244.It is not proper for you to partake of seasonal foods
and beverages, produce, grains, and fruits
until you have offered them to monks and nuns
and those asking for alms.
245.At the sites of cisterns place shoes,
parasols, and water filters,
tweezers for removing thorns,
needles, thread, and fans.
(6) Do not eat the food and drink procured from warmer climates in the winter and from cooler climates in the summer without first offering a portion to the Three Jewels, the monastic community, mendicants, and beggars. Always offer food to the Three Jewels and practice generosity to sentient beings.
(7) Provide shoes for people who lack them to prevent them from being bitten by snakes and pierced by thorns as they walk. Offer parasols and umbrellas for protection from the sun and rain. Make water strainers available so that insects in the water will not die, and provide tweezers for removing thorns, needles and thread to mend clothes, and fans for people to cool themselves. Put these near the cisterns where people can easily locate them.
246.At the cisterns also place the three kinds of fruit,
the three kinds of salt, honey,
eye medicine, and antidotes to poison.
Also write formulas for medicinal treatments and spells.
247.At the cisterns also place ointments
for the body, feet, and head,
cradles, ladles and ewers,
brass pots, axes, and so on.
(8) Eliminate the problems travelers face by making medicines and healing spells easily accessible. The three medicinal fruits are yellow myrobalan (terminalia chebula), beleric myrobalan (terminalia belerica), and emblic myrobalan (emblica officinalis). Butter and honey are medicines for certain nervous disorders due to imbalance of the internal winds. Medicine for the eyes and antidotes to poisons are also helpful to travelers. Make clear instructions on how to take the medicine for each particular illness, and write down mantras to recite that cure illnesses, and put these near the cisterns together with the medicinal substances.
(9) In the enclosures where the water cisterns are located, put oil and other ointments for travelers to use to protect their skin and to heal wounds. Leave cradles for infants and toddlers to sleep in. Also put out jugs to collect water, axes to cut firewood for cooking, and various pots, pans, pitchers, and utensils.
248.In cool, shady spots make small cisterns
filled with potable water
and provided with sesame, rice,
grain, foods, and molasses.
249.At the openings of anthills
have trustworthy persons
constantly place food and water,
molasses and piles of grain.
(10) Make shady areas near the cisterns, and nearby place sesame, rice, grains, molasses, oil, and various foods. Make sure the cisterns are filled with sufficient potable water.
(11) Instruct trustworthy people to keep ants supplied with food, by placing water, sugar, and oil from grains near the entrances to anthills without hurting the ants.
250.Both before and after each meal
always offer in a pleasant manner
food to hungry ghosts,
dogs, ants, birds, and so on.
251.Always care extensively for [places] in the world
that are oppressed or where crops have failed,
that have suffered harm or where there is plague,
or that have been conquered [in war].
252a.Provide seeds and food to farmers
who have fallen on hard times.
(12) Before and after eating, give as much as you can to hungry ghosts, dogs, birds, and ants. One way of offering to hungry ghosts is by putting rice or bread in your fist and reciting an offering mantra, as monastics do after the midday meal.
(13) Send aid to stricken areas whether they are located in your kingdom or elsewhere. Help those oppressed by another king and those whose crops failed. Send emergency aid to areas where the populace is struck by epidemics or where natural disasters have occurred. Help these people to rebuild their homes, plant their fields, and recover from illness. Take care of people in areas ravaged by war who desperately need help. Help all these people as extensively as you can.
(14) Distribute seeds and seedlings so farmers will have plentiful harvests and people will have enough to eat. Give them farming tools if needed. Some may not have the animals or farmhands needed to work their land — care for them by supplying them with what they need to sustain themselves, their families, and neighbors.
Wealthy countries nowadays don’t have these kinds of visible problems; they are almost like pure lands. But in Nepal, Tibet, India, China, and Africa, many people are afflicted by such terrible hardships. We should help them as much as we can. Such generosity done with bodhichitta is the collection of merit.
252b.Eliminate excessive taxes
and reduce the portion [of products taxed].
253.Protect [citizens] from debt;
eliminate new tolls and reduce [excessive] tolls.
Eliminate the suffering of those
who wait at your door [with their petitions unanswered].
Giving Other Things and Governing Properly
These above fourteen are branches of collecting merit by giving what we own. In the following set of nine instructions Nagarjuna counsels leaders and officials on how to govern the land wisely.
(1) Eliminate high taxes levied by previous kings that burden people, and (2) reduce the amount of items that are taxed. (3) Protect those who are impoverished due to debt. (4) As a new king, eliminate tolls altogether or (5) reduce those that are burdensome. (6) When merchants come from other places, do not be greedy for their possessions, imposing heavy taxes on them, confiscating or impounding their goods, or refusing to let them depart. If people wish to meet with you, do not keep them waiting with their petitions unanswered but try to see them soon.
254.Eliminate bandits from your own land
and in other lands as well.
