Generosity, in Mahayana Buddhism, is one of the most important aspects of bodhisattva practice, and it is difficult for ordinary people to understand its true meaning. In real life, as soon as many people hear about "almsgiving", they rush to donate a little money to the temple, thinking that this is the practice of almsgiving. This understanding of generosity is too narrow, and it is really a misunderstanding of Buddhism.
Donating money is indeed a kind of generosity, but giving is not only donating money, the meaning of generosity is very deep and broad.
We often say that Buddhism is the Buddha's education, so what good is this education? First of all, it must meet everyone's basic wishes, and people are willing to learn. What people in the world pursue in their lives is nothing more than three things: wealth, wisdom, health and longevity. These three wishes, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, no one does not want. But he did not know the truth and did not know how to realize these three wishes, so it was difficult for ordinary people to get them.
So the Buddha told us that good causes get good results, and evil causes get evil results; there must be a cause, and there must be a cause, and there must be a cause. In order to realize the above three wishes, it is necessary to practice generosity. Generosity is divided into three categories: wealth and generosity, Dharma almsgiving, and fearless generosity, and practicing these three kinds of generosity is the cause, and obtaining wealth, wisdom, health and longevity is the result.
The wealth and charity here is not just donating money to the temple, and everyone should not misunderstand it anymore! Financial almsgiving is divided into two categories: internal financial almsgiving and external financial almsgiving. External wealth is something outside the body, not necessarily money; internal wealth is the body, and donating organs and using physical strength to help others are all internal wealth and charity.
In daily life, thinking for others, not for oneself, this is almsgiving, that is, practicing almsgiving, that is, practicing the bodhisattva path every day, but everyone just doesn't know it. The key to generosity is the thought, you do everything for others, it is giving, if it is for yourself, then it is not giving.
For example, if you do housework at home every day, wash clothes for your family, prepare meals, clean up, and take care of your children, this is to repair almsgiving and provide for your family! You are practicing the bodhisattva path, practicing the bodhisattva path, and when you think about it, your heart is very happy. If you still have a complaint in your heart: "Oops! Serving them every day, my family treated me as a servant, which was really wronged. Such a complaint will give away the merit of generosity.
For example, working in a company, you work hard every day, overtime, just to get a little more money, or for a promotion, then it is not charity, you will do a lot of hard work. If you work hard, just to give away to the company, to serve the public, as for salary and promotion, it is not what I am after, then you are practicing the bodhisattva path, working with the bodhisattva's charity, then the more you do it, the happier you are, and you will not feel tired and bored. As the saying goes, "people are refreshed when they are happy", if the work is fun, it will not be tired and will not be annoyed. If you are not willing to do it, and you have to do it in order to earn money to support your family, such work will feel very tired, very annoying, and difficult to maintain for a long time.
Therefore, shubushi is not just donating money to the temple, if you donate money to seek blessings and rewards, to seek a million profits, then there is no merit, only a little merit. The key to practicing generosity lies in changing one's thoughts, being one's own, being a mere mortal, being a sentient being, and practicing the bodhisattva path. You can get a little benefit from doing it for yourself, but in a few days you will enjoy it. Everything is for sentient beings, everything is for the purpose of helping others, then the merit is immeasurable, the benefits are incredible, there is no end, so that it is perfect.
Share all the merits of this article
All are addressed to the original author and to all readers
Please always chant Nam no Amitabha Buddha
All felonies are relieved
The pictures and texts are from the Sohu number of Traditional Chinese Studies, the content is only for public welfare sharing, the copyright belongs to the original author, if there is infringement, please inform and delete!