Steal the moon

[negra orquida]

Why do we feel it is so difficult to give sometimes, even if we can afford it? Or we give a little but feel "bad" for giving so little.  Is it because we feel too poor, or we just don't like the feeling of "losing" something or having less of something?

I read this story recently, it is about this Zen Master who gave away the clothes on his back and even wished to give the moon to a thief.  Would you be able to do what the Zen Master did? He not only thanked the thief for being so kind to visit him, but even gave him gifts.

A Zen Master lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening, while he was away, a thief sneaked into the hut only to find there was nothing in it to steal.

The Zen Master returned and found him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."

The thief was bewildered, but he took the clothes and ran away.

The Master sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, " I wish I could give him this beautiful moon."

[vajraD]

The Zen master is very compassionate, loving and kind. Alto he has to go naked he don’t even mind as to him those things are not important.

I don’t find giving is difficult unless the person wants me to give my own life or give all my time which in this case is always an issue and fear always arise from that because im also afraid to loose what I have now. I guess some people will call this selective giving but personally I don’t think so because I don’t like setting up my self to fail.

[DS Star]

The Zen master is very compassionate, loving and kind. Alto he has to go naked he don’t even mind as to him those things are not important.

I don’t find giving is difficult unless the person wants me to give my own life or give all my time which in this case is always an issue and fear always arise from that because im also afraid to loose what I have now. I guess some people will call this selective giving but personally I don’t think so because I don’t like setting up my self to fail.

Same like VajraD, I too will think of myself, me own life... it is what we could say as 'normal' reaction. This story showed the total opposite.

At first I thought this story very funny and laughed... but after contemplate it, actually it is a very beautiful expression of compassion.

How a human being with all the 3 poisons can be like this Zen master? He forget everything about himself; he only thinks of the welfare of others, including the thief that actually come to take from him. Not many can really practice all his great virtues of compassion, generous and patience.

Compassion and generosity do not need to be in term of giving huge amount of money or big things. It is about giving without agenda and like this Zen master, he gave out everything he own and still regret that he can't give more.

Great sharing as usual negra orquida!

[dondrup]

The thief had originally planned to steal things from the Zen Master.  However, the Zen Master had given away his clothes on his back to the thief instead to save the thief. When things are given as gifts, they are not stolen.  Hence the thief will avoid creating the negative karma of stealing.

From another perspective, the Zen Master was grateful to the thief for the opportunity to practise compassion, generosity and detachment. 

When we are born into this world, we use our body as a temporary abode.  This body is abandoned upon death.  Only our mind travels to the next realm of existence in samsara.  Likewise, we have to totally leave behind all the things and possessions in this world upon death.  Hence the Zen Master who had realized this, had happily given away his belongings to the thief.

Why do we feel it is so difficult to give sometimes, even if we can afford it?

This is simply because we are too attached to our possessions.  The other reason is that we are very miserly!

Or we give a little but feel "bad" for giving so little. 

We felt bad simply because even though we had given something our ego is concerned with its reputation!  Our ego is concerned with how well we had given.

Is it because we feel too poor, or we just don't like the feeling of "losing" something or having less of something? 

The feeling of poverty is due to our past habituation of not practising generosity.  When we don’t give, we will not receive.  Hence we remain poor or become poorer and poorer.  Eventually we don’t like to lose things because we don’t have many things in our possessions!

[vajrastorm]

Thank you NQ for  making us contemplate over why it is difficult for us, unrealized practitioners, to practice the Perfection of Giving.Yes, unlike the most compassionate Zen Master, we find it difficult to give because of our feeling a sense of losing something when we give/practice generosity. I guess this comes from our strong self-grasping and our self-cherishing.It is because we 'feel' we are poor that we are reluctant to give. That is why the beggar who found something valuable decided to give it to his King because, though the latter was rich in the mundane sense,he was spiritually impoverished.

Our practice of generosity is unfortunately tainted by the eight worldly concerns.The Zen Master's compassion manifests in the highest level of all - in turning the act of the thief stealing something into the act of  his own giving of his clothes to the thief.

   

[buddhalovely]

Though the Zen Master had not much to keep but he still has freedom, peace and compassion. The thief had nothing at all, he may have possessions but he is still trapped within world of samsara. I look at this story in the way that the Zen Master acknowledges that the thief came into to steal something, the Zen Master is enlightened in not only can he forgive the thief for breaking in and invading his personal space but does a greater act by giving him his clothing. Like the feeling of fullfilment that the Zen Master gets from the moon, there is nothing like the emotional fullfilment of acts of kindness to another and having the strenth to forgive others for wrongs done against you. The zen master has nothing and yet there is nothing he does not have. To our degree, material things are nice but fleeting but the understanding of matrial things is forever.

[Tammy]

The zen master had perfected the art of GIVING! and he has no more attachment to worldly and physical belongings. The only thing that is important to him is his belief and his practice. In this case, he compassionately gave away the thief his clothes and he even wanted to give him the moon which did not belong to him !!

