Perfection of Generosity

This paramita is the enlightened quality of generosity, charity, giving, and offering.

The essence of this paramita is unconditional love, a boundless openness of heart and mind, a selfless generosity and giving which is completely free from attachment and expectation.  

From the very depths of our heart, we practice generously offering our love, compassion, time, energy, and resources to serve the highest welfare of all beings.  

Giving is one of the essential preliminary steps of our practice. Our giving should always be unconditional and selfless; completely free of any selfish desire for gratitude, recognition, advantage, reputation, or any worldly reward.  

The perfection of generosity is not accomplished simply by the action of giving, nor by the actual gift itself.  

Rather, the true essence of this paramita is our pure motivation of genuine concern for others—the truly generous motivation of the awakened heart of compassion, wisdom, and love.  

In addition, our practice of giving should be free of discrimination regarding who is worthy and who is unworthy to receive.  

To cultivate the paramita of generosity, it is wise to contemplate the enormous benefits of this practice, the disadvantages of being miserly, as well as the obvious fact that our body and our wealth are impermanent.

With this in mind, we will certainly be encouraged to use both our body and wealth to practice generosity while we still have them.  

Generosity is a cure for the afflictions of greed, miserliness, and possessiveness.  

In this practice of giving, we may offer our time, energy, money, food, clothing, or gifts so as to assist others.

To the best of our ability, we may offer the priceless treasure of Dharma instruction, giving explanations on the Buddha’s teachings. This offering serves to free others from misperceptions that cause confusion, pain, and suffering.  

We can offer fearless giving and protection by delivering living beings (insects, animals, and people) from harm, distress, fear, and terror.

In this way, we offer care and comfort, helping others to feel safe and peaceful. We do this selflessly, without counting the cost to ourselves.

We practice the perfection of generosity in an especially powerful way when we embrace all living beings continually in the radiant love of our heart.

Source: Used with permission from https://sourcepointglobaloutreach.org/what-we-offer/