Inspiration Corner

Sharing means you are never expecting anything in return, you are simply giving. You are not even expecting thankfulness.

It happened with Dozo, one Zen monk.

A rich man came to Dozo with ten thousand gold coins. That is very much, a big amount. He was going to make that a gift for the temple where Dozo was the priest. Dozo accepted as if it was nothing. The man became disturbed. He said, “Do you know these are ten thousand gold coins?”

Dozo said, “You have said it so many times, I have heard it so many times. You have said it already too many times – do you think I am deaf?”

The man was just asking for thanks, only thanks, nothing more.

Then he said, “Ten thousand golden coins is a big amount, even to me. I am a very rich man, but that amount is very big.”

Dozo said, “What do you want? What are you really asking? Are you asking for some gratitude? Are you asking that I should be thankful to you?”

The man said, “At least that much can be expected.”

So Dozo said, “Take your gold coins back. Or, if you want to give them to this temple, you will have to be thankful to me that I accepted.”

On the temple it is written even still… it is written that the giver should be thankful; only then is it a sharing.

Somebody accepted your gift. This is such a great thing, because he could have rejected. Somebody accepted you through your gift. He could have rejected, there was no necessity to accept it. The giver should be thankful. Then it becomes a sharing, otherwise it is always a bargain. You are expecting something – something more valuable than you have given.