Keep prices level
and place the proper value [on goods].
(7) Eliminate bandits in your land and in other lands too. If people in your land have been harmed or traumatized by robbers, alleviate their troubles and give them what they need. (8) Additionally, ensure that prices are fair and the proper value is placed on goods. During times of scarcity don’t allow people to overcharge others, but keep prices at the level of what most people can afford.
255.Be thoroughly familiar
with all that your advisors say,
and always do whatever
is healthy for the world.
256.Just as you pay attention
to whatever you think will benefit you,
so too pay attention
to what you think will benefit others.
(9) Your ministers will want to discuss many things with you. Listen closely to their assessments and advice. Understand their attitudes and intentions, and use your own wisdom to discern if their advice is suitable and if it benefits your citizens. Do only what will benefit others, and do not let yourself be taken in by greedy or scheming advisors who do not care for you, the people in your land, or the environment.
In short, regard others’ concerns as being as important as your own, and pay attention to what you think will benefit them. When others help you, you are happy. Similarly, when you help others, they will benefit and have a happy mind.
257.Like the earth, water, fire, and wind,
wild herbs and the plants of the forest,
make yourself [and your possessions]
available for the general enjoyment [of all].
258.Even when taking their seventh step,
bodhisattvas have the attitude of giving away all their possessions;
this produces merit in them
that is as limitless as the sky itself.
Give Everything Away
Sentient beings freely
use the earth, water, fire, air, herbs, and other medicinal plants that grow in the forest. Similarly, as much as you can, put your possessions, body, and resources at the service of others so that sentient beings will derive maximum benefit.
If your mind will not let you give to others, then repeatedly make the aspiration, “May all I own — including my possessions and body — be used by others, and may others benefit from this.” Thinking like this even for a short while will increase your capacity to give later. Try to give all you can according to your capability, and train in and enhance your wish to give. In brief, be generous whenever you can.
Just after bodhisattvas take birth in the lifetime in which they will attain full awakening, they take seven steps and declare that this will be their final life as a samsaric being. At that time, they haven’t yet actualized their goal of full awakening, but they cultivate the intention to give everything to sentient beings. They protect this marvelous intention from deterioration by repeatedly thinking, “May I be able to give my body, wealth, and past, present, and future merit to sentient beings and may it manifest as whatever they want or need.” Thinking like this creates merit as extensive as space.
This is similar to the taking-and-giving meditation, tonglen, where we imagine transforming our body, wealth, and virtue into whatever others want and need and then giving it to them. In fact, Precious Garland is the root source of this meditation, as we shall see later.
259.If you bestow well-adorned, beautiful maidens
upon those who seek them,
you will thereby attain the dharanis
that hold the holy Dharma.
260.Previously the Victor bestowed
eighty thousand maidens adorned
with all kinds of ornaments
accompanied by all kinds of goods.
Give According to What Others Want
Give beautiful maidens wearing fine clothing and adorned with jewels, along with everything needed to sustain them, to those who seek them. Doing so is a cause for attaining the full retention of the words and meaning of the Dharma without befuddlement.
We may wonder if it is suitable to give women — or any human being — to others as if they were possessions. In ancient Indian culture this was appropriate in situations where one had responsibility for maidens and authority over them — as would be the case with the great kings at that time. Nagarjuna cites as a precedent the act of the Buddha in a former life as King Anantakirti when he gave away eighty thousand maidens, together with jewelry, clothes, household items, and everything that they need.30
There is some similarity between this story and the Jataka tale about one of the Buddha’s previous lives when he was a bodhisattva and gave his wife and children as gifts to a raksha (demon). Not all rakshas are evil — the one to whom the bodhisattva gave his wife and children treated them kindly. There is a world of difference between giving away one’s wife and children callously, for money or other worldly gain, and giving them responsibly to someone who will take care of them, possibly better than oneself. Although giving in this way is contrary to our modern culture’s emphasis on human rights, we cannot immediately claim that the bodhisattva, acting within the mores of an ancient culture, lacked compassion.
Once, some gods who revered the practice of virtue wanted to see whether the Buddha, who at the time was a bodhisattva king, was completely free of attachment and able to practice the perfection of generosity faultlessly. To do this, they emanated as mendicants who requested all of his possessions, which he happily gave them. To see if he still had subtler forms of attachment, they took the form of very pathetic and lonely people and begged the king for his wife, son, and daughter. Overwhelmed with compassion at their pitiful state, he gave them his family as well. To examine if he was free from the subtlest levels of attachment, they asked for his eye, hands, and other parts of his body. He gave these completely free of any self-centeredness and without fear, hesitation, or regret.
Bodhisattvas’ practice of generosity, ethical conduct, and fortitude is beyond our comprehension; it is something we can only imagine and aspire to have one day. People say that they have great compassion for their children, but in fact their compassion is almost certainly mixed with attachment and is not very powerful. Giving rise to unadulterated compassion is difficult, and our compassion cannot even begin to compare with the depth and breadth of compassion bodhisattvas feel upon meeting someone in a pitiful state.
