Dana Paramita - Gateway to Inner Peace

and Outer Harmony

“I wish to become like a tree

shading all beings.”

- Yamada Koun Roshi

“In giving [dana], mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind.” – Zen Master Dogen

Introduction

Dana / Generosity is the foundation and seed of spiritual development.  When practiced in its authentic depth, our self-centered bias, prejudice and judgmental obscurations are cut through.  Zen Master Dogen[i]   shares that “in giving [dana], mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind.” The dana paramita giving practice, subdues and cuts through our clinging and self-grasping opening more clarity of mind and compassionate activity.

In the process of being born and dying there is intrinsically the expression of the dana paramita. As Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen, writes regarding giving and the way of the Bodhisattva:

“When one learns well, being born and dying are both giving (dana)”

The dana paramita is a key to opening the essential heart essence of our Buddha nature. Dana practice is one of utter simplicity and directness and can be engaged in at any moment of the day where all expressions of speech and sharing are opportunities for dana practice.  The most mundane aspects of our daily life provide endless opportunities for dana practice, whether sweeping the walkway, watering our garden or cleaning the kitchen. A pitfall can sometimes be a fabricated kind of scrupulous constriction or overly zealous kind of application. A deeper view of dana cuts through this kind of ego attached ‘giving’. Engaging in generosity without expectation of reward, we give without attaching to either the gift, the act of giving or who the receiver is.  Our practice of generosity freely and spontaneously releases our self-binding and self-clinging obscurations on the way to awakening.

A story from early Chinese Ch’an Buddhist tradition expresses the view of dana as a direct gateway that cuts beyond our dualistic bias and self-delusion.

“A monk asked Hui-hai[ii] - ‘By what means can the gateway of our school be entered?

Hui-hai said, ‘By means of the Dana paramita.’

The monk said - ‘… why have you mentioned only the one? Please explain why only this one provides a sufficient means for us to enter?’

Hui-hai said, ‘Deluded people fail to understand that the other five [7 or ten] proceed from the Dana Paramita and that by its practice the others are fulfilled.’

Monk – ‘Why is it called Dana Paramita?’

Hui-hai – ‘Dana means relinquishment.’

Monk – ‘Relinquishment of what?’

Hui-hai – ‘Relinquishment of the dualism of opposites…

A: It means total relinquishment of ideas as to the dual nature of good and bad, being and nonbeing, love and aversion, void and non-void, concentration and distraction, pure and impure. By giving all of them up, we attain to a state in which all opposites are seen as void. The real practice of the Dana paramita entails achieving this state without any thought of 'now I see that opposites are void', or 'now I have relinquished all of them'. We may also call it 'the simultaneous cutting off of the myriad types of concurrent causes'; for it is when these are cut off that the whole Dharma-nature becomes void; and this voidness of the Dharma-nature means the non-dwelling of the mind upon anything whatsoever. Once that state is achieved, not a single form can be discerned. Why? Because our self-nature is immaterial and does not contain a single thing (foreign to itself). That which contains no single thing is true reality, the marvelous form of the Tathágata—it is said in the Diamond Sutra: 'Those who relinquish all forms are called "Buddhas" (enlightened ones).'

Q: However, the Buddha did speak of six paramitas, so why do you now say they can all be fulfilled in that one? Please give your reason for this.

A: The Sutra of the Questions of Brahma says: 'Jala-vidya, the elder, spoke unto Brahma and said, Bodhisattvas by relinquishing all defilement's (klesha) may be said to have fulfilled the Dana paramita, also known as 'total relinquishment'; being beguiled by nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the síla paramita, also known as 'observing the precepts'; being hurt by nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the kshanti paramita, also known as 'exercising forbearance'; clinging to nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the virya paramita, also known as 'exercising zeal'; dwelling on nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the Dhyana paramita, also known as 'practicing Dhyana and samádhi'; speaking lightly of nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the prajña paramita, also known as 'exercising wisdom'. Together, they are named 'the six methods'. Now I am going to speak about those six methods in a way which means precisely the same—the first entails relinquishment; the second, no arising (of perception, sensation, etc); the third, no thinking; the fourth, remaining apart from forms; the fifth, non-abiding (of the mind); and the sixth, no indulgence in light speech. We give different names to these six methods only for convenience in dealing with passing needs; for, when we come to the marvelous principle involved in them all, we find no differences at all. So, you have only to understand that, by a single act of relinquishment, everything is relinquished; and that no arising means no arising of anything whatsoever. Those who have lost their way have no intuitive understanding of this; that is why they speak of the methods as though they differed from one another. Fools bogged down in a multiplicity of methods revolve endlessly from life span to life span. I exhort you students to practice the way of relinquishment and nothing else, for it brings to perfection not only the other five paramitas, but also myriads of dharmas (methods).

