法苑珠林 80.6

80.6

Now, the deed of dāna is the source of all practices. It is set forth at the beginning of the six pāramitās, and placed at the head of the four means of embracing. For this reason, Anāthapiṇḍada scattered gold without stinginess; King Sudāna gave away the white elephant without regret. They could even relieve distress by forgetting their own physical bodies; thus Sattva cast his body to save a famished and emaciated life, and Śibi cut his thigh to substitute for the meal of the hawk. How much less should kingdom, cities, wife, and children be kept in mind? How could precious goods and storehouses be taken to heart? Even secular texts say: taking off one's robe and pushing forward one's food, wearing down from crown to heel, sharing chariots, horses, clothes, and furs with friends until worn out—none failed to make light of wealth and value righteousness, loving the worthy and delighting in men of talent. Moreover, wealth and material goods are themselves impermanent; how do they concern human affairs? Bitterly toiling to hoard them, what does one ultimately use them for? The four fears torture by turns; the five houses compete to seize them. How could any person of wisdom treat them as precious playthings? Recently we see ordinary, foolish people who begrudge and cling to family wealth; without a mind to give away, they lose their bodily lives. Solely out of craving for life, they constantly worry they will not survive, thereby causing wife and child to glare at each other, brothers to quarrel within the walls, relatives to be estranged, and friends to be severed. This truly arises because stingy causes, stingy conditions, stingy mental qualities, and stingy deeds contradict the mind of a bodhisattva and obstruct the path of compassion, failing to give rise to the intention to rescue and protect, and solely generating afflictive feelings. Such calamities indeed have stingy craving as their root.