AN 7.57 –- The Seven Benefits of Giving -Talk 1 of 3 -Generosity Challenge

Okay, hello everybody. Excited to be in this full room. Thank you all for making time for it. I'll say a few words before we go into reading and interpreting the sutta, and then I'll share my screen for that. I have prepared a few slides. So can you see that? Can you give me a quick thumbs up? All right, perfect. Thanks. So we'll talk about Anguttara Nikaya 7.57 today, The Seven Benefits of Giving, as part of this series of three-part talks that Delson and I are putting together here about generosity and what the Buddha said about it. We picked out three things here: the benefits of generosity,

the motivations of generosity, and the budgeting for it, which is a super fun topic for me from my side. I think it was one of the retreats I took with Delson teaching that the question came up in the final talk, where does dana fit in? That's going to be a fun talk, into the budgeting that the Buddha actually suggested. So that's going to be a fun talk next Saturday. Meanwhile, the motivations we'll do on Tuesday, and today it's all about the benefits of generosity. I want to start off by telling a very, very short story from my life, why this is important to me, why it's a really hard issue for me. I came, after high school, I became a banker, did a bank apprenticeship in Germany, then went to business school, and then became a corporate and investment banker for a few years, until I wanted to get out of this situation that is very transaction driven and very, yeah,

laden with conflicts of interest, going to a situation where I could be much more, you know, on my client's side in financial advice. The thing is, once I became self-employed, that didn't work out very well in the beginning, so I did what everybody would do. I became a traveling musician for two or three years, and that was probably one of the funnest times of my life. We traveled all across the eastern United States, did couch surfing a lot, got to know a lot of people, but the money was very, very little. On average maybe eight hundred thousand dollars net income after all costs, we had monthly, and my family, here, my wife, and that was kind of it. It was a strain on it. We racked up a lot of debt and sold everything we could so that we could make this happen. And then we started something that surprised us. We had read about generosity in a Buddhist book. I hadn't found Suttavada at that time yet, but it was another Buddhist teaching that was all about generosity.

And the question was, if you feel financial hardship in your life, then it's probably because you've been stingy, either in your past lives or in your life until now. And what you can do against that is be generous: give a certain percentage of all the income that you make, or volunteer your time, or go give blood, or help your neighbors, or whatever it is you can do, do it. And we decided to give 10% of our meager income at that time, just seeing, hey, if we can live on a thousand dollars, we can live on nine hundred dollars more or less. And magic happened from that moment on. We saw things evolving, not in the music business but other things. Other doors opened up that allowed us to

increase our income and you know go after new entrepreneurial developments that have been very good for us for our income from a worldly view and it brought us nonetheless it uh i think it has something to do with us bringing uh finding damasuka and the teachings of bantebimala ramzi david and uh and delson as wonderful teachers in this whole community is a wonderful thing that's kind of not it's still kind of worldly but the practice of course is is beyond worldly And I attribute a lot of that, if not all, to this moment where Sophia and I started, you know, adding generosity to a big extent in my life. And that's why it's a really, it's an issue close to my heart.

And I'm very glad that you guys are here and listening to us talk. And I'm super grateful for Delson, who has agreed to, you know, do the teaching part of these three sutta classes that we're doing now, leading to the generosity challenge in a couple of weeks that I'm going to talk about at the end of this session. So, seven benefits of giving. This is the number one of three sutta talks leading to the generosity challenge. A quick word. You probably all know Delson, but quick words about Delson. He combines traditional awakening with evidence-based inner transformation.

He guides people from distress and suffering toward understanding, acceptance, and freedom, whether that's in retreats or in Sunday talks or in personal one-on-one mentoring situations. And he's the author of the great book, A Mind Without Craving, that is definitely worth a read if you haven't checked it out yet. A few words about myself, Christoph Enslin. I help meditators gain peace of mind about their money, being an investment advisor and financial planner. I'm a TWIM online meditation guide, and I'm the author of Long-Term Investing for Meditators, which came out a couple of years ago.