A Paramita Process – Paradoxical Mobius loops as themes for inner work and group council process:

•        1 – How may I discover SELF, by serving others; How may I serve others, by discovering SELF

•        2 - In giving (dana), mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind

•        3 – A method/process on how to experience and discover an inner (spiritual) quality one doesn’t have … give it to someone.

•        4 – Selfless service begins with cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the pathway, planting seeds and watering your garden as acts of generosity / dana.

•        5 - Breathing as dana paramita.

Suggested inner work exercise, list some more examples of dana paramita in the activity of your daily life.

The  Bodhisattva Path[iii] –
Generosity / Dana – the Paramitas

•        All the activities of a bodhisattva are subsumed under the topic of the six perfections, or paramitas. Each of these paramitas are presented in a threefold manner, as follows:

•        The first of the six is the perfection of generosity. Its three aspects are as follows:

•        A) giving spiritual teaching or imparting any useful knowledge is generosity in terms of dharma;

•        B) giving any material thing … is generosity in terms of material.

•        C) giving protection to those who are threatened by any kind of fear is generosity in terms of serving others.

Zen Master Dogen writes, “in giving [dana], mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind.”

Dogen on Dana:

“The Buddha said, ‘When a person who practices giving goes to an assembly, people take notice.’ Know that the mind of such a person communicates subtly with others. This being so, give even a phrase or verse of the truth; it will be a wholesome seed for this and other lifetimes.”

“The mind of a sentient being is difficult to change. Keep on changing the minds of sentient beings, from the moment that you offer one valuable, to the moment that they attain the way. This should be initiated by giving [dana]. Thus, giving is the first of the six paramitas [realizations].”

Dogen: Giving and the way of the Bodhisattva

“When one learns well, being born and dying are both giving (dana)”

“Mind is beyond measure. Things given are beyond measure. And yet, in giving, mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind.”

“A king [Emperor Tai of the Tang Dynasty] gave his beard as medicine to cure his retainer’s disease. A child offered sand to Buddha and became King [Ashoka] in a later birth. They were not greedy for reward but only shared what they could. To launch a boat or build a bridge is an act of giving. If you study giving closely, you see that to accept a body and to give up the body are both giving. Making a living and producing things can be nothing other than giving. To leave flowers to the wind, to leave birds to the seasons, are also acts of giving.”

The Buddha’s earth touching gesture expresses dana paramita

Dana / Generosity-
the foundation and seed of spiritual development

The Buddha taught that when we give to others, we give without expectation of reward. We give without attaching to either the gift or the recipient. We practice giving to release greed and self-clinging.

"The practice of giving is universally recognized as one of the most basic human virtues, a quality that testifies to the depth of one's humanity and one's capacity for self-transcendence. In the teaching of the Buddha, too, the practice of giving claims a place of special eminence, one which singles it out as being in a sense the foundation and seed of spiritual development.”[iv]

Dana  Paramita Overview

•        beyond merely giving material goods or donations.

•        Encompasses a broad range of selfless acts.

•        Selfless sharing of time, knowledge, compassionate support, and wisdom teachings (Dharma).

•        Dana encapsulates our altruistic motivation to give without the expectation of reciprocation or personal gain.

•        A seamless activity where the person, activity of giving and the result are selflessly unified

The  ‘Near Enemies’ of the Paramitas

•        Dana / Generosity versus dysfunctional co-dependency

•        Sila / harmony-ethics versus moralistic prescribed fundamentalism

•        Kshanti / Patience versus denial; covert ‘cocooning’; passive evasiveness

•        Virya / Courageous selfless energy versus ego driven fanaticism

•        Vairagya/ Dispassion/ non-dual equanimity; versus depersonalized disconnection

•        Dhyana / meditation – contemplative equanimity versus a subjective escapism bypassing deep emotions and samskaras

•        Prajna / Wisdom equals a direct Gnosis /experience of our essential heart-essence, versus Ideological replication and dogmatic fixations masquerading as ‘wisdom’.

Additional inner work exercise: in your listing of dana paramita examples see where the ‘inner near enemies’ of the paramita appear. Remedies for the near enemies of the paramitas are not formulaic and unique for each person, yet gradually through further zazen, integrated with insight, our paramita practice evolves with more depth and naturalness. The challenge of integration is to keep chewing on the food of our insight in order to digest it thoroughly.

“When your unenlightened nature arises, don’t compare it to this or that. Zazen will teach you so let it be.”[v]

[i] Dogen Zenji – Founder of Soto Zen in Japan 1200-53.

[ii] Dazhu Huihai  大珠慧海 713-812 - A Treatise on the Essential Gateway to Truth by Means of Instantaneous Awakening translated by John Blofeld
頓悟入道要門論 Dunwu rudao yaomen lun

[iii] Doboom Tulku – The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment p182

[iv]  Theravadin monk and scholar Bhikkhu Bodhi

[v] Kozen Kato – The Old Buddha Kozen Kato by Arthur Braverman p. 102