Volume 58. December 17, 2024
Celebrated diarist Anne Frank once wrote, “No one has ever become poor from giving.”
With that attitude in mind, let’s run through the Buddha’s Holiday Gift-giving Guide. And what better way to begin than with a story.
One day the head priest of a Zen temple in medieval Japan asked his master for a small gift — just a short verse that would inspire students long into the future.
The Zen master licked his brush tip and wrote the following:
“There is in this great universe a treasure of incalculable worth. Anyone who gets hold of it will become a person of enormous happiness, prosperity and wisdom.
“But if this treasure eludes him, then even if he is a king, a prince, a nobleman, or a person of immense wealth, he will remain a base, poor, ignorant fellow.”
What an inspiring verse!
As the story suggests, meditation is the Great Free Treasure. It enriches all, it’s designed for everyone and it costs nothing.
The Great Free Treasure is the perfect gift for that spiritual cheapskate on your list who prefers inexpensive gifts.
For the ambitious overachiever, for that special someone who strives for spiritual greatness, go deluxe. Wrap up for that eager beaver the Zen Master’s Agenda:
1. Lead all beings to salvation.
2. Create a Buddha-land on earth.
3. Acquire the deportment of a bodhisattva.
4. Store up great Dharma assets.
5. Preach the Dharma unflaggingly to benefit sentient beings.
Most people on your list, however, will probably fall somewhere between a spiritual skinflint and a Buddhist billionaire. For those moderate seekers, the ideal stocking stuffer is the Middle Way.
The humble practice of morality, meditation and wisdom is sure to warm the heart of almost any spiritual aspirant.
To finish our story. After the Zen master handed the head priest the inspiring verse, the master complimented the priest that he had indeed acquired the Great Free Treasure.
But the master warned him, “If you become satisfied with that accomplishment, sleeping comfortably, resting on your laurels, thinking only of yourself, looking down your nose at others, you will be as vilified as a muck worm wriggling in the mud.”
The End.
What’s the moral of the story?
Once acquired, the gift of Buddhism is not something we sit on.
We don’t become complacent. We give it to others.
Best of all, we don’t become poor from giving.
Merry Christmas!
The Buddha Times 