The Second Treatise on the Perfections – 2657
It will produce wealth, but its beneficial results will not be in great
abundance and will not come at the time needed.
4. Gifts
made perfunctorily (
ananuggaha-dāna
) without intention of
assisting or doing honour to the recipient.
One may reap riches and wealth out of such deeds, but one will not be
disposed to enjoy his wealth, or he may be denied the occasion to enjoy
them.
5. Gifts
made in such a way that it will affect, in some way, one’s dignity
or the dignity of others (
upaghāta-dāna
).
Wealth and riches may accrue from such gifts,
but they will be subject to
damage or destruction by the five enemies.
In view of the gifts at the appropriate time (
kāla-dāna
) and the gifts at the
inappropriate time (
akāla-dāna
) mentioned above, it should be well noted that it
is improper to make offerings, even with the best of intentions, of light to the
Buddha during the day when there is light, or of food when it is afternoon.
Five Kinds of Immoral Gifts
The Summary (
Parivāra
) of the Basket of Discipline (
Vinaya-piṭaka
) mentions
five kinds of giving which are commonly and conventionally called by people
deeds of merit, but which are nothing but harmful, demeritorious forms of
offering. They are:
1. A gift of intoxicants (
majja-dāna
).
2. A holding of festivals (
samajja-dāna
).
3. Provision of prostitutes for sexual enjoyment (
itthi-dāna
).
4. Dispatch of bulls into a herd of cows for mating (
usabha-dāna
).
5. Drawing and offering of pornographic pictures (
citta-kamma-dāna
).
The Buddha described these forms of offering as immoral, demeritorious gifts
because they cannot be accompanied by good intentions or wholesome volitions.
Some people think that by providing opium to an addicted person who is nearing
death because of withdrawal from the drug, they are doing a meritorious deed
of giving life (
jīvita-dāna
). As a matter of fact, this does not constitute an act of
merit because it is an unwholesome consciousness that motivates one to offer