Now, I put something into the Sunday chat group, the WhatsApp group, which is this wonderful little handout. I encourage you to print it out if you haven't, so you can write on it. It's not a PDF that's fillable, but please download it and print it out. And anybody who doesn't have it, let me put it in the chat real quick, and quickly add it to the chat here. Yes, file my computer, seven benefits. There you go, so you can have that, at least on your screen. Again, I encourage you to print it out if possible, and with that worksheet and with that little intro, thus have I handed over to you, Delson.

Great, thank you. All right, I'm going to share my screen now. Everybody can see this? Just let me know. Yeah, perfect. Okay. So this is, as we said, Anguttara Nikaya 7.57, the Siha Sutta. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Vesali in the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. Then Siha the general approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said: Is it possible, Bhante, to point out a directly visible fruit of giving?

So here is this layperson named Siha, who is asking the Blessed One, that is the Buddha, an interesting question. Basically, what is a directly visible fruit of giving, of generosity? And the Buddha says, well then, Siha, I will question you about this matter. You should answer as you see fit. What do you think, Siha? There might be two persons: one without faith, who is miserly, mean, and abusive, and another endowed with faith, a munificent giver, who delights in charity.

What do you think, Siha? To whom should the arahants first show compassion? To the one without faith, who is miserly, mean, and abusive? Or to the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver, who delights in charity? So let's break this down, what is being said here. The Buddha says there are, in this sense, two kinds of people: one who is without faith, who is miserly, mean, and abusive, and one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity. So let's break this up. What does this actually mean? One who is without faith. Here, when we say faith, one who does not have faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, and one who does not have faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, doesn't practice the Dhamma, doesn't have any reverence for the Dhamma, let's say. Who is miserly? Who is stingy, who counts all of his money and doesn't give with a free hand?

Mean, you know, somebody who is mean-spirited. This is somebody you don't want to hang out with, somebody who is mean-spirited, who's basically like a Scrooge, right? When you think about it. And abusive, somebody who uses harsh words, harsh speech, divisive speech. And then the second kind of person is one endowed with faith. So the Buddha is starting off with that somebody who has faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, somebody who practices the Eightfold Path, a munificent giver who delights in charity, somebody who gives without regard. He gives because he delights in giving. You should see this for yourselves when you are generous and you do give, how it feels.

I have seen many times, listening to different people of different strata of wealth, millionaires and billionaires, where they're talking about all of the money that they've made in their lifetime. But the most satisfying moments are when they're able to give away their wealth for something that's meaningful, in charity. So you hear, when we're saying charity, we're talking about uplifting people, uplifting others, uplifting other beings, one way or the other. And so the Buddha then asks, what do you think, Siha? To whom should the arahants first show compassion? To the one without faith, who is miserly, mean and abusive, or to the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity? You know, the Buddha is mentioning the arahants here because they are, in that sense, in the hierarchy of the Sangha, the highest, in terms of those who have attained the highest, those who are without fault, without blame, those who have destroyed the fetters. Their mind is completely at peace, and such a mind that receives blesses, in that sense purifies, in that sense, the act of giving and the gift itself.

And so obviously such a person is wise and discerning, and they know that they would show compassion first to the one who has faith, the one who is a giver, the one who delights in charity. Why would anyone want to hang out with the person who's mean-spirited? Why would anyone want to do that? It doesn't mean that they wouldn't show compassion, but the arahants in this case, or you could even say the noble ones in general, those who are sotapannas or sakadagamis, or those who are anagamis or arahants, those who are on the path, you know, those who are practicing, whether they are monastic or lay, they will show compassion to those that are actually

full of faith, are actually generous. Yes, they will show compassion to those who are being spiteful and abusive, but here the Buddha is saying, the first. Why, Bhante, would the arahants first show compassion to the person without faith who is miserly, mean, and abusive? This is the rhetorical question set out by Siha. They would first show compassion to the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity.

