A Bodhisatta, a Buddha in the making, Is always ready to oblige others, but he will never stoop to beg a favour for himself. In abundance he gives, irrespective of caste, creed or colour, but selfishly he seeks nothing, for he is neither selfish nor self-possessive.
He exercises this virtue of dana to such an extent that he is prepared to give away not only his wealth and other cherished possessions, but even his limbs. He is ever ready to sacrifice even his own life wherever such sacrifice will benefit humanity.
The object in giving is to eliminate the craving that lies dormant within oneself; apart from which there are the attendant blessings of generosity such as the joy of service,
the ensuing happiness and consolation and the alleviation of suffering, Dana is the first parami, the first of the Ten Perfections, and it confers upon the giver the double benefit of inhibiting the immoral thoughts of selfishness on the one hand, and of developing the pure thoughts of selflessness on the other hand.
Generosity, giving, means to make other people happy. When we give something with pleasure there is a double happiness, the giver is happy and the person who receives what is given is also happy.
The cultivation of unselfishness includes not only a feeling in the heart, although that internal feeling is essential, but also the performance of those outward actions by which that feeling is manifested. In also includes the desire to put others perfectly at their ease, to save them from every kind of discomfort and to do all that we can do to promote their happiness.
Every good action must be done with a good, pure motive; so when we give, pure motive means our generosity should be pure generosity, without hoping for any return or reward for what we do. It means that without selfish desire we are willing to share, willing to do, willing to help, to give with generous-mindedness, otherwise the motive will not be good.
Why do people invest money? Because they know that in due course they will get interest. In the same way, when we give and are generous, we invest our good kamma, our good action, as the result of which we shall have benefit not only in this life but many lives to come.
Because of generosity, generous action, one can as a result be born wealthy; or whatever one does one can gain successfully in the way of wealth – that is cause and effect.
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