Generosity and Graditude

 

I was all set to post another essay in the series about meditative attainments, but instead, I thought I would post a short note about generosity and graditude. Sort of like those year end "10 biggest stories of 2014" posts you see on various web sites. What got me thinking about this was a discussion I had with my wife on Christmas morning while we were doing a bike ride. There is of course a long Christian religious tradition around Christmas, but I think Christmas has really more behind it than a  sectarian festival. Despite all the commercialism and hype, Christmas is about giving gifts and giving gifts - whether it be a simple card sent to an old friend or a new iPhone for your teenage son - is about generosity. A simple expression of friendship and love, a heart opening exercise if you let it open your heart. Many Christians decry the crass commercialism around Christmas - my Inbox was overflowing last month with special offer emails from Amazon and other e-tailers - and it does get annoying, but I think it helps not to lose sight of what the holiday is really about. Chrismas is a holiday dedicated to generosity.

I don't know if other cultures and religions have a holiday dedicated to generosity. In Buddhism, generosity is the first of the ten paramitas. The paramitas or perfections are the good qualities of mind that a practitioner on the bodhisattva path needs to perfect before they can become a buddha. These are:

1. Generosity
2. Morality
3. Renunciation
4. Insight
5. Energy
6. Patience
7. Truthfulness
8. Determination
9. Loving-kindness
10. Equinimity

Wouldn't it be something if we had a holiday dedicated to each of these? I've often thought about dedicating a year to practicing the paramitas, taking maybe a month for each one and noting carefully when occasions arise to practice and how I handle those occasions. I haven't done it yet, because if I do, I want to do it together with other people so we can discuss our experiences, and right now I'm not practicing with a local sangha.


The other holiday that comes at this time of year is Thanksgiving, and that is a holiday dedicated to gratitude. Gratitude is the other side of generosity, what the receiver expresses upon receiving the gift. A simple "thank you" is often enough, or maybe an email or card, but what really counts is not the physical expression but what you feel. Because there is nothing to sell, well except maybe turkey and stuffing, Thanksgiving hasn't been commercialized as strongly as Christmas, which is one reason its my favorite holiday. Gratitude didn't make it into the list of the paramitas, but you can still do a gratitude practice, and in the past I've done gratitude meditations when I've been feeling the need for some heart-opening. Just bring to mind an incident of generosity, visualize it like you do in loving-kindness practice, and mentally say "thank-you".

This year, we in California are especially grateful for the rain. We had more rain in the last month and a half than we had in the last year and a half. It was not enough to end the drought, but it was a good start.

Hope you all have a healthy, happy, grateful, and generous New Year!

Image courtesy of  markandhelen.org.uk.