What is Dāna 布施? What constitutes an act of Dāna 布施?
The Sanskrit term Dāna 布施 means ‘generosity’. In concrete terms then, dāna is any volitional act of giving, made by body, speech or mind. An example of the act of giving made with the body, is the giving of physical possessions or wealth (財施/ āmiṣadāna) to others or the Sangha-community. An example of an act of giving made with speech, is the expounding of Dharma (法施/ dharmadāna) to others or within the Sangha-community. And an example of the act of giving made with mind is, bestowing upon others fearlessness or courage (無畏施/ abhayapradāna) in regards to the Dharma.
As hinted at above however, the concrete-act of giving is not enough to constitute dāna. Dāna must always imply the volitional act of giving. In other words, giving must be enacted with right motivation and thinking. If one is able to carry out such acts of giving, it is referred to as Pure Dāna (净施/ viśuddhadāna), whereas the act of giving undertaken without the proper motivation is called Impure Dāna(不净施/ aviśuddhadāna). It is Pure Dāna (净施/ viśuddhadāna) therefore, that constitutes the kind of generosity encouraged within Buddha-dharma.
Dāna is pure, or enacted on the basis of right motivation, if it is given without any thought of the cost, without any thought of receiving something in return, is not given out of fear, or in order to secure some benefit for oneself in the present or future lives. Dāna is impure, or enacted on the basis of wrong motivation, if it stems from the aforementioned motivations.
The True and Supreme Act of Dāna 真法供養?
The Lotus Sūtra goes further, and outlines what it calls ‘offering the True Dharma to the Tathāgatas’:
「爾時彼佛為一切眾生憙見菩薩，及眾菩薩、諸聲聞眾，說法華經。「是一切眾生憙見菩薩，樂習苦行，於日月淨明德佛法中，精進經行，一心求佛，滿萬二千歲已，得現一切色身三昧。得此三昧已，心大歡喜，即作念言：『我得現一切色身三昧，皆是得聞法華經力，我今當供養日月淨明德佛及法華經。』即時入是三昧，於虛空中，雨曼陀羅華、摩訶曼陀羅華、細末堅黑栴檀，滿虛空中，如雲而下，又雨海此岸栴檀之香——此香六銖，價直娑婆世界——以供養佛。作是供養已，從三昧起，而自念言：『我雖以神力供養於佛，不如以身供養。』即服諸香——栴檀、薰陸、兜樓婆、畢力迦、沈水、膠香，又飲瞻蔔諸華香油，滿千二百歲已，香油塗身，於日月淨明德佛前，以天寶衣而自纏身，灌諸香油，以神通力願而自然身，光明遍照八十億恒河沙世界。其中諸佛同時讚言：『善哉，善哉！善男子！是真精進，是名真法供養如來。若以華、香、瓔珞、燒香、末香、塗香、天繒、幡蓋及海此岸栴檀之香，如是等種種諸物供養，所不能及；假使國城、妻子布施，亦所不及。善男子！是名第一之施，於諸施中最尊最上，以法供養諸如來故。』作是語已而各默然。其身火燃千二百歲，過是已後，其身乃盡。「一切眾生憙見菩薩作如是法供養已，命終之後，復生日月淨明德佛國中，於淨德王家結加趺坐，忽然化生。即為其父而說偈言：「『大王今當知， 我經行彼處， 即時得一切， 現諸身三昧。 懃行大精進， 捨所愛之身， 供養於世尊， 為求無上慧。』」(CBETA 2023.Q4, T09, no. 262, p. 53a22-b25)
Thereupon, that Buddha expounded the Dharma Flower Sūtra for the sake of Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, the assembly of bodhisattvas and all of the assembly of śrāvakas. This Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana was fond of repeated ascetic practice, and diligently cultivated within the Dharma of Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī Buddha. With single mind he sought Buddhahood, and having done so for a full twelve thousand years, he attained the Sarvarūpasaṃdarśana Samādhi. Having attained this samādhi, his heart was greatly overjoyed, and he had this thought: “My attainment of the Sarvarūpasaṃdarśana Samādhi is wholly [the result of] the power of having heard this Dharma Flower Sūtra, [and so] I will now make offerings to Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī Buddha and the Dharma Flower Sūtra.” Then at that time he entered this samādhi, and from empty space rained down mandārava flowers and mahāmandārava flowers. Filling empty space, fine powdered black candana [incense, formed] like clouds and fell. There further rained candana incense from this-shore of the ocean [of existence]. Six portions of this incense has the value of the Sahā World-sphere, [and it is] with these that he made offerings to the Buddha. Having made these offerings, he arose from samādhi and thought to himself: “Though I’ve made offerings to the Buddha by means of my spiritual powers, this is not equal to making an offering by means of my body. ” Then he ingested all of the incenses, candana kundurūka, turuṣka, pṛkkā, aguru, gulgulu; and drank the scented oils of campaka and all the flowers. Having done this for a full twelve thousand years, he daubed his body with incense and oils, and in front of Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī Buddha, wrapped his body in heavenly jewelled robes, and sprinkled the incenses and oils [over it]. With the power of his spiritual-penetrations he made a vow, and then ignited his own body, the radiant light of which pervasively illuminated the world-spheres [as numerous as] the sands of eighty million Gaṇgā rivers. Amidst this, all of the Buddhas at the same time praised him saying: “Excellent! Excellent! Good Son! This is true diligence! This is referred to as offering the True Dharma to the Tathāgatas! If with flowers, incense, garlands, burning incense, powdered incense, rubbing-incense, divine cloths, banners, parasols and even candana inscense from this-shore of the ocean [of existence, one were to make offering], the offering of all such things as these would not be equal to this! Even if, with countries, cities, wives and children one made offering, these would also not equal this! Good son! This is referred to as the supreme giving, for among all giving it is most exalted, and most excellent! This is because it is an offering of the Dharma to all the Tathāgatas.” Having said this, each was then silent. His body burned for twelve hundred years, after which his body was finally consumed. Having made an offering of the Dharma like this, [when his] life came to an end he was again born in the land of Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī Buddha. In the household of King Vimaladatta he was suddenly born by transformation, sitting cross-legged. And then for the sake of his father he spoke verses saying:
“Great King you should now know,
I cultivated in that place,
And at that time attained the Samādhi
Sarvarūpasaṃdarśana.
