Dana

"It is with the Dana Paramita that the Buddha’s teaching of universal harmony is put into practice. Mutual interdependence becomes mutual intersupport. It is practice that is not only Buddhist but perennial as well. The Earth itself flourishes by what Emerson calls the endless circulation of the divine charity: 'The wind sows the seed, the sun evaporates the sea, the wind blows the vapor to the field... the rain feeds the plant, the plant feeds the animal.' The very stars hold themselves on course through a mutual interchange of energy"

Robert Aitken
From the book "The Practice of Perfection"

The Group Of Threes

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "These three types of persons can be found existing in the world. Which three? One like a cloud without rain, one who rains locally, and one who rains everywhere.

"And how is a person like a cloud without rain? There is the case where a person is not a giver of food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, or lights to any priests or contemplatives, to any of the miserable, the homeless, or beggars. This is how a person is like a cloud without rain.

"And how is a person one who rains locally? There is the case where a person is a giver of food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lights to some priests & contemplatives, to some of the miserable, the homeless, & beggars, and not to others. This is how a person one who rains locally.

"And how is a person one who rains everywhere? There is the case where a person gives food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, scents, ointments, beds, dwellings, & lights to all priests & contemplatives, to all of the miserable, the homeless, & beggars. This is how a person one who rains everywhere.

"These are the three types of persons who can be found existing in the world."

Not to contemplatives,
to priests,
to the miserable,
nor to the homeless
does he share what he's gained:
    food,
    drinks,
    nourishment.
He, that lowest of people,
    is called a cloud with no rain.

To some he gives,
to others he doesn't:
the intelligent call him
one who rains locally.

A person responsive to requests,
sympathetic to all beings,
delighting in distributing alms:
    "Give to them!
    Give!"
    he says.
As a cloud -- resounding, thundering -- rains,
    filling with water, drenching
    the plateaus & gullies:
        a person like this
        is like that.
Having rightly amassed
wealth attained through initiative,
he satisfies fully with food & drink
those fallen into
the homeless state.

Itivuttaka
Book of Threes 75

*alms: Gift or donation. In Theravadin countries monks/nuns collect their daily food from the local communities. The food is not asked for as such, but is offered freely.

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Dana

The Group Of Threes

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