Summer Buddhism Bits: Giving and Generosity

How has your summer been so far? This is Lan, the current president of UBA, blogging while we wait to do more activities in the upcoming academic year! Like most student organizations, we don't have plans in the summer besides getting ready for a new year. I'm starting "Buddhism Bits," weekly insights on Buddhism and my little take on it. Feel free to comment below if you have your own insights you'd like to share. Maybe I can get the other members to join in!

 

Giving and Generosity

I've been using the Bing search engine instead of Google because Bing gives me a reward point for every 2 searches I make. I can redeem those points for anything in their rewards shop. Right now, I'm working towards a one-month Hulu Plus subscription (but that's besides the point). I'm talking about Bing because it tells you to search certain words to get extra points. Today, that word is: generosity. I thought it would be a great topic for this post!

What does the Buddha say about generosity? I happened upon a special section in the Tricycle Magazine that actually lists some quotes from the Buddha on generosity. Generosity is very important in Buddhist practice. I've often heard that we must give without expecting anything in return, but you also shouldn't just give for the sake of giving either. The Buddha tells us that generosity is connected to the Eightfold Path and also to karma. Generosity is important to most all religions because we feel the spiritual connection. It's not about giving material things either. There are things we can give that is immaterial, i.e. knowledge, interest, advice, attention, etc. I think of UBA as a way for me to share the Dharma with UCSD.

Click here for some more generosity articles from the Tricycle Magazine. Click here for a link to an article about teaching generosity to kids. (I think I should sign up for this magazine now!)