just a

master of givings just giving things to

everybody so

everybody loved him

i wonder why

people love to be around him

but he also lived in an 8 000 square

foot house

in

rancho

verde it was no what was it anyway in

san diego

very expensive place but his nature was

to just give give give

and so you could see the results of that

even here and now

another uh interesting part of giving

is that you see people say up in

power

they end up in country club jails

now one of the problems with getting

money is abusing it

now somebody may have done something

good in the past in another life or in

this life or whenever

and

their business has flourished and now

they have millions of dollars

but they don't have any morality they

don't have any restraint

and so they use this money

that they may um

they may feel a lot of power

they may want more money

they may want to

embezzle money from the company

they want um

so okay let me set this up a little

better so somebody has gotten into a

high place of power

and they have lots of money but they

want more

and so they realize that since they're

the treasurer they can go and reach in

and just take some more money for

themselves

so then they get caught

but this person has a lot of merit from

the past

they go to they get caught they get

convicted

they go to a country club

jail you know they they have everything

they need is sir what can i get you you

know and they've got all their friends

in there and

and they've got plenty of food and they

they have still have a lot of money so

they're paying off everybody and so

they're having a great time in jail

now somebody else gets caught doing this

with no merit

they go and get thrown in the hole and

they get nothing

and so they're so

so when you see people

who've done some pretty bad things

but you know you know that

there are people of power and they have

a lot of money and they have a lot of

um

[Music]

you know whatever

and they don't get the book thrown at

them

this could be because of their merit is

mitigating this damage that they're

doing

it's putting it off

but don't worry it will catch up

they will see the result of their bad

actions at some point maybe it's not

this lifetime maybe it's a future

lifetime well it will definitely be a

future lifetime

but these things take a long time to

mature

so let me get back to the suta

so we just talked about the

how many thousand folds

these gifts

can go to

all right so

so we were at the

by giving a gift to one outside of the

dispensation who is free from lust for

central pleasures

the offering may be expected to repay a

hundred thousand times a hundred

thousand fold it's a hundred thousand

times a hundred thousand

by giving a gift to one who is entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of stream entry

this is attaining the first the past

knowledge

the offering may be expected to be

repaid

incalculably immeasurably

what then should be said about giving a

gift to a stream enterer this is

somebody who's got the fruition of

stream entry

what should said

what should be said about giving a gift

to one who's entered upon the way to the

realization of the fruit of once

returner

to a want to or the fruit of once return

to a once returner to one who is entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of non-return

