Gifts, gifting and their rubbishing ~ Malinda Words

Nanda Malini’s album ‘Pahan Kanda’ includes a song, written of course by her principal lyrical collaborator Sunil Ariyaratne, titled ‘බෝ මැඩ වගුරන.’ It doesn’t exactly ridicule Buddhist lay practices but it laments them.

Adopting the voice of a poor mother, the song addresses the Buddhist devotee, who is urged to desist from pouring so many pots of milk to a bo tree, from the symbolic offering of food to the Buddha (buddha poojaava) and from lighting lamps and incense. The milk, the song suggests, could be given instead to her child. This ‘mother’ also suggests that the devotee toss some rice her way and that money ‘burnt’ on oil lamps, incense and such be used to placate ‘a burning person.’

This was not new back in the early 1980s when she came out with ‘Pahan Kanda.’ ‘What should Buddhists do?’ is an old question. The pursuit of truth along the Noble Eightfold Path to the exclusion of all else, is a common ‘position.’ On the other hand, the Buddha has not sanctioned or forbidden anything but instead suggests that an individual ought to figure out for him/herself what course of action is best, the consequences of which he/she would have to deal with of course.

People find succour in many form. Not all are inclined or ready to delve deep into the eternal verities. Meditation can take all forms. Lighting a lamp and reflecting on the flame could, theoretically, yield insight into the human condition. Reflecting on a floral offering could, theoretically, help one understand better the truths of birth, decay and death common to all things, ideas and rituals included.

Nanda Malini (or Sunil Ariyaratne) can critique a practice and suggest alternatives. The practitioner can embrace the suggestion. Or not.

Nanda Malini or Sunil Ariyaratne or anyone else who seem to have made a fashion out of ridiculing ‘Buddhist’ practices (in the name of ‘saving Buddhism from Buddhists’ no less) in word, tone and deed that are at odds with the kinds of approaches to things that the Buddha recommended mind you, have studiously avoided comment on similar or, in their book, even more outrageous practices of those belonging to other religious faiths.

The politics of selection, the turning of mole-hills into mountains, the belief that certain mountains are non-existent and of course the issue of ‘religious freedoms’ are all embedded in this particular discourse.

Gifts and gifting. What has the Buddha said about them? It’s all there in the Vacchagotta Sutra. Vacchagotta the Wanderer had once asked the Buddha if it is indeed true that he, the Enlightened One, had insisted, ‘gifts should be given only to me and not to others, only to my disciples and not to the disciples of others.’

The Buddha, denying having said any such thing, offers the following:

'Vaccha, anyone who prevents another person from giving alms causes obstruction and impediment to three people: he obstructs the donor from doing a meritorious deed, he obstructs
the recipient from getting the gift, and prior to that, he undermines and harms his own character. What I actually teach, Vaccha, is this: even if one throws away the rinsings from a pot
or cup into a village pool or pond, wishing that the living beings there may feed on them—even this would be a source of merit, not to speak of giving a gift to human beings.’

Thus, regardless of the nature of the gift and the object of veneration implied in the act of giving are irrelevant when it comes to obstruction. It is, simply, unwholesome.

The addendum is also very important:

'However, I do declare that offerings made to the virtuous bring rich fruit, and not so much those made to the immoral. The virtuous one has abandoned five qualities and possesses
another five qualities. What are the five qualities he has abandoned? Sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt: these are the five qualities he has
abandoned. And what are the five qualities he possesses? He possesses the virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge and vision of liberation of one perfect in
training. These are the five qualities he possesses.’

It is up to each individual to make a call on virtue and the virtuous when giving is contemplated. As for those who pass judgment, deride and make self-righteous claims as well as issue directives (‘do this, and not that’) about how someone else should conduct him/herself in the use of resources that belong to the particular person, well, such people undermine themselves.

Nanda Malini and Sunil Ariyaratne aren’t exactly mocking the devout. They are, gently, suggesting an alternative. Not their business, but in the larger context of mockery practiced by the self-righteous whose selective attacks on Buddhsts also say a lot about their own virtue; they, the singer and lyricist, are hardly benign.

malindadocs@gmail.com

['The Morning Inspection' is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is a new series. Links to previous articles in this new series are given below]

25 July 2023

Gifts, gifting and their rubbishing

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