Generosity

Generosity (Skt. dāna; Tib. སྦྱིན་པ་, jinpa, Wyl. sbyin pa), the first of the six paramitas, is defined as an attitude of giving.

Subdivisions

Chökyi Drakpa says:

Generosity, is divided into

• material giving,
• giving the Dharma, and
• giving protection from fear.

You should practise these three kinds of generosity according to your capacity. At the very least, you should offer Sur (burnt offerings) and water tormas, since this offering incorporates all three kinds of giving.

• Four kinds of generosity

Quotation

Maitreya says:

སྦྱིན་པ་མི་མཐུན་ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་དང་། །

རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལྡན། །
འདོད་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་རྫོགས་བྱེད། །

སེམས་ཅན་རྣམ་སྨིན་བྱེད་རྣམ་གསུམ། །

When factors incompatible with generosity have declined,
And one possesses wisdom that is non-conceptual,
All that one wishes for can be fully brought about—
These are the three aspects of bringing beings to maturity.

Maitreya, Ornament of Mahāyāna Sūtras, Chapter 17, Verse 8

Alternative Translations

• liberality
• paramita of giving (Dharma Publishing)