Giving a Hand

In the last piece we took an overview of the six or ten Perfections. Now let’s go through them two at a time because tucked away within all this seeming goodness are a few tasty complications that are worth contemplating. I think we could say the first two are about ourselves and how we are with others.

Generosity

I’ve talked about generosity before and just how tricky it is in itself and how our ability to be generous ebbs and wains depending upon whether we feel in an open or closed place within ourselves. The problem is the usual one that we are made up of different parts and these may not be on board with generosity in the same way. I certainly have very generous parts in myself but I can also be mean, especially if I feel I am being taken for a ride or am being taken advantage of. I’ve also observed that I am much more inclined to give to a desperate young women begging than I am to a scruffy bloke smoking while looking at his phone. I’m also a completer pushover when there’s a dog. My giving has, whether I like it or not, an element of assessment which I know from the Buddhist perspective is not that skilful.

The Dharma - as already mentioned recognises three or four areas where generosity finds expression:

• Giving material things - an endless opportunity given how impoverished most people are in comparison to our own privilege. This took me a long time to cotton onto - I viewed myself as an poor student and hippy until I looked properly around me.

• Giving protection - this made me think of all the petitions Philippa sends me requiring help surviving anything from political dictators to animal cruelty. I can never sign or do follow ups enough.

• Giving Love - this one is obvious. We live in a world which is starving for love - most of us are touched by this. A loving and kind gesture goes a long way.

• Giving the Dharma - This is not about converting anyone, rather its about how we live, the values we espouse, the humanity we embody towards ourselves and those around us. There seems to be a Dharma teacher on every corner now, but my feeing is that what really makes a difference is far simpler and much less obvious than this.

Fundamentally, generosity is the foundation of all the other Perfections because it is intimately linked to our Buddha nature in that it is an expression of the compassion of bodhichitta - the limitless compassion that is an element of the awakened mind. To be awakened is to give.

Morality

Morality or ethics sounds a bit boring doesn’t it? That is until we realise that it’s about how we are in relationship to ourselves, others and the world we all share. It’s the means for survival, it’s life and death. This is also where it gets interesting. Early Buddhism - that taught by the historical Buddha Shakyamuni - has long lists of what were skilful actions to be embraced and unskilful ones to let go of. Amongst these were the Five Precepts for a lay person: to desist from killing, stealing, lying, becoming intoxicated and harmful sexuality. While these were not commandments - rather more ways of being that we aspire to in full knowledge that we will fail and have to try and try again - they were cut and dried. Do this and this and not that and that. It’s a rule stick to it. And then came along Mahayana Buddhism with a story about how the Buddha in a former life, when he was a bodhisattva, seeing with his insight that a pirate was about to kill everyone aboard a ship, in order to save the pirate from the truly hideous karmic consequences of such an action, decided to kill him and take to consequences of that action himself. Now the rabbit was out of the bag! Under certain circumstances, someone with superior insight and a heart full of compassion could break conventional morality for the greater good. There may be situations in which breaking the Five Precepts - and other clearly laid out ethical actions - could be the best thing to do. That doing this may be the most compassionate action on this particular occasion. With this Buddhist ethics changed from being rules based ethics to situational ethics. By doing so it became much more nuanced and arguably kinder, no more absolute rights and wrongs, but it also became open to interpretation and with that, misinterpretation and also intentional distortion. Could a Buddhist really kill someone and say it was for their own good? There are many instances where nominal Buddhist’s have believed just this.

And what about fiddling ones tax form, the kind or white lie, the one harmless drink too many and being a selfish or withholding lover? Does it really matter?

NW. and PV. 16 November 2025