to a non-returner to one who has entered

upon the way to the realization of the

fruit of our hot ship

to an arhat

to a pacheco buddha

what should be said about giving a gift

to a tatagata

accomplished and fully enlightened

there are seven kinds of offerings made

to the sangha ananda

one gives a gift to a sangha of both

bhikkhus and bhakunis headed by the

buddha

this is the first kind of offering made

to the sangha

one gives a gift to a sangha of both

bhikkhus and bikunis after the tatakata

has attained final nibana

so this is the full sangha the buddha

the bhikkhus and the pakuni

and now the second one the buddha is out

of the picture now but now we have still

the complete sangha

one gives a gift to a sangha of bhikkhus

this is the third kind of offering made

to asanga so just the bickers one gives

a gift to a sangha of bhakunis this is

the fourth kind of offering made to the

sangha

one gives a gift saying appoint so many

bhikkhus and bakunis for me from the

sangha

this is the fifth kind of offering made

to the sangha so you're giving to a

group of

say monks in a room or something

appoint so many bakunis for me from the

sangha

appoint so many bhikkhus

this is the seventh kind of offering

in future times ananda there will be

members of the clan who are yellow necks

immoral persons for the sake of the

sangha

even then i say an offering made to the

sangha is incalculable immeasurable

and i say that in no way is a gift to a

person individually

ever more fruitful fruitful than

offering made to the sangha

so what does that mean so when you give

a gift

to a monk

that monk

is a

representative of the entire buddhist

sangha

so in your mind when you give a gift to

a monk don't think you're just giving a

gift to this monk

you're giving a gift

to the buddha or to the entire sangha

with the buddha at its head do this put

do this in your mind when you're giving

gifts to sangha members like this

they're just the representative or who

are here to take your gift for the

entire sangha

because

bikers and and nuns they share they

share everything so a gift to one of

them just is a gift to all because they

share everything

so don't make it a personal gift like

bhanti would always say

i'm accepting these gifts but you're

giving them to the sangha

there are ananda four kinds of

purification of offering

what for there is the offering that is

purified by the giver

not by the receiver there is the

offering that is purified by the

receiver not by the giver

there is

the offering that is purified neither by

the giver nor by the receiver

there is the offering that is purified

both by the giver and by the receiver

receiver

and how is the offering purified by the

giver not by the receiver

here the giver is virtuous

of good character and the receiver is

immoral of evil character

thus the offering is purified by the

giver not by the receiver

how is the offering purified by the

receiver

not by the giver

here the giver is immoral of evil

character

and the receiver is virtuous of good

character

thus the offering is purified by the

receiver and not by the giver so what

we're talking about here is the power of

the gift

or the merit that one would accrue

is purified by the person offering

and also by the person receiving

so there was a story about

sorry putta

and the king had an executioner and this

this executioner chopped off heads at

the king's whim

if he didn't like somebody the

king chopped the head off and the

executioner took care of it

well this executioner

we had a lot of bad merit let's just say

this guy

he was not going to a happy place

and what happened was sorry puta went

was on alms around one day

and the executioner saw him and he had

some rice

and he thought oh that look at that monk

that monk is so perfect and tranquil

let me go give him some rice

and so he gave him what his own meal

which was very just a small bit of rice

and the result of that gift was said to

push aside all of his evil karma and

throw him up into the heavenly

to a tawa team to heaven

for some millennia of time

because why he his he was not purified

he was not pure

but his receiver was very pure

so that's the power of who you're giving

it to

if you're giving it to a dog that's not

a real moral person

and thus a hundredfold

but if you're giving it to a very pure

person

that comes back to you

but if you're the buddha and you gave

something to sargputa

well that's the that's like the most

powerful gift because you have two pure

people but of course their gifts they're

not coming back so it doesn't really

matter in that case

and how is the offering purified by the

receiver not by the giver

here the giver is immoral of evil

character and the receiver is virtuous

of good character

thus the offering is purified by the

receiver not by the giver

and how is the offering purified neither

by the giver

nor by the receiver

here the giver is immoral of evil

character

and the receiver is immoral of evil

character thus the offering is purified

neither by the giver nor by the receiver

so two immoral people just giving a gift

it's not going to be of of great merit

but of course it will be of some merit

and how

how is the offering purified by both the

giver and by the receiver

here the giver is virtuous of good

character

and the receiver is virtuous of good

character

thus the offering is purified both by

the giver and by the receiver these are

the four kinds of purification of

offering

so that the types of people who you're

giving it to you if you're giving it to

the whole sangha

that's made up of

all of these pure

hopefully pure beings

with the buddha at its head

and if you're giving a gift to just the

dog well that's not so moral so that's

but if you're

pure

then

this gift that you make is actually

has more merit

not sure how that works exactly but

that's what it says here so

uh

yeah

so that's

okay so this is what the blessed one

said when the sublime one had said that

the teacher said further

when a virtuous person to an immoral

person gives with trusting heart

a gift righteously obtained

in other words you don't want to give

something you've stolen

with trusting placing faith that the

fruit of action is great

the giver's virtue purifies the offer

offering

so

placing faith that the fruit of action

is great

this means that it's okay to think

that the

the fact that you're giving will result

in

good

in a good karmic effect it's okay to

