Overcoming Attachments through Generosity: Insights from the Mahayana Path
The perfection of generosity in Mahayana Buddhism is about letting go of harmful attachments in order to create deeper connections with others and find joy within ourselves.
Mindfulness is not the only quality we try to cultivate through practising meditation. However, within the Buddhist contemplative context from which secular mindfulness meditation emerged, cultivating an ethic of loving-kindness and compassion was considered central to meditation practice (Gethin, 1998). Even today, a hint of this is clearly visible, especially within the context of 2nd generation mindfulness-based approaches that put an emphasis on an ethic of compassion and kindness (Van Gordon & Shonin, 2020; Van Gordon et al., 2015). An example could be the eight-week “Mindfulness-based Living Course”, which through the definition of mindfulness, they use “knowing what is happening while it is happening, without preference” (Choden & Regan-Addis, 2018, p. 17) continually point out that it has two parts to it:
1) Technique – knowing what is happening while it is happening
2) Attitude – without preference
It is pointed out that in this definition, “without preference” means cultivating an attitude of kindness and compassion through one’s actions and character both towards yourself and others (Choden & Regan-Addis, 2018; Nairn, Choden, & Regan-Addis, 2019).
When it comes to secular mindfulness practice, I think this is very important because, within Buddhism, the cultivation of character and the six perfections was considered central. Not only in Buddhism but in all major religious contemplative traditions, this idea of the cultivation of a “character” of kindness, compassion and virtuous action is emphasised by all (Neusher & Chilton, 2009).
Returning to Buddhism, the Mahayana tradition holds this as a central tenant. Wright (2009) writes:
Mahayana Buddhist sutras maintain that the most admirable human beings, bodhisattvas at the highest level, are characterised by a profound, universal compassion, compassion so far-reaching that their daily actions demonstrate as much concern for the well-being of others as for themselves. In order to pursue the Buddhist ideal of compassion at this exalted level, practitioners train themselves in the perfection of generosity. Generosity of spirit—the capacity to give of oneself in a wide range of creative ways—has been an important dimension of Buddhist self-cultivation throughout the long history of this tradition. (p. 18)
The Mahayana Buddhist path holds that generosity is more than an act, but generosity at its root is a mental state of letting go of something to which we are attached. This concept, known as the “perfection of generosity,” is one of the six perfections of Tibetan Buddhism. The other perfections are:
1) The perfection of Morality
2) The perfection of Tolerance
3) The perfection of Energy
4) The perfection of Meditation
5) The perfection of Wisdom
Here the perfection of generosity is not just about physically giving but rather more of a virtue of developing a “mind of giving” in order to combat harmful attachments. Attachments here refer to material and mental things that often obstruct our self-awareness and our ability to connect with others and ourselves. Here the word perfection can be misleading or something beyond your reach, but “perfection” is referring to a quality of generosity that, through sincere generosity, is perfect and limitless, and Ward (2009) writes how these “perfections” are to be, “understood as particular ideals of human character that guide self-cultivation” (p. 3). So, they are more like guides, things to train in and mind states to cultivate.
It is important to note that not all “attachments” are unwanted as we also need “attachments”, or else we might end up living a dispassionate life. What is being encouraged here is letting go of attachments like greed, lust, and passion. These can be fuel to our “ego” and can end up clouding our judgment, leading us to a total disregard of the needs of others in order to fulfil our own desires. Sometimes this can lead to acts or behaviour that can end up harming others to get what you want.
So, by gradually aspiring to learn how to let go of “unwholesome” attachments, we open ourselves up to the possibility of cultivating more profound connections with others. However, letting go of attachments is not easy, as we often cling to our perceived notions of reality and the outcomes we desire and sometimes, without knowing, we find ourselves manipulating circumstances for our own benefit.
And here is where Meditation can help through gaining awareness of these desires and training our minds not to cling to thoughts driven by a state of desire, like pride, jealousy, greed, and lust which can lead to states of aggression to gain what we want, anger towards situations our others when things do not work our way and fear of losing what we have gained.
The perfection of generosity as understood within Mahayana challenges us to not only identify these habits and states of mind through our meditation practice – what we think we need or do not need for life to work as we desire – But once we identify these to gradually try to let go and release them (Gethin, 1998; Wright, 2009).
And when we tap into generosity as a state of mind of giving by letting go of attachment to unwholesome desires, a natural state of joy flows through us that is not dependent or attached to anything creating within us an inner sense of expansiveness that is tied to nothing, from which we can indeed genuinely be more available to those who may need us.
From personal experience, it is not becoming enlightened from meditation that has helped me, and I am far from a state of enlightenment, if that exists, as I still find myself caught in unwholesome desires. But meditation has helped generate within me a small space of stillness and silence from which I can respond whenever I notice that I am either caught in unwholesome mind states that generate desires, like pride, greed, lust, jealousy and awareness of this has thought me that little stillness/silence can go a long way when taped into. It always makes me remember the quote attributed to Victor Franklin, the author of the book man’s search for meaning that,
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Bibliography
Choden, & Regan-Addis, H. (2018). Mindfulness-based living course. New Alresford: John Hunt Publishing.
Gethin, R. (1998). The foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nairn, R., Choden, & Regan-Addis, H. (2019). From mindfulness to insight: Meditations to release your habitual thinking and activate your inherent wisdom. Boston, MA: Shambala Publications Inc.
Neusher, J., & Chilton, B. (Eds.). (2009). Golden rule: The ethics of reciprocity in world religions. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
Van Gordon, W., & Shonin, E. (2020). Second-generation mindfulness-based intervention: Toward more authentic mindfulness practice and teaching. Mindfulness, 11(1), 1-4. doi:10.1007/s12671-019-01252-1
Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., & Griffiths, M. D. (2015). Towards a second generation of mindfulness-based interventions. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 49(7), 591-592. doi:10.1177/0004867415577437
Wright, D. S. (2009). The six perfections: Buddhism & the cultivation of character. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc.