“The miser does not go to the heaven state… the wise man is generous”.

The season of giving has past us a couple of months ago. There are two types of giving. One is self- conscious, focused on ‘my’ needs rather than those of the recipient’s. The other is giving beyond the self. It flows from the spaciousness of the Buddha Nature.

The Zen training is concerned with the latter. It involves a wholehearted giving of myself into whatever is arising in each moment. It is illustrated in the following Chinese fable.

“One day an old man went to the village well to draw water. Slowly and carefully, he pulled up the bucket. A young man watched him for a while. He then disappeared and returned with a pulley. He approached the old man who asked him what he was holding. The young man showed him. He explained how the pulley worked. He said, “Put your rope around the wheel. You can easily draw up the water by turning the handle”.The old man pondered for a moment. He then answered, “If I use that pulley, my mind will think itself very clever. I won’t be working wholeheartedly when I draw up the water. Only my wrist will be needed. If I don’t use my whole body and heart, all the joy in the work will disappear. When there is no joy, the taste of the water will be affected”.

“The miser…”

Unlike the old man in the story, we are sometimes halfhearted. We are like the ‘miser’. In daily life, we only give what my mother used to describe as ‘a lick and a promise’. On the phone, maybe we only half listen to a friend because we are multi-tasking on our tablet. When cleaning our teeth, we are so engrossed with thoughts of an impending holiday that we don’t notice we are splattering toothpaste around the washbasin. Failure to meet the needs of the friend and the washbasin are a failure of communication. Their needs are not heard. They are muffled by our preoccupations.

These preoccupations are made up of ‘me’. Sometimes they are driven by irritation or even hate. This is revealed when we push people, objects or situations away. We regard them as a threat to ‘me’. We also misjudge needs when we are attracted to phenomena. In such circumstances we perhaps force our attention where it is unwanted. Perhaps we impose help when it is not required.

“… does not go to the heaven state”.

When giving is either reluctant or attached, there is self-consciousness. Generosity only flowers when the emotional energy is acknowledged. When it is met and invited to burn me away, it is transmuted into the Buddha Nature - choiceless awareness. Free from the miser (‘I’), there is no obstruction to communion with everything that arises. There is a direct, appropriate response to all needs. This freedom from ‘I’ is ‘the heaven state’.

“… the wise man is generous”.

The wise man is the Buddha Nature. The following Russian story points to it.

“A girl entered a dark forest in order to visit the witch Baba Yaga. As she walked, she found a handkerchief, ribbons, a can of oil, a juicy bone and a leaf sprinkled with meat. Suddenly the wind started to blow. The green swinging branches brushed her face. The girl tied them back with the ribbons. Immediately the wind dropped. She drew nearer to Baba Yaga’s gates. As she opened them, they creaked loudly.  The girl oiled the hinges with the can of oil. A fierce dog bounded up to her. She threw down the bone. The dog caught and gnawed it. The girl saw Baba Yaga staring at her. She was standing outside her hut. The witch ordered her maid to run a bath for the girl. She whispered instructions to scrub her well ready for eating. The girl noticed that the maid was trembling. She gave her the handkerchief to cheer her up. In gratitude the maid said she would use a teacup rather than a jug to fill the bath with water. This would give her time to escape. The girl gave Baba Yaga’s black cat the meat. The cat gave her a magic towel and comb. The girl ran out of the hut. When Baba Yaga discovered she had escaped, she was furious. She demanded to know why the cat, the maid, the dog and gates and trees had allowed it. They all compared the girl’s generosity with the witch’s cruelty. Jumping on her broomstick she pursued her. Hearing Baba Yaga behind her, the girl thew down the magic towel. A river appeared which drowned the broom. The witch continued the chase on foot. The girl threw down the magic comb. A dense forest sprang up. Baba Yaga’s way was obstructed. The girl finally returned safely home”.

The girl entering the forest points to the meeting of fear. The clear seeing of choiceless awareness is demonstrated as the objects are found. Its compassion and warmth are revealed as they are given away in response to the needs of the trees, the gates, the dog, the maid and the cat. Its open handedness encourages friendliness and further generosity as the girl is helped to safety.

When we give ourselves wholeheartedly, we are re-connected with all in the Open Heart. At-one-ment is what the Heart longs for. Like the girl returning home at the end of the story, we discover our true home.