On the other hand, I wonder what heavy negative karma the thief had created for himself for taking the clothes from the zen master? Actually, the best gift the zen master could offer the thief is the dharma, by teaching him not to steal.

[Jessie Fong]

The thief did not steal the clothes from the Zen master so he did not suffer the negative karma of stealing.  But he did break into the monk's hut with the intention to steal.

How great of him to put dharma into action by offering his clothes to the thief.  He did not look upon the thief as someone coming to cause him harm or to steal his belongings - to him the thief was another fellow being who had resorted to stealing because he did not have what he needed.  By giving him clothes, he had helped the thief to stop stealing.

[ratanasutra]

We feel pain when giving something to other either big or small amount because we are so attached into it.
Giving is one of six paramita which we should practice and apply it in our daily life. Giving bring real happy to us as we know it will benefit people whom we give without agenda and want something to return back. Giving also help us to cut down our attachment.

In the story Zen master met the thief in his hut, instead of angry of him, he is so kind to even offer his only cloth to the thief. Its show Zen master compassion and selflessness, he only think to benefit other.




 

[Big Uncle]

This reminds me of the story of Lama Tsongkhapa. Throughout his life, Lama Tsongkhapa was very famous and received tremendous amounts of offerings. But he would always give it away and never kept anything for long. A lot of the incredible riches he received was converted into offerings to the Buddha statues and he would use it to refurbish temples and make offerings to the Sangha. The incredible crown and jewels on the famous Buddha statue in Lhasa was offered by Lama Tsongkhapa. Incredible feats of renunciation and generosity. He received so much and yet he kept nothing and was greatly accomplished.

[jeremyg]

If everyone treated the thief the way he is expected to be treated, or reacted to he would just continue in the same manner. However by the zen master reacting differently towards him, in a complete opposite way, perhaps he will wake up and change, because it is very unexpected for someone to react to a thief like that. This is believe is the way of changing someone. Showing them kindness, a good example, so that they can follow suit, and realize the "other way" truly beautiful.

[negra orquida]

we find it difficult to give because of our feeling a sense of losing something when we give/practice generosity. I guess this comes from our strong self-grasping and our self-cherishing.It is because we 'feel' we are poor that we are reluctant to give.

What is self-grasping and self-cherishing... in layman's terms?

If we find it difficult to give, we feel reluctant to give, we feel too "poor" to give... it basically means that we KNOW we can give but DON'T WANT to... Imagine asking a beggar for $1million.  Do you think the beggar would feel bad to not give that amount? 

Whereas imagine a beggar asking for $10 from us.  At that amount, we would think, yes i can give that freely.  But if the beggar asked for $50, $100? How does it feel now?  We probably might say that the beggar was probably a phony! But then remember this story... the Zen Master gave away his clothes to a thief! Who is any less "deserving" of charity than that? And he gave without any conditions.

The degree of difficulty to give also depends on the situation, or how much value we place on the occasion to give.  For example, a lot of people find it very easy to give to a club or pub for alcohol, or to give money to a casino! But when it comes to donating to charity... suddenly they are too poor (I experienced this first hand when I asked a friend who loved to get drink until he get drunk for donation to a charity).  In this case, how much we give also depends on the "happiness" we get back from the giving. 

[ilikeshugden]

This Zen master is so kind and compassionate. I remember reading similar stories like this but I could not remember which ones they were. The Zen master still remained happy after being "robbed". When "normal" people lose even a single cent, they will frantically look for another. When they find one, they are not contented, they wish to find another. In this story, the Zen master is not content with his gift of clothes to the robber and wishes to get the moon for him but this form of not being content is because he cares about the welfare of others. We should maintain that form of mentality, the mentality to think of the benefit of others.

[Aurore]

I think the lesson from the Zen master is that nothing belongs to us. When we have that thought in our minds, it is easier to let go of our attachments to material things. When we are able to practice seeing this, we are able to leave our body easily as well. So it's a very important practice. Most people do not have the knowledge of this hence becomes difficult to give as they see what they have is theirs whether it's given or hard earned. We come in empty handed and we will leave empty handed as well.

When he said poor fellow he understood the kind of suffering the thief went through to have to commit this negative action. The fear, unhappiness and guilt a person have to go through when committing a crime may not be pleasant at all. It's not a good experience.

The moon represents the real beauty of things which is actually free if only we sit back and appreciate. He wished he could give this realisation to the thief.

[Klein]

Why do we feel it is so difficult to give sometimes, even if we can afford it? Or we give a little but feel "bad" for giving so little.  Is it because we feel too poor, or we just don't like the feeling of "losing" something or having less of something?

There are many reasons to what you asked. The following is what I can think of:

1. The person can be feeling inadequate all the time and choose to hoard instead. So even if the person was a millionaire, he may want to keep the money for rainy days. Just in case a recession hits or a war breaks out.

2. The person doesn't believe in giving to the less fortunate. He believes in the survival of the fittest. So the people losing out should fight on their own to succeed in life. Donating to them will spoil them further.

3. The person is too selfish and would rather spend the money on themselves and indulge.