I've been a little confused about how much should I donate after a retreat.
Nothing.
You shouldn't donate anything.
Your donation is the retreat.
That is your donation.
You shouldn't donate after a retreat.
In certain cases you have to feel pity on the organization and kind of feel concern for the organization that
All of us have come and used up a lot of the resources of the organization.
So if we don't support it, first of all, it's kind of crass, I suppose.
But it's a problem for the organization.
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.
Now, in certain cases, that's the only way possible.
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.
This is just to cover the need.
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.
It was called, There is too such thing as a free lunch.
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.
We shouldn't be trying to pay it back.
We shouldn't be trying to pay it forward.
We should be trying to pay for it, you know.
When there is a need, we should provide resources as we're able to fulfill that need.
When there's no need, we should be willing to take the free lunch.
We should feel no remorse for taking the free lunch.
If everyone were to believe in the philosophy of free lunches, then everyone would have free lunches.
Because it's not taking, it's not the philosophy that you can take whatever you want.
It's the philosophy of providing free lunches.
When someone needs something, you give it to them.
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
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?
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.
It should have nothing to do with what you take.
What you take is because you need.
What you give is because they need.
If they don't need, you don't have to give.
Now, this doesn't apply for most organizations.
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.
And there are even many monastic organizations that talk about this repaying your debt to the Sangha.
Because if you take something from the monastery, if you use something in the monastery, you're in debt to the monastery.
This is the concept.
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
Excuse me.
A person who steals resources is a person who is there under false pretenses or false...
What do you call it?
It is lying about it.
So someone who goes to practice but is just looking to pick up women or something.
Sorry, pick up... Start a romantic engagement, for example.
No, that's not true.
It has to be worse than that.
It has to be specifically deceptive.
So suppose...
I don't know what an example in a meditation course would be.
Like an undercover... Suppose a person from another religion were to come just to spy.
So they pretend to take the meditation course, but they're really there just to spy and to cause problems.
This is a person who steals the resources.
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.
But they're not really a Buddhist monk.
That's a person who steals.
A person who borrows is a person who is really there.
They sign up for a meditation course or they really ordain as a monk, but they don't practice.
So they sleep all day in the meditation course or they goof off or they masturbate or something like that.
Am I allowed to say that?
I don't know.
It's true.
The reason I think of it is because I had a student once who admitted it to me.
He came and admitted to having masturbated during the course.
But sorry, that's a bit crude.
I'll try to be a little bit more, a little bit less crude.
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.
Anyway, they do things that are not appropriate.
This is a person who is
Let's not say do things that are inappropriate, but who doesn't do things that are necessary.
This is a person who's borrowing their resources.
And they are truly in debt when they leave.
Because they've taken all these things without any reason for deserving them.
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.
This, the Buddha said, is someone who inherits the resources.
Why?
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.
Now these people are undertaking the practice and are in line with the organization's goals and goals
goals and ideals.
So these people are inheriting it based on the worthiness in people's minds of the organization.
So not just talking about Buddhism, but the organization in general.
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.
So they have practiced the meditation and become enlightened,
and are therefore deserving of whatever people give them.
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.
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.
So that's the Buddha's teaching, which sort of puts to rest this idea of being in debt.
If you're actually practicing meditation during the course, you're not in debt to the organization.
If you're putting in to practice their teachings, then, and honestly, and wholeheartedly, then you're not in debt to the organization.