Dana: The Practice of Giving | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

Dear Sangha,
today is the 12th of June, 1998

and we are on our last day
of the 21-Day Retreat.

I have offered you,
I have transmitted to you...

the ways, the practices...

that will allow us
to cross to the Other Shore.

We don't want to stay 
on the shore of anger.

We want to cross
over to the Other Shore,

the shore of well-being,
non-anger, joy.

Don't want to stay
on the shore of jealousy.

We have to cross over 
to the shore of equanimity

and love.

The teaching...

the teaching of crossing
over to the Other Shore

is a kind of teaching that
we can practice in our daily life.

the Six Paramitas.

We can cross to the Other Shore
anytime we want

because we have been given
the way to do it.

Dana paramita...

is the practice of giving.

Just give, and then...

suddenly you find yourself
on the Other Shore.

Suppose you are angry at someone

and you suffer very much
because of that someone,

think of Dana paramita...

think of giving him or her
a present --

what I can offer him or her

in order to make him or her
happy right now.

If you can practice giving,
your anger will be gone right away

and suddenly you find yourself
on the Other Shore,

the shore of non-anger
and well-being.

It's strange...

how could this practice be
such an easy thing to do?

And yet,

deep in your heart,
deep in your mind,

you know that you have
the seed of generosity.

You have the willingness
of making that person happy.

It has been always there.

That willingness
to make him or her happy.

And now,
you are angry at him.

And you are doing the opposite:

you are offering non-joy...

and non-peace.

So go back and touch
the seed of your love.

Isn't it true that
in the beginning of your relationship...

you have made that deep commitment
to make him or her happy?

And now you are doing
something opposite.

Go back to your original mind,

touch the seed of love in you
and decide...

to do what you originally
wanted to do:

make him or her happy.

What can I give him in this moment
for him to be happy?

You don't have to go to the store
and buy something.

You have many things
you can give right now --

a smile,
a loving look.

Are you capable of giving?

Can you give your joy,
your stability, your freedom?

You can take one in-breath
and know that you are alive...

and get the enlightenment that
your beloved is still alive in front of you.

And with that insight,
you can very well smile.

And your anger will be gone,

and that smile, that joy,

that capacity to cherish your presence
and his or her presence...

is a big gift.

And suddenly you find yourself
on the Other Shore.

You don't need to practice
10 years to do that.

If you know how to practice...

breathing in and breathing out
with mindfulness and solidity,

just one in-breath and out-breath 
can transform the situation,

and you allow your mind of love,
your seed of love to manifest.

And that is the gift
we call "Dana paramita":

the kind of giving that can bring
you and him over to the Other Shore,

the shore well-being.
Please try.

You have many items
that you can use as a gift

available in the here and now.

You are not as poor
as you might have imagined.

Make yourself fully present
in the here and now...

and you'll be able
to touch many items...

that are available
for you to make into a gift,

and give it to the person
in front of you.

If you can do that, the gift will 
go to you at the same time because...

because the fruit of the practice
will be instantaneous.

What else can you give?

You give your freedom --

freedom from anger,

freedom from sorrow,

freedom from forgetfulness,

freedom from the past,
freedom from the future.

You are capable of being a free person
in the here and the now.

That is the greatest gift.

"Darling, I offer you my freedom."

And we can share that freedom.

Freedom makes happiness possible.

All of us know
that when we are not free,

when we are bound to our anger,
to our afflictions, to our worries,

happiness is not possible.

We have learned
the art of letting go.

We have learned the art
of releasing our cows.

We have learned many ways
of reclaiming our liberty.

It is in that position
of a free person

that you can make the best gift
to the person in front of you.

That person might be your partner,
your son, your daughter, your friend...

and even your enemy.

You can make an enemy into a friend
by the practice of giving.

You may have not tried,

but it is very effective.

The Buddha said,
when you get angry at someone,

even after you have tried many ways
and yet anger is still there,

then try this:

give him a present.

That was suggested
by the Buddha himself.

I would like to recommend this:

make a present ready.

When you are not angry at him or her,
prepare present ready.

A love letter,

a gift you may make by yourself or
you might even buy in the supermarket...

but wrap it, present it
in loving kindness, with all your heart.

that is your practice.

And preparing this gift
to him or to her,

my heart is full of love.

Every movement I do is...

is motivated by love,

and motivated by
making him or her happy

so I am preparing this gift,
but I know...

in the future, in 3 days or maybe 
one week or two I may be angry at him.

And I am determined at that moment
I will send him this gift,

I will bring it out to his desk.

Or I will mail to him
through the post office.

So you are doing that

being aware that your love for him
may be impermanent.

And one day this gift
that you are preparing might be...

a means to restore your love.

And when you get angry at him or her,
go to the post office and mail it.

And after doing that
you'll feel much better.

You have not tried?
Go ahead and try.

It's very effective.

And we have several other ways...

to practice Dana paramita,
the practice of giving.

When we receive the Five Mindfulness
Trainings and live according to them,

we protect ourselves and our loved ones.
That is also a gift.

a precious gift that can bring us
over to the Other Shore,

the shore of safety,
the shore of well-being.

Giving in the teaching of Buddhism
is a very deep practice.

And you don't need to be rich
to practice giving.

You are a lot richer
than you might have thought.

You can make one person
extremely happy.

You can make many, many people
extremely happy

if you know how to practice
Dana paramita.

You need only
to go back to yourself,

practice mindful breathing
and recognize...

that you have
a treasure of happiness,

a treasure of elements that
can be used to make people happy.

You can make 10 people, 100 people,
1000 people happy.

If you learn how to use your time,
your energy, your smile,

then you can make people happy.

And when you make people happy,
you are happy yourself.

You have been offered...

the teaching
on the emptiness of giving.

You give with the spirit
of non-discrimination.

You give without conditions.

That form of giving is
the highest form of giving.

You give as a bodhisattva.

And the outcome will be tremendous.

The happiness will be huge.

Please learn more
about the practice of giving.

The more we give,
the happier we become.

And we make so many people
happy around us.

The teaching on giving
in Buddhism is wonderful.

Even if you don't have any money
in your bank account,

you can still practice
as a bodhisattva...

giving a lot of things,
a lot of happiness every day.