Dāna

☸️ Dāna (Pali: dāna) - generosity, giving.

• One of the three bases of merit (the other two are sīla - ethical conduct, and bhāvanā - spiritual practice)
• the first of the ten “pāramī” (noble qualities needed to progress along the Noble Eightfold Path in the Theravāda tradition).

The Mahāyāna tradition has a counterpart - the pāramitās. The lists and the number of qualities differ, but dāna is present in both.

📊 A price list of gifts

MN 142 (Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga) lays out the “accounting” of dāna in detail. Fourteen kinds of personal offering are ranked in descending order of the merit they yield. But an offering to the Saṅgha bears more fruit than a gift to an individual, even if that individual is the Buddha. After all, that way the Buddha receives the gift too!

⚖️ Purifying the gift

A gift can be purified by the ethical conduct of the giver, of the recipient, of both - or of neither. The giver’s state of mind at three moments also matters (AN 6.37):

• joy before,
• a clear mind during,
• satisfaction after giving.

The motive matters too: giving in the hope of future gain is one thing, giving for the sake of developing the mind is another. (AN 7.49)

🎁 Dāna is a practice

Dāna literally trains letting go, and in a way open to everyone. Every gift is a small rehearsal for parting with what we are used to calling ours (especially if we remember that there is no way to hold on to that “ours” anyway). At the same time, it matters not to give to your own detriment. A good gift harms neither the giver nor anyone else. (AN 5.148)

💡 In Practice

What to give

• Material gifts are the simplest: food, things, money.
• You can be generous with your time and attention: listen to someone without getting distracted.
• You can “give someone a fishing rod” - teach them a skill, share what you know how to do.
• The gift of the Dhamma is priceless - sharing a teaching that leads to happiness and fearlessness.

How to check

Once the gift has been handed over, did an inner counter of the recipient’s gratitude switch on? Did something get debited from an invisible account of mutual favors? Does it matter how the recipient uses the gift? Would we be upset if they re-gift it, sell it, or simply throw it away?

If any of this is there, an expectation of payment may well have crept into the generosity 😉