give something with the idea that this

is beneficial to you

now it would be perfect if you just gave

things that you didn't even think about

it

but we all got to start somewhere here

you know we're not perfect yet

so if we have a little greedy mind of

well if i give this gift to that monk

i'll get a lot back

hey you know

fine

because if you don't give it

you've accomplished absolutely nothing

and and there's

i've read few times where people say

well i'm not going to give because i'm

giving out of a greedy mind

and i just can't get over that

so they don't give anything

so what is karma

karma is action

if you don't do any action you get no

result

so

give the gift if in doubt well i'm not

sure if

just do it just do it let go let go

because giving is letting go giving

letting go part of the six hours

release

relax

re-smile gift makes you happy

when an immoral person to a virtuous

person gives with untrusting heart

a gift is unrighteously obtained

let's see when an immoral person to a

virtuous person gives with untrusting

heart

a gift unrighteously obtained

nor places

faith that the fruit of action is great

the receiver's virtue purifies that

offering

so if the receiver is pure

all of the doubt

of the immoral person is purified the

gift is

made of great benefit when an immoral

person to an immoral person gives with

untrusting heart a gift unrighteously

obtained

nor places faith that the fruit of

action is great they don't believe in

karma they don't believe in any of that

funny stuff about life after death

neither's

virtue purifies the offering

so it has

not very much effect

they don't have right view

and right view is is

thinking that every action that you do

has benefit

if you do an action there's going to be

a result

and it may not be just in this lifetime

there may be results in future lifetimes

as dalson was saying one of the views

is that

your actions whatever you do you can go

steal things you'll have no results from

that at all other than you you have all

this money from the bank and

it's yours and nothing will happen

well of course we know that you know you

could be caught and thrown in jail is

just one thing

not to speak of anything in future lives

but in any case so if you have one thief

giving some money to another thief

it's probably not the greatest

outcome

when a passionless person to a

passionless person gives with trusting

heart a gift righteously obtained

placing faith that the fruit of action

is great

that gift i say is the best of worldly

gifts

that's pretty arahat to araha stream

enter the stream enter

somebody who's just following the five

precepts

that's a very virtuous person

that person

is very rare in the world

almost nobody follows five precepts they

don't even know what they are

now many people follow morality

because maybe they're religious and they

they have rules i mean the ten

commandments

tells you what morality is and

many people follow those rules and good

for them

but maybe they don't follow everything

that's in these precepts like you know

maybe they're drinking alcohol and

intoxicants

so there's

but they're not they don't know that

they're following or not following rules

they're doing the best they can

but a person who knows the precepts like

you guys do

and you know that you're following them

you are very rare in the world

and so you're of great merit to other

people because you you are doing

something that's

very unusual

for the human world

that's the end of that suta i have a few

other little trinkets here

let's see

so i learned about giving through

the

buddhist publication society in kandy

so when i was 19

i got very interested in buddhism i did

a vipassana retreat

like after the first year of college

and just thought buddhism was really

interesting and so i wanted to read

everything i could

and the only places to get anything

were to

send

send money to

sri lanka

and they had a buddhist library there

and you get these little little

pamphlets and things and so they'd have

all kinds of things and and i would buy

all these things and

you know they'd be like 50 cents for

this one and a dollar for this one but

i'd read all of these things and this is

kind of the way that i

learned about giving because i didn't

know anything about it it's certainly

not taught in the west

it's taught to

giving is good but that's about the

extent of it it it's not taught that it

has

benefits in the future

but so i learned all these things and i

and i you know i wasn't i didn't feel

great you know i i had my ups and downs

and

one time i thought you know because i'm

starting to do some retreats but they

didn't really talk about

morality very much they wanted to stay

away from because it's you know we don't

want to be moral and

you know somehow

that was bad

it was being attached to being moral

you know like on the retreat on the

retreat they'd say okay i want you to

follow these precepts but after the

retreat you know you just just go go

back to what you're doing it's this is

just for the retreat

and so we would you know you know back

to

whatever intoxicant

floated your boat

and

anything else buying well it didn't

matter but on retreat it mattered

but they only said those those precepts

once for the whole retreat

and that was the end of it you didn't

hear very much about it because they

didn't want to

you know knock you over the head with it

they wanted you to just

just understand it but so

i started um like i don't know something

would go wrong at work so i'd be kind of

in a bad mood

and so i thought well i'll just i'll

just give a gift

i'll just write a check

and i wrote ten dollar checks

to meditation centers

and i'd send that check out and i'd feel

better for a little bit

and

pretty soon ten dollar checks got to be

bigger checks and i started to to do

better at work

and

and pretty soon i was you know buying

people's meals and i hung out with a lot

of meditation type people

in california and uh we'd talk about

this and it would just kind of feed on

itself and

you know the benefits of giving

so i was buying everybody's meals and

things are really improving quite a bit

getting along with people at work you

know

wasn't really you know

as much down as there was

so there's a real benefit to

sharing because you're not thinking

about yourself anymore when you give a

gift to somebody else you're not

thinking about yourself

so i did that and

