This topic was suggested by one of our younger female members who emigrated from India to pursue higher education in America, including at Georgia Tech. She is now working as a post-doc at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, whose motto is “Solving the Big Problems.”

Elsewhere, I have argued the position that Buddha was clearly a problem-solver of the first order, taking on the most central problem of existence itself. It seems ironic to me, but somewhat predictable, that his problem definition — dukkha, roughly translated as “suffering” — along with his findings, conclusions, and recommendations, came to be classified as “religious,” codified as what we refer to as “Buddhism” and considered one of the four major religions of the world. For Buddha himself, and his followers, I wonder if they regarded their pursuit of insight or awakening as religious in nature, given the cultural milieu of their time. But that might be a topic for another time. 

At this time I want to examine the notion of generosity, or dana, in Sanskrit, and how it might fit into our current cultural milieu. As this thread will necessarily expand into social norms and means, including ideology and partisanship, we will have to limit the potential scope to the space available.

Let me get the political/ideological aspect out of the way first, so we can take a look at the personal dimension, and how it might apply to your own Zen practice. It seems obvious that most contemporary practitioners of Zen, and Western followers of Buddhism in general, would tend to consider themselves as liberal or progressive in their politics. After all, Buddhism’s emphasis on compassion, charity, and generosity, as well as the magnanimous and nurturing mind, would seem to imply that the socially liberal side of ideology would most accurately reflect that worldview. On the other hand, the conservative side might argue that compassion without wisdom is not true compassion.

A nondual view of ideology that I have pointed to elsewhere goes beyond the labels to look at what, exactly, “conservatives” want to liberalize, such as regulations and other restrictions on corporate entities, taxation, and big government, et cetera; as well as what, specifically, “liberals” strive to conserve, such as personal rights, safety from guns, and so on. We can say, then, that there are no liberals and conservatives in any absolute sense; the determinative issue is what aspects of society they seem to want to conserve or liberalize. And in general, the all-inclusive, living kindness and loving speech of Buddhism would seem to lobby in favor of the progressive worldview.

It should be noted in passing that the Buddhist Order of monks and nuns of 2,500 years ago appears not to have been a political movement as such, and that it did not attempt to undermine or topple the existing governmental structure, nor even the caste system; though apparently any and all members of any level of society were welcome to join, as long as they were willing to relinquish their privilege and power, family status, wealth and inheritance in deference to the rules and regulations of the new community, or sangha.

No matter what system or social milieu in which we find ourselves, the most salient dimension of generosity is to be realized on the personal level. That is, if we can be patient, or generous, with ourselves, we can be truly patient or generous with others.

This does not suggest that we pamper ourselves or indulge all our favorite fantasies of the good life, but to recognize and embrace our identified faults and failings as not necessarily of our own making. Repenting our past harmful karmic action as “born of body, mouth, and mind” captures this realistic worldview concisely.

Most of our impulses, desires, and motives stem from the fact that we are an incarnate, living being. This body, this mouth, and this survival-oriented mind are built into human birth and consequent existence. We are not making this up. We cannot be 100% responsible for a play that we did not author. We are not God.  

But we can accept and even celebrate that we can be responsible for what we do with the opportunity that this life offers us. The Three Treasures may be said to express the highest values in Zen — Buddha being the ability to wake up; Dharma being the way to do so; and Sangha being the harmonious and supportive community in which to pursue this aspiration. We are the recipient of generosity from these three conditions of our life. 

For more on Soto Zen liturgy and its meaning and application to our modern life and practice, please check out my UnMind podcast at: https://www.aszc.org/unmind

and/or register for my Master Class at: https://aszc-sto.regfox.com/master-class-may