Originally Posted by
raindrop
A beautiful story, thank you for sharing it, Greg.
One thing I notice is that it weaves together the two sides of giving. Much is made of the requirement to practice dana, but I hear less about learning also to receive. For me, this is the harder part. I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this. I’ll gladly be there for you in troubled times, give money, stuff, effort, and time, I’ll give you a kidney if you need one, but I struggle to ask for or accept help, even in little ways. I find it much easier to love than to be loved. It’s much easier for me to look at others with accepting eyes of compassion than to be looked at and seen in such a deep way. Society tends to portray this as a positive attribute... ‘tis better to give than to receive, they say. Hmm. Maybe not. Lately, I’m thinking that giving in this way, without being open to receiving, is almost an inverted selfishness, incomplete, and unbalanced.
In this story, if you think about it, it is the same money that is being given, received, given back to the same people, received again, given back again, received again, and around and around, each time with good faith and meaningful, helpful results. In each case, someone must be open and willing to receive, or the cycle ends. The flowing is circular, not one-way. As Jundo might say, it is two sides of a no-sided coin.
Earlier this week, Kyonin wrote about smiling and laughing, and how part of that is smiling to yourself, laughing with yourself, accepting a smile returned. It makes me think about the bodhisattva ideal. In living for the enlightenment of all beings, and the cessation of suffering for all, part of the deal is being willing to hold all the suffering of the world. But part of it, too, is being willing to accept all the good stuff for yourself as well. I was reading an old thread where someone was saying that they did not at all feel ‘at one’ with others. When we do open our hearts to embrace and accept others, if we do not include ourselves in that embrace... haven’t we only created division again, setting ‘them’ apart from our self? And, the other side of it: when we truly accept ourselves and realize our essential nature (the truth of no-separation), then acceptance of others -- feeling ‘at one’ with all -- naturally blossoms with no further effort.
What the heck am I talking about? I don’t know. I can't quite say it right. It’s only a feeling that maybe I need to expand my idea of dana, of service, of what it means to be a bodhisattva. Make it less about ‘me’ giving, ‘me’ helping, ‘me’ walking the 8fold path and trying to do the right thing. Somehow the giving and the receiving are not two, and not one. Losing the self is finding the self. Receiving the self is offering the self.
How do I freely offer you wisdom, love, compassion, help, generosity, unless I open myself to also receive it?
Rambling thoughts.
Gassho
Lisa
sat today
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