So the arahants would go to places or the Sangha or the noble ones, however you want to put it, would go to those communities or those households where generosity is springing forth because they understand and they see in the minds of those that they are in alignment with the Dhamma. And so when you give to the Sangha, when you give to somebody who is an arahant or somebody who is part of the noble Sangha, you are actually getting, in this case, more out of your generosity than you would to somebody who is, quote unquote, undeserving.

This is something that people may not want to hear. But the reality is, in ancient India, there was an understanding of what it means to give and how to give. Why would you waste your money? Why would you waste your resources? Why would you waste your hard-earned food or shelter or whatever it is with people who are not deserving? And what does it mean that they're not deserving? They're ungrateful. They're mean-spirited.

They're cranky all the time. They don't have faith. And so there is something known as the right time, the right place, and something in Sanskrit known as yogitya, which means the right person, the deserving one, the one who actually will do something with that generosity. That generosity will not go to waste. And so the arahants would approach first those who are endowed with faith, one who is a giver who delights in charity. What do you think, Siha, from whom should the arahants first receive alms? From the one without faith who is miserly, mean and abusive, or from the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity? Why, Bhante, would the arahants first receive alms from the person without faith who is miserly, mean and abusive? They would first receive alms from the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity. So this is an extension of that. The arahants would first approach those who are generous, and they would first receive alms from those who are generous.

Giving alms, that is to say giving food, is a wonderful thing, but giving food to one who is an arahant in accordance with the tradition is the highest gift that you can give, aside from giving to a living Buddha. So the idea here is that again, how are you spending your generosity? To whom are you giving your alms, or giving your food, or giving your shelter, giving your medicines, giving your money, whatever it is? So the arahants are discerning. They know that one who is generous will be greatly rewarded because of the sheer act of giving. They would first receive alms from those with faith, with generosity, those who delight in generosity. What do you think, Siha? To whom were the arahants first to teach the Dhamma? To the one without faith who is miserly, mean and abusive, or to the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity? You think about it this way: would you go around teaching somebody without faith if they don't even have any kind of

interest in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha? Why would you waste your words on them? Why would you waste your energy? Why would you waste your time? People don't like hearing this, but I tell them this: look, if you're not going to do the work, if you're not going to pay attention, if you're not going to follow instructions, then you're wasting your time and you're wasting my time, right? So the idea is you go to someone who is willing to listen. You go to someone who is willing to understand and see for themselves and follow instructions.

Somebody who has faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha means that somebody who has come here, let's say to Dhammasukha, or has come on a retreat, or has come to really see what the Dhamma is all about and what the practice is all about, and is faithfully practicing it. And somebody who is a giver, somebody who is generous: the reality is you will notice, and we have the files of this, the reports of this, that David can probably attest to, which is maybe people give a little bit at a time, but as they start to give more and more, you start to see that they actually do make more progress in their practice. The ones who are starting to increase their generosity, because

And by the virtue of the fact that they are giving, even if they're giving five dollars a month, even if they're giving ten dollars a month, over a period of time you see that they start giving $20 or $30 or $50 or $100. And then when they come on retreat, it is a fact that they make the greatest progress in practice. And it is because the act of generosity is truly the act of letting go. Their mind is already primed and prepped to be able to let go, right? They start to see what is really valuable. They start to see what is really meaningful.

They start to see what is really that which gives the highest happiness. They relish and delight in giving, and that in itself shows that they are having the right intention, samma sankappa. They have contentment. They have non-ill will. They have non-cruelty. They are willing to let go of the things that no longer serve them on a mental or emotional level, and they are sacrificing, they're letting that go. What used to be their comfort zone, what used to be the thing that they held on to the most, they let go of those things, and it is easy for their mind to let go of the hindrances, to let go of all disturbances, and their mind gets more and more collected. In doing so, such a person very easily attains to jhana. And over a period of time, very easily attains to one of the four paths and so on.