Enormous faith wells up in my mind when I contemplate these accounts of the Buddha’s practice of giving on the bodhisattva path. I see that he was able to give without the slightest attachment to any person or possession, his reputation, or anything else. This is the kind of practice that people like us are not able to do at all. For example, if someone asked us for our spouse, there would be no way we could give that person away. Our attachment is so strong we would not even allow anyone to touch or even look at our spouse. At first glance, when we hear such stories about bodhisattvas’ practice of generosity, they are so outside our experience that we have a hard time even considering them.31
To someday be able to give our body, possessions, and life as freely as bodhisattvas do, we start by repeatedly generating the bodhichitta motivation and proceed with the practices of the six perfections according to our ability.
261.To those who come begging,
lovingly give numerous and resplendent clothes,
ornaments, perfumes, and garlands,
and other objects of enjoyment.
Giving to the Needy
Give people whatever they need or want — jewelry, clothes, perfumes, garlands, food, drink, medicine, shelter, and more. Give them things that are in excellent condition, not faded, old, or torn. It is important to give without thinking that we will become well known for being rich and generous. Watch your motivation and make sure it is always compassionate.
262.There is no greater act of generosity
than to grant to the extremely unfortunate
who are bereft of some aspect of the Dharma
the happy chance [to receive teachings on it].
Give According to the Dharma
Giving according to the Dharma means to give what is appropriate and needed according to the time and situation. Helping those who want to listen to the Dharma but lack the material necessities to do so is especially good. A wonderful practice of generosity is providing for others’ material needs so they can study and practice the Dharma. Due to your generosity, they now have the opportunity to listen, meditate, and gain realizations. Their practice benefits all beings, not only themselves.
If you have the necessary knowledge and skill to share the Dharma with others, it is a privilege to give talks, lead meditations and discussions, and give people Dharma advice to solve their problems. The sutras say that the gift of the Dharma is the highest gift.
263.You should even give poison
to those for whom poison would be beneficial.
But if even the best food will not help someone,
do not give it to him.
264.It is said that if a snake has bitten one’s finger,
it is helpful to amputate it.
Likewise, the Sage said that if it benefits others,
one should even do something unpleasant.
Certain illnesses must be treated with poisonous substances, so give them to people who need them to recover from an illness. Be sensitive in each situation to see what is required and beneficial. Do not give someone the best things if that is not what will benefit her. For example, do not insist that a sick person eat rich food; give her the food that she needs to recover.
It may happen that to solve a problem we may have to do something that is unpleasant in the short term but efficacious in the long term. For example, a person may require surgery or another type of medical treatment that is unpleasant at present but will cure him. We should continually look for the best long-term solutions to difficulties, without regard to temporary pleasure.
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br /> THE COLLECTION OF WISDOM EXPANDED
The branches of the collection of wisdom are ways to approach the study and practice of emptiness. Adopting the twenty-five branches outlined below will facilitate our collection of wisdom, enabling it to increase easily and without many hindrances.
265.Have supreme respect for the holy Dharma
and those who teach the Dharma.
Respectfully listen to the Dharma
and offer the Dharma to others.
(1) Offer to, honor, and respect the sutras, treatises, and commentaries that teach the path to liberation and awakening. To offer respect to Dharma books, buy cloth for covering them, construct clean and high places to store them, and embellish the external edges of the pages with yellow dye, a custom followed by Tibetans. Honor and serve those who teach the Dharma by offering them food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and the various things they need in order to teach and spread the Dharma.
(2) When attending discourses, be respectful and humble; leave all arrogance aside, as that will hinder learning the Dharma. Bow to the teachers to show respect and listen attentively, without chatting to others or standing up in the middle of teachings. Respectful behavior toward the Dharma and Dharma teachers will be a good example for the people in your land.
(3) Give texts to those who don’t have books to study. Making a library with Buddhist texts and preserving ancient texts is an excellent offering to the Dharma and to all the people who will use the texts and benefit from studying them. In addition, answer questions and explain the Dharma to those who do not understand the meaning of the oral or written teachings.
266.Do not revel in worldly discourse;
take delight in the transcendent.
Just as you develop good qualities in yourself,
develop them also in others.
(4) Do not enjoy listening to people criticize or gossip about others. Do not even take delight in conversation that is neither particularly harmful nor beneficial, such as meaningless stories that waste time and later manifest as distraction in meditation. Especially avoid discussions about topics that stir up the mind and inflame afflictions. (5) Instead, relish conversations about the Dharma, the determination to be free, bodhichitta, the six perfections, emptiness, liberation, awakening, and so forth. When you are together with others, try to turn the conversation to these topics and include other people in discussions on such matters.
Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Page 27