you know continued

and eventually i gave gifts to damasuka

and

you know i put a bunch of money into the

dining hall

i bought this cabin down there you'll

see my name on it i said don't put my

name on it but anyway he put my name on

it

and so i have to look at it every time

it's like

and i bought this cab this old cabin

over that was one of the first cabins i

bought that cabin

and then pretty soon um i got invited to

come to damsuka

and i bought my own cabin and i had you

know at that at that point

my stock options had worked out

it was funny i got stock options at this

company

and almost nobody else that had gotten

the options it worked out for them

somehow they they had in their mind that

they wanted to

not cash them in until you know years in

the future

i thought no i i want to get out of

working

so i cash mine in

and later on company laid off all these

people

because one of the inevitable silicon

valley slumps occurred

and i was

in india at that point you know on my

journeys because i i was fine i was

doing really great

but these people got laid off and they

got and they never got benefit of their

options

and it was just so strange because we

were a company that got caught up got

bought out

and there were like 20 of us

and uh i think i was one of the only

ones i mean we were all you know doing

pretty good here if we cashed out and i

did

but nobody else did so it was just the

strangest thing so i have to believe

that somehow the karmic effects were

come starting to come to be there

and that it was benefiting me

i don't know

so now i live and i don't really need

any money every time i need money i i

just it's somebody else pays the bill i

can't even pay the bill anymore

i go to lunches op no

oh i want to pay the bill

then a ball a boss is the one paying the

bill i can't ever pay the bill she says

i want that bill

okay i'm giving you the bill to pay

that's my gift

so otherwise i just pay the bill but now

she takes it all the time

you have to give somebody else a chance

to pay the bill i'm sure you will

i know you do

she has more merit than anybody in this

room

believe me

let's see

when i grew up uh my parents gave money

every month to the church they tied all

the time um

we went to church we put money in the

offering

i was never really taught about it but

that's something that we did and i grew

up in a you know

pretty good welted well not well to do

moderately middle class things were fine

we never had a problem with money

um

but my my parents did the right thing

you know they gave to the church they

they helped people out they were down at

charities and

thanksgiving

uh they're out

with the church you know handing out

free turkeys and i got involved with all

those things when i went home for

thanksgiving oh you're going to be

delivering turkeys this year

oh okay yeah that's different

turkeys all right let's let's do that

and i had i got to deliver some turkeys

to some very

very poor people that were out there who

really needed food and some of it was

you go into some of these houses

there it's shocking the way that people

live

i mean one place was

i mean i wanted to report them to the

police i mean they had

three kids running around in diapers and

there was stuff junk just piled up

everywhere it's like one of these dr

phil shows you know with

hoarders

and it was it was a bad situation and i

said i told the church and they said

just let that go

okay okay

so what did the buddha say about

how to spend your money

um

there is a suta where he talks about

how to

the the money that you get from your job

and that and it has to be getting the

money in a uh honest decent way

with this the sweat of the brow

the strain the work

that you you make to get the money

honestly

you divvy that money up

fifty percent for living expenses

so half

you can just create a budget you say

okay i'm gonna spend 50 percent

for living expenses

you

you take another 25

and you save it

save it for a rainy day

or tropical storm in india

and then 25

is for giving and for enjoyment of your

life

so these are the buddha's instructions

and i never followed any of that

what i did is you know i ate one dollar

mac cheeseburgers

and tried to

save money so i was more saving money

all the time

and i never

spent it to enjoy i was more stingy to

myself

and

but i was very much hoarding money to

save it

and

i'd get the cheapest you know

my dinners and things i'd be whatever

the cheapest thing was

and so i started thinking about this and

i said wow i really treat myself poorly

and i'm treating other people really

well but i treat myself lousy

so i just started to spend some more

money on myself because it says spend

money on yourself it's okay it's okay

because you're just as valuable as

anybody else why not

and fifty percent for living expenses

try you don't need to live in your car

you can get a nice house a nice whatever

i mean if you're of course if you're

making enough money

spend that money um and don't put you

know 80 to saving

in some people's case 80 to spending and

no saving and not spending any money on

your house

so it's just about balancing

how you your you live your life with

with what money that you have coming in

and give every month

give something every month to some

somebody

you know a a a charitable organization

of some sort the sangha

this this will

it works on your mind

you know i'm i'm the you know quote

treasurer of damasuka

and when i see somebody come in on

retreat i know what their financial

situation is and what you know there are

people that give money every month

and i'll i'll i

i told delson one time i said that

person's gonna have an experience

why do you

they give every month

it's going to happen

okay

they did

because their mind is letting go all the

time

they don't necessarily think about it

but it's operating in their mind that

letting go

because so the air you know

whatever you get a piece of it is let go

every month and it's not all yours

so your your cost it's like the

government's taking taxes but it's

actually you giving it away

um the last thing on

this page here though is about the

genius of the buddha

you heard about the merit of giving

gifts to the sangha

well the buddha set up

the monks and nuns

would live based on the support of lay

people in the villages

if they did not

people the monks would probably just go

off into the forest and go and meditate

