On Generosity

Please read to the bottom for Gyatso’s pithy comment!

In his last incarnation before attaining supreme enlightenment, the Buddha was born as Prince Visvantara, son of Samgaya, King of the Sibis. With many wonderful qualities, this king cared for his subjects with great love, and they lived in peace and security like animals under the protection of a lion. No other kings could challenge his authority. The prince had similar qualities to his father and, with a subdued mind, he actively served others, seeing them as equals. Learned in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist scriptures, he showed no arrogance and did not look down on others. Seeing human suffering as his greatest enemy, he regularly rode through the city on his royal elephant, giving alms to the poor by exceeding their requests and accompanying his gifts with kind words.

Knowing that the prince would not deny any request, and desiring the magnificent elephant for himself, a neighbouring king persuaded some Brahmans to request the elephant as a gift. Joyful at their request, the bodhisattva gave the elephant to the Brahmans even though he had guessed that a rival king had put them up to it. The people of Sibi, however, saw the elephant as an important symbol of sovereignty and its loss was a triumph for the enemies of the king. They thought the prince had gone too far in his generosity and demanded that the king punish the prince by exiling him to a mountain hermitage inhabited by yogis.

Unwillingly, the king acceded to the peoples’ request and, accompanied by his wife and two young children, the prince was sent to the hermitage. The prince was undeterred in his determination to maintain pure generosity untainted by craving and, while travelling, he gave away his horses and then his chariot to beggars.

After six months of living happily in the mountains, an old man appeared and requested the prince to give him his children as servants. For the first time the prince experienced reluctance to give, especially as the children began to cry when they heard the old man’s request. The bodhisattva said that if the old man took the children to the king he would be rewarded with great wealth, but the old man said he would only be punished. Then the bodhisattva asked him to wait until the children’s mother returned. The old man replied that she would convince the prince to not give away the children. Then, because he was never discouraged in giving, the bodhisattva surrendered his children to the old man, who tied their hands and immediately treated them roughly.

The princess had seen some bad omens and returned home in distress, demanding to know where the children were. The prince’s answer was his silence, and she sank to the ground. When she had recovered, he held her in his arms and told her that as he would give away his own life if asked, would she please approve of his giving the children away. At that moment, divine music was heard, the earth shook, and golden flowers streamed from the sky. Rising from the depths of her despair, the princess said, “Let your charity brighten your mind, become again the well that slakes the thirst of all creatures.”

Indra, Lord of the Devas, asked his regents the cause of the earthquake. When told of the bodhisattva giving away his own children, he decided to test Prince Visvantara by assuming the appearance of a mendicant and requesting the prince to give him his beautiful wife. Without hesitation, he promised his wife to this man. She stood stupefied by this additional burden of suffering, but only for a moment. Overcome with admiration, Indra revealed his true appearance and praised the prince for his perfect generosity. He returned the princess to the prince and assured him that soon his father would arrive with the two children and will request him to return to the palace.

After telling this story to the Tibetan people, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said:

We must cultivate bodhicitta and practise the six perfections such as giving. In giving we not only find wealth while in cyclic existence but we achieve the zenith of prosperity in supreme enlightenment. Therefore we all have to practise giving. A bodhisattva’s giving is not just overcoming miserliness and being generous to others; a pure wish is cultivated, and through developing more and more intimacy with this wish, such giving is enhanced infinitely. Therefore it is essential to have the firm mind of enlightenment rooted in great love and compassion and, from the depths of one’s heart, to give either one’s body, wealth, and virtues literally to sentient beings as infinite as space, or to dedicate one’s body, wealth, and virtues for them while striving in all possible ways to enhance the wish to give infinitely.

We should literally give material help to the poor and needy, give teaching to others, and give protection to them, even the smallest insects, as much as we can. In the case of things which we are not able to part with, we should cultivate the wish to give them away and develop more and more intimacy with that wish. If we do that, since our mind is directed by familiarity, with the passage of time we can cut and give away even the very flesh of our bodies to others, as stated in The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. That is why you should cultivate familiarity with the wish to give.
(From Generous Wisdom, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives)

Gyatso says: "We don’t want your spouse or your children, just a few bucks to help make Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings possible and to help the monks and nuns attend for free."