How, Bhante, would the person without faith who is miserly, mean, and abusive acquire a good reputation? It is a person endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity, who would acquire a good reputation. Your reputation is everything. And in the time of the Buddha, it was more so, because it was by reputation that you were known to be a trusted person. You were known to be somebody that the king could rely upon, or somebody anyone could rely upon. And that meant that you could do good business or good trade or whatever that would mean.

And you think about what reputation means nowadays as well. We have what we call cancel culture. Sometimes that is unfairly done to some people. But the reality is people will trust those with a good reputation, one who has generally a good reputation by word of mouth, right? When somebody says, well, look at this person, they're happy all the time and they're very, very respectful, and they know what they're saying. They know what they're doing, they have the skills, they're generous. When you're generous, people actually do flock to you. I can attest to this. The times that I have been generous, the times that I have felt like giving, are the times when I feel so much peace and happiness and warmth when I do give, when I am generous.

And I will see more often than not, things change around me. My circle of friends keeps growing. People want to help me. People want to give in return to me, or just give out of nowhere. I can attest to the fact of this when the flood happened. A good friend of mine just said, hey, let me help you with this laptop. Let me help you with getting this microphone. Let me help you with whatever it is that you need. Let me know what you need. The amount of messages that I've received, not only in this Sangha but outside of it, has just been beautiful. And that is because of my generosity, whether that is because I give, in terms of money or food to monastics, or organize things for monastics in India, or just the highest giving of giving the Dhamma and providing the teachings in the way that I do.

I am blessed and I can attest to that fact. There are, obviously, in YouTube land, you have a certain kind of reputation, but I don't care about that, because my reputation is with my Sangha, with the people that count. It doesn't matter what people who don't know me, who don't actually interact with me, say. That's fine, that's okay. But I do realize that your reputation is important, especially with the people around you. And that continues to grow as you become more and more generous and giving. Because here's the thing: when you are generous, you're also a happy person, right? And people tend to flock to the people who are happy, people who are peaceful, people who love the Dhamma, who have faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, especially within the larger Sangha.

The thing is, we have this idea that misery loves company, but that's only miserable people looking for company. But nobody really wants to be with a miserable person. They want to be with a happy person. And so that's part of the reputation. What do you think, Siha? Which person would approach any assembly, whether of katiyas, that's kshatriyas, or the warrior clans, the Brahmins or the priests, householders, or ascetics? confidently and composed the one without faith who is miserly mean and abusive or the one endowed with faith a munificent giver who delights in charity? How, Bante, could the person without faith who is miserly, mean and abusive approach any assembly, whether of the kshatriyas, brahmins, the householders or ascetics, confidently and composed? It is the person endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity, who would approach any assembly confidently and composed.

I can attest to this as well. I can go to any person and talk with them and that person will talk with me in a very happy way. The company that I have kept can range from sadhus in Varanasi all the way to billionaires in Delhi and New York City and elsewhere. So, everyone that I meet, I meet on equal ground. They want to just hang out with me because of the fact that I'm a happy person. I'm somebody who doesn't complain about things, or rarely complains, let's say. It's just the environment and your aura. That's the reality: when you're a generous person, your aura grows. I'm not talking about the New Age nonsense. I'm talking about in terms of your influence. People kind of have that magnetism around you, and they're able to see that, and they flock to you.

And many times I will be in Mumbai and I'll get a message from my friend who's a billionaire in Delhi, and he says, what are you doing? And I say, well, I'm just hanging out. He says, well, I want to see you, can you come over? And then he'll book me flights to Delhi and I'll stay at his place or whatever, and we'll talk Dharma and we'll meditate together. So the same happens with somebody who is just an ascetic or something. They'll message me and ask me where I am. Or a monk in Sarnath will ask me, how are you doing?

