Happiness and liberation through generosity.

Compendium of the Perfections.

Engaging in the
Bodhisattva Deeds says:
If generosity were perfected
By removing beings’ poverty,
Since beings are still destitute
How could past saviors have perfected it?
Generosity is perfected, it is said,
Through the attitude of giving away to all beings
All your possessions, along with the effects of this.
Therefore, generosity is a state of mind.

If you see the impermanence of resources
And naturally have great compassion
You will know with good reason that the gifts
You have kept in your house belong to others.
There is never fear from what has been given away;
What is kept at home gives rise to fears
That it is insufficient, ordinary, or needing constant protection.
If you give it away, these faults never harm you.
By giving you achieve happiness in future lives;
Not giving brings suffering even in this life.
Human wealth is like a shooting star—
What is not given away will cease to exist.
Wealth not given is transitory and will be gone;
By giving it away it remains a treasury.
Wealth of no value comes to have value
When you strive to help living beings.
The wise praise giving wealth away,
Childish persons like to hoard it;
No wealth is kept by holding on to it;
From giving it away excellence always arises.
By giving things away, you no longer grasp the afflictions;
Being miserly breeds afflictions on an ignoble path.
Noble beings say generosity is the best path,
While its opposite is a bad path.

Tsong Kha Pa, The Great Treatise on the stages of the path to enlightenment, Volumine 2, Shamballah Publications.

https://shambhala.com/the-great-treatise-on-the-stages-of-the-path-to-enlightenment-volume-2.html


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