The Giver Should be Thankful - written by Kenneth Uy

There is a Zen story about giving that goes:

While Seisetsu was the master of Engaku in Kamakura he required larger quarters, since those in which he was teaching were overcrowded. Umezu Seibei, a merchant of Edo, decided to donate five hundred pieces of gold called ryo toward the construction of a more commodious school. This money he brought to the teacher.

Seisetsu said: "All right. I will take it."

Umezu gave Seisetsu the sack of gold, but he was dissatisfied with the attitude of the teacher. One might live a whole year on three ryo, and the merchant had not even been thanked for five hundred.

"In that sack are five hundred ryo," hinted Umezu.

"You told me that before," replied Seisetsu.

"Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred ryo is a lot of money," said Umezu.

"Do you want me to thank you for it?" asked Seisetsu.

"You ought to," replied Uzemu.

Why should I?" inquired Seisetsu. "The giver should be thankful."

                                                                        (from 101 Zen Stories)

This story supposedly happened around 1300, over seven hundred years ago.  Yet the message it brings rings even truer today.  Human nature has not really changed.  It is so much easier to be base than noble, selfish than selfless, taking than giving. Yet these are exactly the lessons that we need.  Lessons in how to live life.  These lessons have been there for ages and ages.  But we have short memories.  As one author noted, we have to be constantly reminded what we believe.

And why should the giver be thankful?  I can think of at least two reasons why.

First, we should be thankful because in giving we are granted the power to receive.  We give and in giving we are to be given in return.  The receiver has opened the door of blessings for us. 

The Bible says, “Give and it will be given unto you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke6:38)

There is beauty in the words “it will be given unto you”, it doesn't simply say that you will receive, but that it will be given.  

Giving is active, while receiving is passive. The emphasis is always on the active.  Furthermore, the promise from God is that we will be given MORE than we give.  As the saying goes, “Plant a seed, get a pint.  Plant a pint, get a bushel.  

The law always works to give back more than you give.” Always, one sows then one reaps.  We give first, then we receive in return.  Not the other way around.  Simply said, we give because that is the way we will receive.  This is the first reason why we should be thankful for the opportunity of giving.

Secondly, we should be thankful because giving liberates us.  It has been said, “Giving liberates the soul of the giver.”  It liberates us from attachment.  It is very interesting to note that another word used for attachment is clinging.  What a picture it paints of us, clinging desperately to our material things, our wealth, our money our self-centeredness.  

We often forget that all of these we eventually leave behind.  How we cling to that which is temporal, foregoing that which is eternal. As Jesus said to the rich young man who wanted to follow him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven.  Then come and follow me.”  

As we know, the rich young man's response was to sadly turn away because he had great wealth and could not let go. To which Jesus remarked, “ How much easier for the camel to enter the eye of the needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”  The classic example of wealth hindering enlightenment, of putting greater value on the fading than on the lasting.

Giving is what make us complete.  Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”