Rigorously cultivating Great Vigour,
I cast off the body that I loved,
To make an offering to the World Honoured One,
In order to seek the Unsurpassed Wisdom.”
《妙法蓮華經》卷6〈23藥王菩薩本事品〉The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Sublime Dharma (Fascicle 6: Chapter 23: The Chapter on the Former Lives of Medicine King Bodhisattva)
In case this needs to be said: WE ARE NOT ENCOURAGING SELF-IMMOLATION. DO NOT SELF-IMMOLATE!
The highest form of dāna, is the giving of oneself entirely to the Dharma, to the extent that one becomes the “radiant light which pervasively illuminates the world-spheres”. This is the type of giving which our Great Master Dengyō Daishi Saichō had in mind, when he exhorted us to “light up a corner”照于一隅/一隅を照らす:
國寶何物？寳道心也。有道心人，名為國寶。故古人言：‘徑寸十枚， 非是國寶。照于一隅， 此是國寶‘。古哲又云：’能言不能行， 國之師也。能行不能言，國之用也。能行能言，國之寶也。三品之内，唯不能言，不能行，為國之賊。‘ 乃有道心佛子，西稱菩薩，東號君子。惡事向己，好事與他，忘己利他, 慈悲之極。
What manner of thing is a ‘treasure of the nation’? A ‘treasure’ is the [Mind of] Bodhicitta. Individuals in possession of Bodhicitta, are called ‘Treasures of the Nation’. Therefore, the men of old said: ‘a string of jewels, is not the ‘treasure of a nation’. Illuminating a corner– that is a ‘treasure of the nation’. The wise men of old also said: ‘[He who] is able to speak [but] unable to act, is a teacher of the nation. [He who] is able to act [but] unable to speak, is a functionary to the nation. [He who] is able to act [and] able to speak, is a ‘Treasure of the Nation’. Among these three, only [he who] is unable to speak, [and] unable to act, is a ‘traitor to the nation’. Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha in possession of Bodhicitta, are called Bodhisattva in the West (India), [and] named Noble Men (Junzi) in the East (China). [They] take upon themselves evil, and offer the good to others; forgetting themselves and benefiting others, is the summit of compassion.
《願文》Vows
So how can you help us concretly?
Monetary:
In order to ensure that any dāna enacted in the direction of our Sangha is pure, or undertaken with the right kind of motivation, our Sangha has always attempted where possible, not to charge for any Dharma-offerings made by our clergyman Jikai Dehn. Almost all costs for the running of our Sangha, its website, as well as the time and resources expended in providing classes, services, and translations is therefore shouldered by Jikai himself. Jikai does not receive any monetary remuneration from Tendai as an organisation, and there is no wage which is afforded to clergy in any form- with the exception of that which is offered to our Sangha.
We are therefore limited in the services, classes and resources which we can provide, by what Jikai can personally offer. In short, we are only able to maintain our Sangha through the kindness of your donations (dāna 布施). Jikai must currently work full-time in order to support himself, and our temple-community. If we receive the kindness of your donations, our hope is that Jikai may thereby devote more time to our translation projects, as well as our Dharma activities. If you are able therefore, and would like to support our mission (see Our Obligation Page), you may donate one-off, monthly, or yearly by clicking below:
What if I can’t support the Temple financially?
Skills:
If you are not able to support us financially, there are still many ways you can assist in our work. If you have technical skills which would allow Reverend Jikai to focus his attention on those tasks for which he is most suited, you may offer your time and effort to our cause instead. For example, keeping our website and social media platforms running takes great expenditures of time and effort, and if you can lend your skills to this aspect of our community, we could expand our impact greatly. Furthermore, while Reverend Jikai is able to translate materials for us from Japanese and Classical Chinese, the editing, formatting and organising required to bring such translations to print, diverts his attention from the translations themselves. If you have the capacity to assist with such things, your help could allow us to produce far more than we presently can. On that note, if you have facility in Japanese and/or Classical Chinese, you could also assist with translation itself.
Highest Form of Giving:
Even if you don’t feel that you possess any particular specialist skills which we could use in our endeavours, your simple assistance, time and effort is also of immense value to our activities. So never ever think that you have nothing to offer. As the Lotus Sutra encourages, give of yourself, and we can spread the Dharma together. “This is referred to as offering the True Dharma to the Tathāgatas!”
