1 00:00:00,031 --> 00:00:03,174 I've been a little confused about how much should I donate after a retreat. 2 00:00:04,275 --> 00:00:04,616 Nothing. 3 00:00:04,976 --> 00:00:06,197 You shouldn't donate anything. 4 00:00:06,978 --> 00:00:09,301 Your donation is the retreat. 5 00:00:09,321 --> 00:00:10,342 That is your donation. 6 00:00:11,483 --> 00:00:13,265 You shouldn't donate after a retreat. 7 00:00:13,865 --> 00:00:26,899 In certain cases you have to feel pity on the organization and kind of feel concern for the organization that 8 00:00:26,879 --> 00:00:32,025 All of us have come and used up a lot of the resources of the organization. 9 00:00:32,085 --> 00:00:44,040 So if we don't support it, first of all, it's kind of crass, I suppose. 10 00:00:45,962 --> 00:00:48,465 But it's a problem for the organization. 11 00:00:49,694 --> 00:01:05,998 But I don't think that should be a hard and fast rule, and personally I don't subscribe to such theory of reimbursing or of even paying for any expenses in the course. 12 00:01:05,978 --> 00:01:08,704 Now, in certain cases, that's the only way possible. 13 00:01:09,345 --> 00:01:21,490 Now, for example, you might get a group of people together and say, okay, let's pitch in to rent this place and so on and so on and so on and so on. 14 00:01:21,470 --> 00:01:24,234 This is just to cover the need. 15 00:01:26,558 --> 00:01:38,095 I wrote a long blog post and I didn't get many comments, so I get the feeling that it was just too wordy, but I still would recommend you to read that blog post if you want my thoughts on it. 16 00:01:38,075 --> 00:01:43,261 It was called, There is too such thing as a free lunch. 17 00:01:43,781 --> 00:01:54,873 And the gist of it is, in case it really is too wordy, is that we shouldn't be trying to reimburse and we shouldn't be trying to pay it forward. 18 00:01:55,053 --> 00:01:56,114 We shouldn't be trying to pay it back. 19 00:01:56,134 --> 00:01:57,576 We shouldn't be trying to pay it forward. 20 00:01:58,677 --> 00:02:03,542 We should be trying to pay for it, you know. 21 00:02:03,522 --> 00:02:11,965 When there is a need, we should provide resources as we're able to fulfill that need. 22 00:02:12,266 --> 00:02:15,996 When there's no need, we should be willing to take the free lunch. 23 00:02:17,225 --> 00:02:20,789 We should feel no remorse for taking the free lunch. 24 00:02:23,572 --> 00:02:32,643 If everyone were to believe in the philosophy of free lunches, then everyone would have free lunches. 25 00:02:32,783 --> 00:02:39,591 Because it's not taking, it's not the philosophy that you can take whatever you want. 26 00:02:39,631 --> 00:02:43,336 It's the philosophy of providing free lunches. 27 00:02:44,317 --> 00:02:47,080 When someone needs something, you give it to them. 28 00:02:48,157 --> 00:03:16,240 and when you need something you take it when you come to the meditation course you're not looking to support the organization you're looking for something you need something you need meditation so the the interaction the transaction had nothing to do with the organization's need now 29 00:03:17,384 --> 00:03:29,085 when the organization needs things, when you see that there's a retreat going on, regardless of whether you're going to join the retreat, you should consider, does the organization need resources to do this? 30 00:03:29,305 --> 00:03:41,687 So even if you're not participating in the retreat, before you even think of participating, you should consider what resources are needed for this organization, if you believe in the organization. 31 00:03:41,667 --> 00:03:43,630 It should have nothing to do with what you take. 32 00:03:43,690 --> 00:03:45,372 What you take is because you need. 33 00:03:45,953 --> 00:03:47,475 What you give is because they need. 34 00:03:48,156 --> 00:03:49,719 If they don't need, you don't have to give. 35 00:03:50,199 --> 00:03:52,923 Now, this doesn't apply for most organizations. 36 00:03:53,003 --> 00:04:06,122 Most organizations don't subscribe to such a philosophy and therefore are quite insistent, or hinting anyway, at the need to donate and for every participant to donate. 37 00:04:06,102 --> 00:04:16,217 And there are even many monastic organizations that talk about this repaying your debt to the Sangha. 38 00:04:17,218 --> 00:04:25,210 Because if you take something from the monastery, if you use something in the monastery, you're in debt to the monastery. 39 00:04:25,250 --> 00:04:26,912 This is the concept. 40 00:04:26,892 --> 00:04:56,899 This totally goes against with the Buddha How the Buddha explained the allocation of resources The Buddha explained four types of people who use resources The first person is a person who steals them The second person is a person who loans them or borrows them The third person is a person who inherits them And the fourth person is the person who deserves them 41 00:04:56,879 --> 00:05:00,389 Excuse me. 42 00:05:02,154 --> 00:05:12,643 A person who steals resources is a person who is there under false pretenses or false... 43 00:05:13,585 --> 00:05:15,748 What do you call it? 44 00:05:15,768 --> 00:05:16,829 It is lying about it. 45 00:05:16,849 --> 00:05:22,255 So someone who goes to practice but is just looking to pick up women or something. 