Econo-Buddha Part II: The Diamond Heart of Shakyamuni

by Henry Schliff on Mar 25, 2009

gautama-buddha
A familiar scene. My wife and I are walking Pearl Street in Boulder and someone asks for change. I ignore the request or give a diffident refusal. She thinks for a second and pulls the random piece of fruit from her bag, something saved for a snack before lunch, and hands it over. This isn’t charity, this is compassion. The giving of sustenance over gratification. Anyone can give change and it is as much a dismissal as the reluctant shrug. It takes a rare soul to give to someone, not what they want but what they need.

In the fourth verse of The Diamond Sutra the Buddha tells Subhuti, a Bodhisattva should not give charitably with any sense of self and other. In other words there should be no discriminating awareness. No cognizance of where the giver begins and the receiver ends. The purity of exchange expressed in the stanza boggles the mind. How can we even conceive of human relations without a sense of personal identity? Perhaps we cannot, I would prefer to leave that to the sages and not try to prop up my ego thinking it’s remotely possible. What we can do is try to see ourselves within another, to empathize through the shared experience of being human, even in the faces of those we find repugnant to our own dignity, morals, or political standpoint. If you are wondering, what any of this nonsense has to do with our very real socio-economic and political turmoil…I would say empathy, compassion, and their outward expression of charity inspire community and foster the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood when fear and uncertainty conspire to divide us.

A final note on giving. A gift need not be material and at a moment in history where everything seems to move faster and faster one of the greatest gifts may just be time. Listening is a gift as are many expressions of awareness that cost us nothing.

The Diamond Sutra, Verse 4; Translation by Edward Conze

Subhuti, a Bodhisattva who gives a gift should not be supported by a thing, nor should he be supported anywhere. When he gives gifts he should not be supported by sight-objects, nor by sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, or mind-objects. For, Subhuti, the Bodhisattva, the great being should give gifts in such a way that he is not supported by the notion of a sign.

Above passage taken from: Conze, E. 2001. Buddhist Wisdom: the diamond sutra and the heart sutra. New York: Vintage Books.

Brightheart says:

May 21, 2009 at 20:48

One sunny day when I was visiting Issan Dorsey at Hartford Street in San Francisco in the middle of the AIDS crisis, probably mid-eighties. He invited me go to lunch with him, and as I had hitchhiked down I was grateful for the chance to eat and spend time with him. As we walked up to Castro street we passed clusters of people sitting on doorsteps, many haggard, worn, dirty, or obviously ill. There was a constant solicitation of "Spare change?" and occasionally Issan would reach inside his robes, pull out a couple of quarters and hand them over to an open hand. I said something typical about them spending the money on drugs. He said "What if the 50 cents I gave him means that he'll now have the $3.79 he needs for a bottle of liquor. With that bottle he could go to someones house and maybe get to stay the night inside drinking rather than on the street? What if that little bit of change means he now has enough to get the drug his body is demanding? When I asked how he decided who to give change to he said the one's that look me in the eye and ask. I take 1/2 the money they give me as spending money (as abbot of the temple) and get quarters. I put them in a bag in my robes and give them away until I've run out of the change I can spare. Then I can truthfully look them in the eye and say "No, I'm sorry." Besides people I love live on the street and I can't locate them but I can help here. Besides, how and where else can you meet someones inmost need for 50 cents?

Midori Harada says:

July 1, 2009 at 08:11

I always give whatever I have to whomever asks. I have given pennies and I have given $20 if I felt I could. I truly feel if we are asked we should do what we can, we have no idea what can come to pass for a person to have to ask for money. I do not know if they need food or what the needs might be. True it may be drugs or drink. It is not my business. I am here to do the next thing that comes to me, and if it is a beggar than it is my duty to help. If given with love all is well. We live in perfect order and harmony so that each soul who is present is a reflection of perfect order.