and they'd just never have anything to

do with villagers

so the buddha said no you cannot have

food you cannot make food you must

go for alms around and collect food from

the villagers

why is this

because then the monks come and the

villagers get the opportunity to hear

the teachings of the dhamma

every time the monk comes because many

times a monk would go to a house

take food in that house and after the

meal give a dhamma talk to the person

who gave the gift

but the buddha was also very sneaky

because when the monks went out for alms

around

uh the laypeople are giving gifts to the

entire sangha if they know how to do it

they're giving gifts to the sangha

and these gifts are highly meritorious

and and uh benefit them tremendously

so the buddha was giving the laypeople a

big gift

and he was taking care of all of the

requisites for the monks

so this dependency really works out well

and it just struck me the other night

that

these lay people think well they're just

giving food and it's very nice

but many of them don't understand how

powerful that that is for them

of course we don't know any of this you

know i'm

not psychic i don't know if any of this

will make out work out in in terms of

but i do know that giving

helps the mind and it and it relaxes the

mind and it and it makes your meditation

better because you've released

um

this stinginess this this

you you let things go

okay i'll just finish with one or two

here

yeah one note is you know what's the

happiest time of the year

christmas what are we doing giving

don't doesn't everybody want to have

christmas like every day

just so long as we

our budgets might be a little limited

there but

christmas day of giving

okay one more

okay

okay this is uh i'm not sure where this

is from but this was said by the blessed

one said by the arhat so i have heard

monks don't be afraid of acts of merit

this is a cinnamon for what synonym for

what is blissful desirable

pleasing endearing charming that is acts

of merit

i directly know that

having long performed meritorious deeds

and this is the buddha as the

bodhisattva for

four maha kappas and 100 000 lifetimes

that's how many lifetimes the buddha

went around the

the round of existence to become a

buddha to work on themselves

i have long experienced desirable

pleasing endearing charming results

having developed a mind of good will for

seven years

then for seven eons of contraction and

expansion

i didn't return to this world

whenever the eon was contracting i

entered the realm of radiance

whatever the eon whenever the eon was

expanding i reappeared in an empty

brahma abode

there i was brahma

the great brahma

the unconquered conqueror

total seer

wielder of power

then for 36 times i was sakka

ruler of the gods

for many hundreds of times i was a king

a wheel-turning emperor a righteous king

of dhamma

conqueror of the four corners of the

earth maintaining stable control over

the countryside endowed with the seven

treasures

to say nothing of the times i was a

local king

the thought occurred to me

of what action of mine is this the fruit

of what action the result

that i now have such great power and

might

then the thought occurred to me this is

the fruit of my three types of action

the result of three types of action

that i now have such great power and

might

generosity

self-control and restraint

and the verse is training acts of merit

that yield the foremost prophet of bliss

develop generosity

a life in tune a mind of good will

developing these three things that bring

about bliss

the wise reappear in a world of bliss on

a lloyd

and here endeth

the talk on giving

so give and then give again

and then give more after that

in regards

if you give if you support your family

members

of course

no no it can anybody

anybody give a little piece of food to

the cat that's giving

yeah

um

it's nice

it's fun it's

comes to giving uplifting oftentimes we

think that giving is solely like

monetary yeah but you can also give your

time

you can give meta

yeah which you know it's hard to feel

sometimes

but

you can also um just like give someone a

smile or a compliment

yeah

i i think our like our western culture

is set up so that like it feels like the

only way to give is through

money and i mean it does help

but giving your time is also helpful and

um yeah but then i also think that like

you can give too much and i've seen that

so like the line of work that i do i see

a lot of people

who give way too much of like their

energy and their time

um i used to work as an outreach worker

for homeless people around the homeless

population and

like seeing all the seeing like how much

they suffer i felt like i needed

and so i had to like remove myself from

the situation and just say that i can

only give so much and i'm not here to

like fix

the world's problems um

especially like as a woman i feel like

we're taught to like always be like very

nurturing

of ourselves

and so it was important for me like you

said to

well i think that's that's where you

want to be giving of compassion

and what does compassion mean it means

you know that they're suffering

and you'll do anything you can to help

but

not to hurt yourself

you can't help everybody

but you can understand have the empathy

of

you understand their suffering

and instead of just blowing it off like

you're some you know uh robot

nurse or something like this and just

you know

you understand these people are

suffering but you don't be you don't get

involved with it

that's true

you don't give them alcohol

well okay yeah right as a medicine for

just a little bit yeah yeah yeah yeah i

can see that um

i know i know

i know

oh you're giving them bad habits and

they're making yeah well when they're

really bad they just go out we just take

food outside and leave them out there

but i i noticed it i had a dog they said

don't feed that dog at the table

i like feeding the dog well don't do it

because then he'll come back

so what i like the dog you know it's

okay

oh that dog's dirty

yeah

yeah people just don't

they don't like you know these oh that's

an animal i don't

no it's it's my friend

you know

so i'm treating my friends just like i

do

anybody else so

all right

let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

have thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

davis and nagas of mighty power share

this merit of ours may they long protect

the buddhist dispensation

saudi saudi

you