What's going on? I would love to see you. So I'll make arrangements, or arrangements will be made for me, and I'll go and see them. And we'll have a great time talking about Dhamma and so on. So your influence, your circle of influence, grows, definitely. And you can count on anybody in the world. And I can attest to this as well. I go around the world and I know that I will be taken care of, because I have wonderful friends who not only enjoy my company but enjoy spending time with me and their generosity on me.

so then the buddha says what do you think siha with the breakup of the body after death which person would be reborn in a good destination in a heavenly world the one without faith who is miserly, mean, and abusive, or the one endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity? How, Bante, could the person without faith who is miserly, mean, and abusive be reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world, with the breakup of the body after death?

It is the person endowed with faith, a munificent giver who delights in charity, who would be reborn in a good destination in a heavenly world with the breakup of the body after death so you know somebody who has been mean-spirited somebody who is not generous sometimes they just die alone you know they don't have anyone around them they they don't people just you know either don't know that they're dying or they just don't have anybody around them and sometimes the most generous people have you know strangers around them people their loved ones their relatives their friends and whatever it might be but more than that it's the mindset of that person you know really when you die you are going to go through that process of what have I done in my life

Your karmic bank balance will be shown to you. If you have been mean-spirited for most of the time, if you have denied somebody generosity and charity, that will come into your mind, and you will see for yourself that there is regret and remorse. That regret and remorse leads to certain formations, which lead to certain kinds of destinations. Somebody who has faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, somebody who practices, somebody who is a giver, somebody who delights in giving, who is generous, when they look back on their life, they'll see: ah, I can see that I have been generous. I can see that I have been faithful to my practice. I can see that when it counted I was patient. When it counted I was loving and kind. When it counted I was compassionate. When it counted I was forgiving.

And they can die in peace, and because of that peace, the certain formations that arise from there can lead to a greater destination after this life. So these are the seven benefits that the Buddha is talking about. So, Siha says, 'Bante, I do not go by faith in the Blessed One concerning those six directly visible fruits of giving declared by him. I know them too, for I am a donor, a munificent giver, and the arahants first show compassion to me. I am a donor, a munificent giver, and the arahants first approach me. I am a donor, a munificent giver, and the arahants first receive alms from me. I am a donor, a munificent giver, and the arahants first teach the Dhamma to me.'

I am a donor, a munificent giver, and I have acquired a good reputation. Siha, the general, is a donor, a sponsor, a supporter of the Sangha. I am a donor, a munificent giver, and whatever assembly I approach, whether of katiyas or kshatriyas, Brahmins, householders, or ascetics, I approach it confidently and composed. I do not go by faith in the Blessed One concerning these six directly visible fruits of giving declared by him. In other words, Siha is attesting to what the Buddha has said in the first six benefits, because they are directly visible here and now, in this very life, and he can attest to it because he's done it himself and he's seen those fruits. But when the Blessed One tells me, see how, with the breakup of the body after death, a donor, a munificent giver, is reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world, I do not know this.

And here I go by faith in the Blessed One. So the first six are visibly here, here and now, seen, right? But the seventh, which is to say that you will have a heavenly destination or a good destination, you can only go by faith in that. But I can tell you this: when you die, you want to die in peace, and you will die in peace when you follow the precepts, and if you continue practicing, following samadhi, and attaining wisdom. So it is, Siha. So it is with the breakup of the body after death: a donor, a munificent giver, is reborn in a good destination in a heavenly world.

Thank you very much, Delson. That was a wonderful exposition. Thank you. So we'll have, I'll wrap up with a little summary, and then we'll have some time for questions after that. One second. Okay. So, a little summary here: two types of persons, the faithless, stingy, miserly and abusive, who scolds and berates even those who give, and the one who is faithful, generous and loves charity, who rejoices in giving and does not scold those who give. Of course, what we've heard is we want to be person B, right? So to wrap up, we have everybody who has printed out their sheet there, so their worksheet, please bring that out now. This is a perfect time to do so. So there is

We have the seven benefits. We have six benefits plus one benefit, and the six ones, they are this-life benefits. So that's the first blank spot: six, this-life benefits. Okay. Now, the first one of those six is sympathy. Of the... who can you guys guess? Fill in the chat. Who is... sympathy is Bhante Sujato's translation, but Bhikkhu Bodhi has it as compassion. It's probably even a little better translation, I like that better. So give me the chat: who is it who gives us sympathy, if we are one, or compassion?

