( Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook – XXV)
Master Dogen also emphasizes that a small donation or gift, thoughmeagre yet given with sincerity and generosity, may mean more than a casual giving ofgreat treasure.
He references a couple of old Buddhist stories to make his point: The first (from the Treatise on the GreatPerfection of Wisdom)
is a story of a poor old woman who made a simple offering to Buddha of thewater that she had used to rinse rice and, as a result, was reborn to eventually became a buddhaherself. The second concerns the great King Ashoka who, unable one day to give gold or money, donated with sincerity a mere half a crabapple to a monastery, which the monks received courteously, ground into flour, and baked into acake which was shared by all (from the Ashoka sûtra).
The passage also refers to the Buddha as “Him of Ten Names“, because many names are used to describe the Buddha. One sometimes heard is “awake and generous one“, which seems fitting here.
As for the [proper]attitude in preparing food offerings and handling ingredients, do not debatethe fineness of things and do not debate their coarseness, but take asessential the profound arousal of a true mind and a respectful mind.
Have you not seen thata single bowl of starchy water, offered to Him of the Ten Names, naturallyresulted in wondrous merit that carried an old woman through future births; andthat half a crabapple fruit, given to a single monastery, enabled King Ashokafinally to establish his vast good karmic roots, gain a prediction, and bringabout a great result? Although they create a karmic connection with the Buddha,[donations that are] large and vacuous are not the same as [ones that are]small and sincere. This is the practice of a [true] person.
From: Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk
posted November 17, 2009 at 5:31 pm
My thanks to you Jundo. Gassho Kent
posted November 18, 2009 at 4:45 am
I am very grateful for your sharing.
gassho
posted November 18, 2009 at 5:06 pm
why don’t you get a job and earn a living like the rest of us, instead of begging for donations? Why should anyone send their money to you? You don’t do anything to earn it.
posted November 18, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Treating everything with equanimity, gratitude and respect is a rare thing.
I think when we set high ideals of perfection before us, it helps us to climber high than we would have otherwise.
posted November 21, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Hi Ed,
why don’t you get a job and earn a living like the rest of us, instead of begging for donations? Why should anyone send their money to you? You don’t do anything to earn it.
I do not accept any donations here (I work as a translator of Japanese), and we have sufficient funds for what we do. However, charity and giving is a vital part of Buddhist practice, so I strongly encourage all to make donations to folks who can use it, the poor, hungry, to cure an illness. It is an important reminder this time of the year, with the economy as it is. Give until it hurts, and think what you have that you do not really need.
Gassho, Jundo