Zen precept #14: Not being possessive.
This especially wise precept reminds me to see the interconnection of all beings and appreciate how my life is sustained by millions, and to be generous, experiencing the wonder of giving. Suzuki Roshi taught not to give to get merely something in return, but rather to give to bring us closer to ourselves and others, celebrating this life and our good fortune to be born as a human being. I love this idea.
Reb Anderson has more wise words on this precept: "The disease is stinginess, the wonder is giving. Stinginess is a tightness, a constriction of the heart. It is born out of ignorance of the interdependence of all beings...Stinginess is turning away from relatedness toward isolation, and as we turn away from others we also turn away from ourselves."
Reb ends his teaching on this precept with a poem about how generosity and life go together, by Joseph Bruchas:
"Birdfoot's Grandpa"
The old man
must have stopped our car
two dozen times to climb out
and gather into his hands
the small toads blinded
by our lights and leaping,
live drops of rain.
The rain was falling,
a mist about his white hair
and I kept saying
you can’t save them all
accept it, get back in
we’ve got places to go.
But, leathery hands full
of wet brown life,
knee deep in the summer
roadside grass,
he just smiled and said
they have places to go to too.
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