I was wrapping up a beautiful Vietnamese Mother and Child painting for my yoga teacher who is expecting a baby soon. I felt a pinge of stingyness, as this one, was a painting I enjoyed in my home for many years. Dismissed this fairly easy, knowing that I felt this would a great gift for such a kind soul. It was truly my intention to give her something as important as her presence has been in classes. Always consistent, never a surprise and her classes were calming. She feels to me to be a meditator, but maybe just her karma. One day, I said to a few friends in class that her baby will be just as sweet as she is. That baby will be so lucky! She has been teaching nearly right up to her due date. Tomorrow is last class before she delivers...and hope she is there. Dana can be the food you give the monks, the money to a temple, a helping hand to a stranger or volunteering in your hospital. In my photograph, Alang got flowers along with food on our morning Alms round. Cultivating generosity through dana is one perfection I still have not quite mastered as evident by the feelings I had earlier. Still learning.
The six perfections are:
Dana paramita, perfection of giving
Shila paramita, perfection of discipline
Kshanti paramita, perfection of patience
Virya paramita, perfection of exertion
Dhyana paramita, perfection of meditation
Prajna paramita, perfection of wisdom
2 comments:
Update, I found out that she is having a boy...and the image on the painting was a boy!
thank you for todays thought
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