Dana, which means “giving”, is a very important concept and a very important practice in all the major religions of the world, including Christianity, in which it goes by the name, “charity”, from the Latin “caritas”, which also means “love”.
While in the West, the meaning of “charity”, as the word is normally used, is confined to giving to the poor and disadvantaged, in South and East Asia “dana” has a broader meaning, including gifts to support the spiritual practices of monasteries and temples. The mendicant Buddhist monk, standing in the market place with a begging bowl, silently requesting support from passersby for the spiritual life of himself and his sangha, is a tradition which stretches all the way back to the time of the Buddha, and which can be seen in Japan to this day. Dana sustains not only the monk, but the giver as well, who participates in the sangha by their giving, and who, in giving away money or possessions, is thought to acquire “merit” as they cultivate selflessness and the freedom of non-attachment.
In Japan, dana has become a kind of ritual that creates and expresses relationship with others, especially with benefactors . Among students and teachers of Japanese arts like calligraphy, tea ceremony and martial arts, and also of Zen, it expresses an appreciation of and commitment to the relationship between student and teacher, but more importantly, appreciation of and gratitude for what is being taught, in our case the Buddha Dharma . Customarily, the meaning and importance of dana is emphasized by how it is presented. Whatever it might be — a jar of home-made ume bôshi (pickled plums), a tea bowl, or a gift of money — it is usually wrapped in special paper, or even better in a piece of cloth, called a furoshiki, designed for the purpose.
We have gift-giving in the West, of course — for birthdays, Christmas, engagements, anniversaries, etc. — and there is occasionally something of the same kind of intention and meaning that there is in Asia, but it is not nearly so developed as a means of creating formal, structured relationships with associates, teachers, etc. But though this may not currently be our custom in the West, we are adopting and adapting it, as we adopt and adapt the practices such as kendô and flower arranging which are its context.
As far as Zen practice goes, a good example of an occasion on which a gift would be offered is “shôken”, which is the name given to our first formal dokusan with the teacher, and means, literally, “first seeing”. The gift at shôken, which need be nothing more than a pleasant token, is a simple way to express appreciation of what one is being offered, and to signify the creation of this important relationship.
The expression of respect in this formal gift-giving is not only of student for teacher, but also of teacher for student, as the formal relationship created allows for the (relatively) risk-free questioning and challenging in both directions that we see exemplified in our koans.
SINGLE STONE
Of course, shôken is not something we went through here in our sangha, as the whole group evolved quite organically. I set the group up at the request of my teacher, Brian Chisholm, as an advanced student, but not yet a teacher. Things changed and evolved over time, with me beginning to give dharma talks and dokusan when I felt it was necessary, and eventually being authorized as a teacher by Dragan Petrovic.
And we’re still evolving. Shôken is something that would now be superfluous for most current Single Stone students, but of course dana does not stop with shôken. It carries on throughout the life of the relationship of the student to the teacher and to the sangha, serving in a group like ours to cover expenses, but also to continue the expression of respect and gratitude for the Dharma that has been established from the beginning.
DANA’S VOLUNTARY NATURE
Gift-giving, though ritualized, and though a clear cultural requirement in Japan for any well-bred person, is seen as voluntary. For example, at sesshin at the Dharma Centre, the money we pay in advance is purely for the Centre itself to cover lodging, utilities and meals. The teacher receives nothing but what is given voluntarily in envelopes, which we put into a basket placed in the entranceway to the dining hall, and one gives what one can depending on one’s means. Some people have much and some have little. The voluntary nature of dana is very important, not just because it allows us to give in accordance with our means, but because the nature of the relationship between student, teacher and sangha is emphatically not that of a commercial transaction, but belongs to an entirely different realm.
So, what does this mean for our Single Stone Sangha in November of 2024?
When we began, about ten years ago, we were meeting in person, and I simply collected $5 per participant at each meeting, just as Sanbozen had done for our zazenkai in Kamakura. As the money accumulated we were able to purchase Japanese-style screens for our “pop-up” zendo, books for a small Zen library, bells, and so on. Once the pandemic had begun and we switched to Zoom, it became clear that we needed a Zoom account, so I set one up and you sent me money to pay for it, generally at this time of year.
And that’s where we’re at now, except that this time I’m making a special effort to show this transfer of funds in the light of the dana tradition, partly influenced by a conversation I had recently with Dragan. I think that seeing our contributions more formally in this way emphasizes the broad and deep significance of what we’re doing when we make gifts of money at this time of year, and more generally what we’re doing as members of the Single Stone Sangha.
As dana is by definition a voluntary gift, we can put the amounts on a sliding scale, from nothing at all up to $100. The point is to set the amount for yourself so that it’s meaningful for you and helpful for the sangha, but not onerous, and if for you that amount is $100, then please send that; likewise if it’s $50, or $10.
In addition to the aforementioned expenses, your dana will support the creation and hosting of a website, currently in progress, and will pay as well for a contribution to St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, our home base, which has freely given us space these many years, but which is in trouble financially these days and deserving of our support. (As agreed on at our last Monday evening meeting, we’ll contribute $100 immediately and then, going forward, whatever we gather at our monthly zazenkai.)
Thank you, all, for responding so positively and generously to this proposal!
