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Teacher: Rodney Smith
Date: 2009-02-10
Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center
Series
- The Ten Paramis 2009-01-27
Description
Generosity and total self-acceptance. We will not explore the causes of selfishness until we are generous with ourselves.
Homework
Reflect on how generosity is related to equality and a warm and balanced heart. When you offer a gift to someone you perceive as unequal, is that generosity or pity? Feel the difference between these two forms of giving. How does the heart feel and how does the mind hold the offering in a generous act and in an act of pity? When you perceive someone as a human being regardless of their present condition, you can only perceive them as equal. When you give to the less fortunate, you are lost in the pain of the circumstances. The generous heart feels that pain but gives to the human being. This week find several occasions to give something away to someone less privileged. Before you do, release the projections and allow equality to surface—one person giving to another. Look the person in the eye when you hand them the gift. Let your heart meet theirs. Feel the humility of true generosity. Feel the joy of release. Notice the qualitative difference between giving with humility and the self-importance of “helping the disadvantaged.”
Video
Link to view on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/3201189
TalkID=553 SeriesID=15