If we are generous. There you go. Arahants, and they are also exactly... they are also called the noble ones. Thank you, Sofia. So, "Sympathy of the Noble Ones" goes into the first blank. Now, second one, second one, what is the... or the "Perfected Ones" was Sujato's translation, but "Noble Ones" is fine too, "arahants" is fine too, great. Now, number two, we have the blank spot, dot, dot, dot, to be approached. Who is... what is that? To be approached, what would go in there? Everybody, please type in that one word into the chat.

I'll give you a hint. Are you last to be approached, or are you first to be approached? Yeah, exactly. Thank you, Sophia. Well, this is participating here. Is it only my sweet wife Sophia or anyone else? Come on, people. Number three, third benefit. You're first to be asked for... for what? You're first to be asked for what? Third benefit.

Do you remember? Alms. Yes. Thank you, David. Very good. So alms goes into that blank spot. All right. That's fine. That's fine, Daniela. We're going through them and revealing them bit by bit. All right. Now, number four, the fourth benefit. First to receive blank teaching. What goes into the blank? What kind of teaching are we first to receive if we practice generosity?

Exactly. This is a memory test, but it could also be a logic test. Yes, Quilly, Dharma, it is. Very good. Emilio, thank you. You guys are awesome. You guys are rock stars participating here on a high level. Benefit number five. While we're doing this, by the way, I want you to remember all of these. This is so good to know, like inside out.

And that's why we're repeating. And repeating, as you know from the suttas, repetition is what we get. What happened, what causes us to remember things? So, number five, good what? What do we, what's the benefit of receiving good what? Good blank. Rebirth, that is correct, but at the wrong position here. We're still talking about this life benefits. Thank you, Quilly. Any other guesses? What would be a this-life benefit? We receive good.

What? Are we going to, what are other people thinking of us? Reputation. Sandy, you got it. David, thank you. Awesome. Reputation. Now, one more, this-life benefit we've got left. We have what when we enter assemblies? Confidence, Dr. Tabish. Very good. We should have prizes here for participation. This is awesome. Okay. And then we're moving over to the right side.

What is the additional, kind of the bonus benefit? Wait, we'll reveal here. Good. Reputation. Confidence in assemblies. And now, what is the other type of benefit? It's this-life benefit. And what? I'm feeling heaven. Heaven. Yeah, heaven. This is already the answer of the seventh benefit. But what type of benefit is it? Is it this life, or is it... we got another heavenly, next life. Yes. Plus one next life benefit, and we've already heard it from many people: rebirth in the heavenly realm. So this is the right answer: next life benefits. And it's almost like life insurance here, this living benefits and death benefits, so kind of like that. And the heavenly realm, rebirth in the heavenly realm, is the correct answer. All right, so let's move on. Oh yeah, and just to wait, can I go back here?

Here, what is Mr. Jack Black telling us? These six we can actually experience this lifetime, and the next one we have to have faith, or maybe we can experience it in a lot of past life, past life regression, or so, and then gain the faith, be like knowing beyond faith. But basically, the future fruit of giving: after this death, the generous giver is reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. The miserly person is not. And that's for that, you gotta have faith in order to believe that, or make progress in your meditation, which is also based on giving. Generosity will lead to better meditations because you have less attachments. Now, a little reflection moment. Everybody close your eyes, please, for just a minute.

And take a deep breath. Think about the last gift you gave, whether it was money, time, maybe just a kind word. Think of the last time you gave a gift. And then just recall that scene in your mind. And also recall how you felt while giving it, and then after giving it. And then slowly open your eyes again, and just type in the chat one word that describes how you felt after giving the gift.