46 00:05:22,475 --> 00:05:27,061 Sorry, pick up... Start a romantic engagement, for example. 47 00:05:31,026 --> 00:05:31,786 No, that's not true. 48 00:05:32,427 --> 00:05:33,869 It has to be worse than that. 49 00:05:33,909 --> 00:05:38,194 It has to be specifically deceptive. 50 00:05:39,015 --> 00:05:41,618 So suppose... 51 00:05:44,433 --> 00:05:46,716 I don't know what an example in a meditation course would be. 52 00:05:46,996 --> 00:05:56,567 Like an undercover... Suppose a person from another religion were to come just to spy. 53 00:05:57,148 --> 00:06:02,914 So they pretend to take the meditation course, but they're really there just to spy and to cause problems. 54 00:06:03,455 --> 00:06:06,238 This is a person who steals the resources. 55 00:06:06,218 --> 00:06:15,248 So the example the Buddha gave is as a monk, a person who pretends to be a monk and goes on alms round and people say, oh, there's a Buddhist monk coming and let's give them food. 56 00:06:15,789 --> 00:06:18,572 But they're not really a Buddhist monk. 57 00:06:18,592 --> 00:06:19,633 That's a person who steals. 58 00:06:20,594 --> 00:06:23,097 A person who borrows is a person who is really there. 59 00:06:23,137 --> 00:06:27,342 They sign up for a meditation course or they really ordain as a monk, but they don't practice. 60 00:06:27,943 --> 00:06:35,972 So they sleep all day in the meditation course or they goof off or they masturbate or something like that. 61 00:06:35,952 --> 00:06:37,374 Am I allowed to say that? 62 00:06:37,394 --> 00:06:37,775 I don't know. 63 00:06:39,678 --> 00:06:41,041 It's true. 64 00:06:41,081 --> 00:06:44,967 The reason I think of it is because I had a student once who admitted it to me. 65 00:06:45,007 --> 00:06:49,555 He came and admitted to having masturbated during the course. 66 00:06:50,016 --> 00:06:51,218 But sorry, that's a bit crude. 67 00:06:51,438 --> 00:06:55,024 I'll try to be a little bit more, a little bit less crude. 68 00:06:55,004 --> 00:07:09,026 But somehow, you know, it's nice to bring up things that people are not willing to talk about, especially that one, because it seems to be such a pervasive, pervasive, such a big problem for people. 69 00:07:10,108 --> 00:07:13,233 Anyway, they do things that are not appropriate. 70 00:07:14,255 --> 00:07:15,797 This is a person who is 71 00:07:15,777 --> 00:07:20,809 Let's not say do things that are inappropriate, but who doesn't do things that are necessary. 72 00:07:21,270 --> 00:07:24,337 This is a person who's borrowing their resources. 73 00:07:24,537 --> 00:07:26,722 And they are truly in debt when they leave. 74 00:07:27,725 --> 00:07:34,039 Because they've taken all these things without any reason for deserving them. 75 00:07:35,470 --> 00:07:53,496 The third type of person who inherits them is a person who actually tries to practice, who may not be enlightened or may not have achieved enlightenment, but who undertakes the meditation course to develop themselves, to practice the Buddhist teachings. 76 00:07:55,568 --> 00:07:58,532 This, the Buddha said, is someone who inherits the resources. 77 00:07:59,073 --> 00:07:59,273 Why? 78 00:07:59,353 --> 00:08:13,171 Because those resources were given to the Buddha or given to the organization by people who believe in what the organization is doing, believe in the practice. 79 00:08:13,191 --> 00:08:23,365 Now these people are undertaking the practice and are in line with the organization's goals and goals 80 00:08:26,112 --> 00:08:29,859 goals and ideals. 81 00:08:31,702 --> 00:08:38,874 So these people are inheriting it based on the worthiness in people's minds of the organization. 82 00:08:38,974 --> 00:08:42,180 So not just talking about Buddhism, but the organization in general. 83 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:56,622 The fourth type of person are those who deserve them, are those who have practiced and are enlightened, in the case of Buddhism, or who have developed, realized the goals of the organization. 84 00:08:57,183 --> 00:09:00,608 So they have practiced the meditation and become enlightened, 85 00:09:00,588 --> 00:09:04,075 and are therefore deserving of whatever people give them. 86 00:09:04,335 --> 00:09:16,099 Because their mind is pure, because they have attained the goals of the organization, they are therefore equivalent to the organization, in this case equivalent to the Buddha. 87 00:09:16,079 --> 00:09:33,447 And therefore people who have faith in the Buddha and give to the monks out of faith in the Buddha are basically giving to the Buddha because they're giving to someone who is in that sense, in one sense, equivalent to the Buddha in the sense of being free from suffering. 88 00:09:33,427 --> 00:09:41,560 So that's the Buddha's teaching, which sort of puts to rest this idea of being in debt. 89 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:46,107 If you're actually practicing meditation during the course, you're not in debt to the organization. 90 00:09:46,568 --> 00:09:58,287 If you're putting in to practice their teachings, then, and honestly, and wholeheartedly, then you're not in debt to the organization.