The paramita of generosity is first on the list of the Six Paramitas, and in most explanations I have encountered it receives the most attention — and for good reason. If a student cannot open the hand, the rest of the path will be much harder to walk. Generosity is the first movement away from self-contraction and toward the world. At its essence it is a mind that can share, a mind open enough to actually feel the needs of others. And it is here, at this first step, that we begin to transform attachment and desire. We give without expectation of return. We give freely.
In Sanskrit this is dāna. In the Tibetan tradition it is jin pa — giving, offering, releasing. The Karmapa, in his commentary on Shantideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, describes it this way: generosity is the very first of the six liberating actions, and it is explained in such depth — across four chapters of that text — because it is the foundation everything else rests on. You cannot build a Bodhisattva practice on a closed fist.
A Story About Giving
Let me give you an example. There was a while where I found myself in a time of need. To be specific, my budget was very tight. I know many people have or have had times like this in their lives. A very good friend — actually a brother from another mother — suggested that our families spend a weekend together. He understood that I could not pay for anything, but since he was in a position of surplus, he would gladly cover all the expenses. Since we live 600km apart, this involved train tickets for my daughter and me, food, and other smaller costs. So I packed our bags and we left for the weekend.
Our two families had a wonderful time. We went tobogganing in the fresh snow with the kids, ate wonderful meals, shared beers and stories, and we really listened to one another — really felt into how things were going in each other’s lives. As the weekend drew to a close, I thanked him with all my heart. His response was not to say “you’re welcome” but to thank me for the precious time we could share. He did not count the money. He gave freely of his heart and his wallet. In our shared gratitude, we accepted each other’s thankfulness.
My friend is German, and in German there are actually two words for generosity: Großzügigkeit and Freigebigkeit — the latter meaning to give generously and freely, with no strings attached, no expectations whatsoever. He does not identify as a follower of the Buddha Dharma. But he is one of the most Buddhist non-Buddhists I have ever met. Thank you, my friend. You know who you are.
What Shantideva Taught and the Karmapa Lives
Shantideva opens his treatment of generosity in the Bodhicaryāvatāra with a teaching that cuts to the heart of it: those who wish for enlightenment must be willing to give up even the body. If we can offer that, then offering material things is hardly a question. The Karmapa puts it plainly in his commentary: “Those who wish for enlightenment must give up even their physical body” means that we are practising the way of the Bodhisattva. For that reason, we would even give up our own body — and therefore there is no need to mention giving up material objects.
Our physical body is our most treasured possession. That is the measure of dāna. Not to be taken literally as instruction, but as an orientation of mind — a radical loosening of the grip of self-clinging that makes genuine giving possible in the first place.
The Four Areas of Giving How the Paramita of Generosity Manifests
Generosity can be divided into four areas of practice:
1. Giving of material things. Invite friends for dinner, sponsor a project at your dharma centre, give to a charity. This one is the most tangible and the easiest place to begin.
2. Giving of protection. Offering refuge or help to anyone in need. Giving medical attention to the sick and injured. Any act that creates safety for another being.
3. Giving of love and comfort. A hug, a smile, a helping hand. Giving love and comfort takes a little time, but there is nothing better for nurturing any relationship.
4. Giving of the Dharma. That’s what we are doing here right now — not just by writing on the internet, but by trying to live the Buddhadharma. One may also whisper peaceful mantras to animals or any other beings who want to listen.
It is important to remember that generosity is a two-way street. Without a receiver, there is no possibility of generosity at all. Pride that says “no, I don’t want that” ends the possibility entirely. One never knows how the connection created by the act of giving will develop over time. The receiver allows the giver to give. This give-give situation is contagious.
The Four Conditions That Deepen Its Impact
We can also remember the four conditions that strengthen the karmic impact of any action. First, that we know and understand the situation. Second, that we plan to do something. Third, that we do it, or have it done. Fourth, that we are happy and pleased with the results. We see and understand a need, we make a plan to give, we give or invite others to give as well, and we are overjoyed with the results. In this manner, generosity has the greatest possible impact.
So when my friend understood my situation, planned to give, followed through on that plan, and felt genuine joy in the outcome — both he and I received the most positive karma possible from that weekend. And it inspired in me the aspiration that when my time of need ends and surplus returns, I can offer the same or similar help to others. That is how generosity propagates through time.
The Vajrayana Twist: Give-Give and the Inseparability of Three
The paramītas are primarily Mahayana teachings, but there is a Vajrayana dimension worth sitting with. Here we go further and always hold in mind the inseparability of subject, object, and action — the giver, the receiver, and the act of giving itself. In Vajrayana understanding, these three never truly separate. We are giving to ourselves every time we give, because at the deepest level there is no boundary between giver and receiver. When we give, we give ourselves the merit along with the deep understanding that we are all interconnected since beginningless time. And to top it all off — it is totally joyful.
What the Neuroscientists Found
Science
🔬 In 2006, neuroscientist Jorge Moll and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health published a landmark study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using functional MRI imaging, they scanned the brains of participants as they made decisions about charitable donations. What they found was striking: the mesolimbic reward system — the same circuitry that activates when we receive money — was engaged with equal force when participants chose to give. Not just equivalent activity.
Donation actually produced greater activity in the ventral striatum than receiving a personal monetary reward, and additionally activated the subgenual cortex, a region associated with social attachment and affiliative reward. The brain, it seems, treats genuine generosity as its own category of gift — one that arrives with a social warmth that pure personal gain does not.
Science
🔬 A second study, published in Nature Communications in 2017 by Soyoung Park and colleagues, went further. Participants who pledged to spend money on others over the following four weeks showed stronger increases in self-reported happiness than those who spent on themselves. Crucially, their generous decisions engaged the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and the connectivity between the TPJ and the ventral striatum during generous choices was directly predictive of increased happiness. The researchers concluded that generous behaviour changes the neural response in a way that creates a measurable link between giving and wellbeing.
The Dharma teaching and the neuroscience data are pointing at exactly the same thing. What the Buddha called dāna, what Shantideva taught as the foundation of the path, what the Karmapa lives and teaches — the brain confirms it. Opening the hand opens something in us. The give-give situation the Vajrayana describes is not metaphor. It is biology.
QP
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Source Notes
Thaye Dorje on generosity / Bodhicaryavatara: Buddhism Today, “The 37 Practices of Bodhisattvas, Part 3 (The Six Paramitas).”
Thaye Dorje Bodhicaryavatara commentary series: Buddhism Today, Chapter 3 series.
Moll et al. 2006: “Human fronto-mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation.” PNAS 103(42): 15623–15628. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0604475103
Park et al. 2017: “A neural link between generosity and happiness.” Nature Communications 8: 15964. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15964
Shantideva quotation paraphrased from Bodhicaryavatara.
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QP