Beloved Students:

I greet you this month in the fullness of blessing, holding forth for the profound truth of your enlightenment. Can/Do you envision it on a daily basis? Can you simply allow yourself to relax into such expansiveness? Are you actively celebrating, indeed rejoicing for, your enlightenment? Such is, in truth, how you invite it into your conscious reality.

The answer to all those questions is, of course “YES!” If you spend some time pondering the above questions, soon you will come to the conclusion that realizing your true nature – indeed your enlightened state – has something to do with generosity. The fact is, you must open your mind to supreme generosity to allow in the enlightenment that already exists.

Living a generous life has less to do with how much money you give away than with how many good thoughts you give away. Indeed, the mind is very much at the core of this matter since it is, in fact, the dwelling place of generosity. This is why some people can have a great deal of money and still feel, act or live in poverty. Likewise, you may know people who possess very little of value in a worldly sense but who feel, act and live with deep richness. When the mind arises more from the heart than from the head (which is likely to be stuck in repetitive patterns from past experiences), generosity becomes a natural expression of what could be called “elevated mind.”

Of course, generosity (which is sometimes translated as “giving” in western versions of texts on the prajnaparamita) is all about sharing. While it is good to share what you have with those who have less (even those who have more, if they happen to have the affliction of poverty consciousness) you have probably learned by now that no matter how much you share, you alone simply cannot heal the poverty consciousness of the world around you, no matter how much you share. What you can do, however, is dedicate every generous thought, word or activity you generate to liberating sentient beings from whatever type of impoverishment they may experience.

The real question for consideration here is actually “Are the thoughts you generate generous enough that you see yourself as enlightened, living in a world ripe with potential for creating planetary enlightenment?” So seeing, of course, indicates that you have moved beyond negative thinking and/or speaking, to/about both yourself and others. While most of you can recognize such may be true, the knowledge of this truth may appear to leave you without a full range of options in communicating with others. Perhaps you think such means that you cannot take issue with anyone about some action s/he may be generating that initiates or facilitates conflict or non-clarity in your relationship with/to her/him. After all, taking issue with another surely must mean you are not generous in your thoughts of that other – right?

In truth, thinking in this manner only indicates a lack of understanding for both generosity and the dynamics of relationship. If one is blind to her/his non-clarity, what is more generous than to offer some of your clarity (or at least your perspective) to the situation? The sticky point here is really how you see your (or their) clarity, isn’t it? When you find yourself in such situations you might ask yourself, “What would a bodhisattva such as Manjushri or Avilokiteshvara do in this situation?” (Indeed, it never hurts to have a powerful role model!) Do you think either would withhold his clarity from a fear that offering such might lack generosity?

Of course, to move more deeply into generosity, one need look no further than within oneself. You might begin by trying to see all the areas in your own life that are defended – that is, where you have difficulty hearing others’ input to specific behaviors or even patterns to which you have become so accustomed that it would not occur to you to consider as your personal “defended areas.” How often do you seek out opinions of others in what could be called a “reality check?” What happens inside you when someone offers a comment that perhaps feels like an insult? Do you really try to understand what they are trying to tell you, or do you “blow them off” because you don’t like what they may be saying to you? If your pattern is to blow them off, or make them wrong, or obsess on why they said this particular thing to you, you may not be handling your part of the situation with generosity – particularly to yourself! Indeed, if you observe yourself moving to blame or obsessional thinking at these points, you are likely not seeing yourself as enlightened!

Envisioning yourself as enlightened, or as a bodhisattva, is the most generous way in which you can think of yourself. Of course, this must be done in a mindful way – one in which you are always seeking to be a “better bodhisattva”, if I may use such strange-seeming terminology. If it seems to you that the other person is “projecting on you,” you might want to wonder why. Indeed, I was taught in such situations to question my own mind to see if there was something I was doing or saying that drew this projection. Of course, the tendency of the mind is to project on the other whenever it feels like s/he might be projecting on oneself; and this tendency has been so “normalized” that most do not even see it as a product of projecting mind, or ego defensiveness.

Enter, please, generosity. This is a good time to recall that generosity is about sharing. Most think generosity is only the part that the self shares with, or gives to, others. However, generosity is also receiving – particularly when the ego is confronted in one manner or another. Indeed, one must pay attention on both ends of the spectrum here. Watch for the emotional or mental charge that arises; and no matter the situation, find your place in the field of infinite generosity, take root in that field and weave the tapestry of relationship with the skill and genuine spirit of a bodhisattva.

Perhaps one of the most salient aspects of generosity lies in the act of forgiveness. Herein, however, lies an interesting matter. I have noticed that for most, it is easier to forgive than to be forgiven. Many would rather persist in the very pernicious and painful patterns than to touch the moment in the tender humility needed to accept forgiveness. When the ego is confronted with the possibility of having been wrong in some manner, it can raise its hackles to amazingly defended status. Ah, generosity! How profound thy presence; how needed thy healing touch!

For many, the most difficult area of forgiveness is, perhaps the act of forgiving self. For most, it is much easier to make others wrong than to suffer an indignity to the ego. Or, if one is of such an ilk, the temptation may be to beat up self for a perceived mistake or unclear moment rather than to simply be forgiving, promising to rise to greater heights in the future. When one acts in either of the two manners just mentioned (or some variation of these themes), one loses the potential for transformation the moment may have to offer. Pride arises unbidden, and the ego finds a way to shut out the light of Essence.

Profound generosity requires a high level of trust and an unshakable understanding of the ultimate nature of everything. That ultimate nature, of course, is empty of anything to which the ego can cling, or conjure up, for the support it craves. These experiences may seem harsh to the ego, but where there is true generosity, wisdom is not far behind! You see, the goal of embodying the Prajnaparamita is two-fold. In the first place, one uses the Six Perfections, as they are called, to perfect wisdom. But in so doing, one also perfects each of the perfections. That is, one must perfect generosity as well as use generosity to experience perfected wisdom. As can be seen here, in learning to perfect generosity, one is taken to depths the ego mind has yet to discover.

Please join me this month in listening to Cosmic Generosity, a talk I gave in Denver earlier this month. It is my desire to lead you into realms of generosity that will not only amaze you, but will actually contribute to the world’s becoming a kinder, gentler place for all sentient beings. May you harvest the fruits of generosity from not only this month’s lesson, but from virtually every experience you create in your journey into enlightenment. Be generous to both yourself and all other sentient beings, never mistaking the effects of karma for another person, or for yourself. Be transformed not only by your own generosity, but by that which others before you have anchored into the creative process of evolution as well.

Djwhal Khul