Just one word. A big smile. Nice. Lucky. Wonderful. Peaceful. Yes. Joy. Happy. Gratitude. Love. Relax. Nice. Fortunate. Wonderful. These are wonderful things that you know already, how great it is to give. So you already know these life benefits from your own experience. That's wonderful. Thanks for sharing all of these words in the chat here. And so we know how good giving is. Now, I want to talk a little bit about the upcoming Generosity Challenge. It's just an invitation. I'm not pitching anything. It's just an invitation for you to join that. So, why would you want to do that? Because giving with a plan can be much better than giving without a plan. I've had a friend tell me that they have given so much, they've been so generous, that they actually compromised their family's finances.

And then other people tell me they're afraid to give, because they're afraid that their family finances would suffer. So that's why we want to create a plan so that we know how we can give sustainably. So giving is like a muscle trained in the gym. You can do it by yourself and kind of try it out, see what works. Or you come into a gym with a plan, with a coach, with a community, a way to track things. And that's when you actually get stronger, faster, more confident. I can attest that I started going to a CrossFit gym a year ago, and I've actually, for the first time, I hated gyms before that, and now suddenly I love them, because there is a coach, there is a community, there is a plan, a method that works. And the same is true for giving.

We get better, we get faster, stronger, more confident. And that's why I have, Delson and I are doing this, Give Smartly, the Generosity Challenge, starting in about 10 days from now. It's a five-day live program to build a giving plan that works. So, five-day program. It's on Zoom. It's live August 25th to 28th, and then a bonus day on August 31st. Every time, it's the same time. Here it is 10 a.m. Central, so no change of plans. You always know when it is. And it is with Delson and myself. Oh, I added a T in my name here. It's Enslin without the T. So Delson and Christophe, yours truly. And we'll learn there step by step how to build a giving plan, one that works for you. So it's not a one-size-fits-all thing. You get to work through exercises and worksheets and things like that, and our guidance to find something that works really for you personally, so you can experience the benefits that the Buddha just taught us, with the kind interpretation of Delson, without any worry or confusion about what, how you can do it.

So, things we'll talk about: the five days. The first day is about clarity on the type of things that you want to support, the missions that light you up. Then day number two is about finding the sustainable giving number. Finding out how much you should give. Is it one percent? Is it ten percent? Is it a hundred dollars, or is it five hundred dollars, or just one dollar, or maybe no dollar amount at all, and rather volunteering or things like that. So that's all in day number two. Day number three is for those who do plan a monetary giving plan. What would be, in the U.S., the most tax-wise vehicles? These are all wonderful abbreviations. We'll talk about all of those different options that are there that would fit you. And then in day four we have an exercise, a wonderful little community exercise, how to involve family

to build a charitable legacy, like teenage kids or even smaller kids than that, who can be involved in all of this, and actually build a better cohesion within the family. It's said, those who pray together stay together, and those who give together also stay together. So, and then finally, on day five, how to invest to grow your giving over time and make it sustainable, and maybe even perpetual, without any worries. So a couple more things. It's $70 and $97 general admission tickets, and for that you get all the course materials. You get the live main session with Delson and myself. You get 24-hour recording access. And if you want to have a little more fully immersed experience, you can choose the $297 full immersion package, with everything from general admission, the course materials, the live main sessions, recording access, but you get in addition a live practice lab after each main session, where naturally will be probably a smaller group. You can ask more questions. You can work through building your plan in more detail, again with Delson and myself.

And the recording access will not just be for 24 hours, but actually for a full year, so you have more time to review things. So that's my invitation to y'all. The details you can find here under this link, or you can make a screenshot of this QR code. So let me quickly see. Let me put this link into the chat: pionrichwealth.com/generositychallenge. And yeah, and that's it basically. I'd love for you to be part of that. We'll have another talk, a free talk coming up, two more free talks coming up. The next one is on Tuesday with Kirsten's group, about Anguttara Nikaya 8:31, the Eight Motivations for Giving, again with Delson and myself, Delson being the reader and interpreter and teacher of the Dhamma, and me giving the framework.

