Chapter 10: Joyfully give and gain the bliss

(Chapter 10) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha 

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 10: Joyfully give and gain the bliss 

The Buddha said,” See people giving Dao and help them joyfully; the gained bliss is very grand.” A Sramana asked “Does such bliss be ended?” The Buddha said,” Such as a torch-fire that many thousand and many hundred of people separately come to take the fire with their torch, to cook food and remove the dark, this torch-fire is still the same. The bliss is also the same like this. “

There is a saying,”Helping others is the source of happiness.” According to the research, those who like to help others in any ways are more healthful and happy, and have the longer life. Such people usually own the open mind, and do not require any feedback for what they have done in virtue.

Giving is some kind of helping. In a brief, there are three kinds of giving as mentioned in Buddhism. That is as follows:

Giving the money to others; money also could be replaced by food, clothes, medicine and so on.

Giving the Buddha-law to others;

Giving the fearlessness to others. Make others don't fear anything. 

It is easy to understand to give the money to others and to give the Buddha-law to others. Then, we might have a question; how could we give the fearlessness to others? Do you know who the fearlessness-giver is? Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving, which you can read the following article: Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving in Universally Door Chapter or A Brief Talk about Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving in Universally Door Chapter.

Do you know why Pusa World-Sounds-Perceiving is in the state of no fear? If you are interested in that, I suggest you to read the following article: The Scripture of The Supreme-Wisdom Heart or A Brief Talk about The Scripture of The Supreme-Wisdom Heart

According to the Buddha-law, there is always existed the cause and the effect. The above three kinds of giving is also classified as the cause. Then, what is the effect? So, when we give the money to others, we would gain the wealth; when we give the Buddha-law to others, we gain the wisdom; and when we give the fearlessness to others, we gain the longevity.

In a narrow sense, “giving the Dao” in this chapter is belonging to the second as mentioned above: giving the Buddha-law to others. Broadly speaking, the meaning of Dao or Buddha-law is not limited. That is, the all; those things which are good for people are belonging to Dao. In a word, it includes the three kinds of giving; and it also includes any kind of knowledge, ideologies, drama, music, and image or video production which is good for people in the world.

In the time of Buddha Sakyamuni, the Buddhist monk or nun begged for food. They did not require the money. When they had food from people, they speak of the Buddha-law for them. In other word, the Buddhist monk or nun played in the role of teacher or tutor. The life of the Buddhist monk or nun was maintained by such food so that they could nourish their life of wisdom by their body. When the people had heard the Buddha-law from the Buddhist monk or nun, they could thus have incurred the heart of compassion and wisdom, and their life of wisdom could have thus been inspired. In other word, this is a way of helping each other, and of benefiting each other. And it is also a way to connect to each other face by face in emotion and feeling.

So, the Buddha had ever mentioned that the Buddhist monk or nun is bliss-farm. Offering food to Buddhist monk or nun is like to sow seeds of bliss on the bliss-farm; the fruits of bliss would be gained finally. Why? The cause is equal to the outcome. If the cause is not equal to the outcome, it would violate the natural law. Such as if we sow the seed of apple, we would not gain the fruit of banana, but apple. Of course, the premise is that such Buddhist monk or nun should have purified in their heart. It is very important to know this point. 

However, the process of begging the food is not always smooth. Some people are in the stingy heart and dislike to see the Buddhist monk or nun. The worse is that they might rebuke or harm the Buddhist monk or nun with hatred heart or with despised. The Buddha had mentioned the outcome for such thing of rebuke and harm in the chapter 6,7 and 8.

The law of the cause and effect is always there. So, if we are fond of giving, we gain the bliss. The Buddha said,” See people giving Dao and help them joyfully; the gained bliss is very grand.” It encourages people to do good thing. Meanwhile, when we have seen someone doing the good thing, we could joyfully help them in any ways. Such effort is never in vain. The bliss that we could gain is very grand.

With the change of time, and the development of internet, we could find that people give their knowledge and wisdom to others on the internet by using website or blog; it is non-profit, so they accept the autonomous donation coming from the freely support of person or group on the internet. Now the group of or the person of Buddhism is also using such way. And we can read the scripture said and taught by Buddha in free on the internet. We also can find any article or video which the Buddhist monk or nun, or the Buddha-learner explained the Buddhism. I think it is very convenient and helpful for our life. The question is, are we lucky to find it and willing to read it?   

A Sramana asked: “Does such bliss be ended?” The Buddha said,” Such as a torch-fire that thousand and hundred of people separately come to take the fire with their torch, to cook food and remove the dark, this torch-fire is still the same. The bliss is also the same like this.” Obviously, it means that such bliss is existed permanently. It would not be disappeared. In Buddhism, it is called as virtue karma which would be recorded by the Spirit who is always with us. Whether the bliss or not in our life would be depended on such virtue karma. According to the cause and the effect, I think it is reasonable.