The Merit of Giving, Dharma Talk with Zuisei Goddard

Recorded August 7, 2024
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Zuisei is a writer and Zen teacher based in Panama City, Panama. To attend her weekly meditation or retreats, or to join her next dharma talk live on Zoom visit www.oceanminds...​​​​.
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For full transcript visit:
oceanmindsangh...
As the Buddha lay dying-he had eaten a piece of bad pork or bad mushrooms, the sutras say-keeping him company was Ananda, his cousin and devoted attendant. Ananda, as you can imagine, was very upset at the prospect of the Buddha dying. He kept wishing that his teacher would give a last teaching to the sangha to sustain them after the Buddha passed, and he told the Buddha this.
At first, the great teacher was a little annoyed. “What else do the monks expect from me?” he said to Ananda. “I’ve taught them everything I know. I’m old now, and just as an old cart is barely held together, my own body is kept going with support. It’s only when I focus and concentrate my mind that I’m a little comfortable.” I’m tired, in other words, I’m dying. I’ve given all I can give so just, let me be.
But then he softened. He thought, It wouldn’t be right if I don’t say goodbye to those who’ve cared for me. It wouldn’t be right at all. Let me give them a last teaching. “Ananda, he said, “be islands onto yourselves, refuges onto yourselves. With the dharma as your island, the dharma as your refuge, seek no other refuge.” And then, anticipating Ananda’s questions, he added, “And how, Ananda, is a practitioner an island onto themselves, a refuge onto themselves? Well, they investigate the very heart of things. Seeing how things arise, how they change, how they fade away, a practitioner is not worried but lives at ease, and living at ease, they are free.”
Let me repeat that last part: “seeing how things arise, seeing how they change, seeing how they fade away, a practitioner is not worried but lives at ease, and living at ease, they are free.” Seeing that things don’t stay the same, a practitioner accepts this. Seeing that things go, a practitioner lets go. A student of the way moves with impermanence, and moving with impermanence, they are free.
Now, this is one of the most famous teachings of the Buddha. Be an island onto yourself, be a lamp onto yourself, be a refuge onto yourself, and-he was saying implicitly-do it together. These islands are really tied together, connected by a spit of sand or silt that’s visible sometimes visible, hidden when the tide is high. And they have a most delightful name: a “tombolo cluster.”
We’re a tombolo cluster, connected to one another by our love of dharma and, I hope, I trust, our love for one another.
Be islands onto yourselves. The Buddha was saying to Ananda, don’t worry, you don’t need me-you have me, in fact. You have me in your own wisdom, your own realization-that’s Buddha. You have the teachings, the Dharma I have taught all these many years. And you have yourselves, you have each other, the Sangha. That’s it-that’s everything you’ll ever need.
Whatever they do, whatever they say, whatever they think, is not based on their own likes and dislikes, their own desires and preoccupations alone. They’re not driven by anger or ill will. They’re not deluded in their views; in other words, they understand how things work. And, they’re not acting out of fear. They’re walking on the ground of reality. They aim to do what is right and true; what is good for everyone...