So that's Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Central, and looking forward to seeing you there. Do you guys have any questions? You may raise your hand or put something in the chat, and we can be here answering your questions. We have one, Sandy. Wiser beings financially, I generally auto-give, so I don't even realize when I'm giving to someone. What are your thoughts on auto-giving as opposed to in-person giving?

So, Delson, would you want to answer that, or should I begin, give my thoughts? - Yeah, I think you should start with your thoughts, and then I'll give my thoughts. - Okay. Actually, first of all, thanks Sandy for this question. There are two things going on. I think auto giving is great, because then you actually make sure that you are giving and don't forget it. And you can set it in an amount that works for you and your family.

Now, the danger in it, the risk in it, is that you forget that you're actually giving, that you forget that you're generous, that you basically become less mindful of it. So in-person giving has a higher chance that you're very mindful of it. But then you risk that you may give too little, or maybe out of the spur of the moment you give too much, and either one wouldn't be optimal. So I think maybe a good balance would be to use auto-giving and set yourself a reminder to become mindful that you're doing that. And water that seed that you have planted in your mind, that you know that you're a generous person and that you're doing the right things.

And then maybe here and there augment that with in-person giving. Yeah. So I would definitely concur with what Christophe is saying. If the auto giving is happening, you just let it be, just let it be. If it's something that's manageable for you, you know that, okay, $5 a month or $50 a month, or whatever it is, is one thing. But when you talk about in-person giving, that's something that happens right there, right there. And then you decide how much you want to give. And that's a one-time thing. That's probably just a one-time thing. As I was saying when I was reading the sutta, we have people who give to Dhammasukha on a regular basis.

They do monthly donations or whatever it is. And you will notice that when they do that, it actually does have an effect on their practice. So if you're able to do that on a monthly basis where you can give to a charity or a foundation or the Sangha, whatever it might be, notice how that affects your mind. Notice how that affects your practice and act accordingly.

Oh, this is a good one. What about when distant relatives come out of the blue and ask for money? I feel very uncomfortable with that, but I also know they only ask because they are less financially advantaged. This is an interesting one. So you have to look at and discern whether first and foremost you have the capacity to help or not. This is talking about really giving with boundaries. Just because someone is a munificent giver, lavishly give doesn't mean that they give without any regard of how much they're capable of giving or who it is that they're giving to. And how did the blue they just come and ask for money? Maybe if it's a one-time thing and if it's within your capacity, that's great. I think we all have had some point or another in our lives where a relative has come in and said we're suffering the most and they're suffering. Somebody else is watching another Dhamma talk while listening to this Dhamma talk sounds like anyway. So, so I would say, look, if it's a one-time thing

And they need, they need the money, then just go ahead and give it if it's within your capacity, but you have to work with the boundaries that you've set. Yeah. Thank you, Delson. I totally agree with that. That's the practical, a good way to go about it. Out of my viewpoint too. And that's actually one thing that we would discuss, especially in Day One and Day Two, days one and two of the challenge, to set yourself rules of how you handle difficult situations like that. Okay. Somebody asked where your book is available, Christophe. Oh, that is sweet. Let me get, it's on Amazon. Let me get... I think Sophia has already shared that link.

Let me see. Oh, she has? Yeah. Nice. Great. Thank you, Sophia. Tommy says, thank you. Sorry, I have to go. Going to my stepdaughter. Was it nice? Oh, compassion. Well, wishes met up to you and your stepdaughter. Anyone else? I think that's it. We can share some merit for having read the sutra, and we'll see you guys on Tuesday. After that, david my suffering ones be suffering free and the fear struck fearless be may the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief may all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness may beings inhabiting space and earth devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours may they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Thank you, everyone. I'll see you on Tuesday. Bye-bye. Thank you all. I'll see you Tuesday. Bye-bye, everybody.