Generosity & Gratitude

Close your eyes and focus on the breath. Feel it all the way in, all the way out. Try long breathing for a while and see how long breathing feels. If it feels good, keep it up. If it doesn’t, you can change. Try to find a way of breathing that feels good right now.

Today we’re paying homage to the King of Thailand in recognition of all that he and his ancestors have done for Buddhism in Thailand and in the world. The founder of the dynasty realized that one of the reasons why Ayutthaya, the previous capital, had fallen was because Buddhism had become degenerate. So he worked to bring it back to its original form.

He and his descendants had councils to clean up the Tripitaka, revive the practice of meditation, revive the practice of the dhutanga practices, laid the groundwork for the founding of the forest tradition—and then supporting the forest tradition, especially the last two kings, his father and the present king.

So we have gratitude for all that they have done. And the best way to show your gratitude, of course, is to practice. Take advantage of the fact that the true Dhamma is still alive, still being taught, still being practiced.

It starts with very simple things, the principle of generosity. They made a survey of the different qualities that the Buddha had to develop in order to become Buddha, and it all starts with generosity, the willingness to give. Instead of coming to the practice with the idea that you’re going to get something out of it, the first thoughts should be, “What can I give?” In the beginning, you give material things. But you also give other things as well. You can give your time; you give your energy; you give your knowledge; you give your forgiveness for one another.

When you just sit here and meditate, you’re giving up the desire to focus on other things. You want to get the mind to settle down. Only when you give things up can you gain better things in return.

It’s interesting that when the Buddha talks about the various motivations for generosity, the lowest motivation is, “I’ll get this back with interest through the principle of kamma.” The higher motivations are giving in itself is good, it’s a good thing to be giving, it feels good inside yourself, you feel proud of yourself. You have a sense of self-esteem. The ironic thing is that the higher the motivation for giving, the better long-term results are.

The purpose of this is to remind you that, as you focus on doing good in the present moment, you can find satisfaction in that. You don’t have to worry about the results down the line. The results will have to be good.

So as you’re meditating here right now, the mind may settle down, it may not settle down quite yet. But whatever effort you put in to making it settle down is going to be effort well spent, because you’ve got to get control over your mind. When aging, illness, and death come, if your mind is wandering around, who knows where it’s going to pull you? You want to have it go in a direction that you feel is worthy, you feel is honorable. And the practice of meditation is an honorable thing. You’re giving up your desires for short-term happiness, for things outside, and you’re focusing on the goodness that you can develop right now, right here within yourself. After all, that’s where goodness comes from. It comes from within.

We read about the goodness of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, They set a good example, but our experience of goodness has to come from within to be genuine. So you try to develop your resources here, inside, by being more mindful, by being more alert, by being more ardent in doing good. These are precisely the qualities you need to develop as you work with the breath. Then you can transfer them to other activities throughout life.

So goodness starts with being generous. When the results come, you don’t want to just eat up the results. You want to use those and invest them to make more goodness. It’s in this way that the goodness that the Buddha set forth in the world, that he showed as a good example, stays alive in the world.

We’ve had people since then carrying on the tradition, such as the Chakri Dynasty. They did their best to revive Buddhism in Thailand. They were people in a position where they could make a difference, and they made a good difference.

You’re living your life, so look for areas where you can make a difference. Try to make it a good difference: that your contribution to the world, however large or small, is going to be for the sake of goodness, for the sake of well-being of all beings, all around. That way, we take the example of people from the past and we put it to use. We keep it alive. That’s the best way of showing our gratitude.