THE ANUD¢PAN¢
prompts giving; the material thing is
dÈna
because it is suitable thing to give.
3. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTIONS, MANIFESTATION AND
PROXIMATE CAUSES OF DŒNA
(a)
DÈna
has the characteristic of abandoning (
lakkhaÓa
).
(b)
Its function (
kicca-rasa
) is destruction of attachment to objects of offering; or it
has the property of faultlessness (
sampatti-rasa
).
(c)
Its manifestation is absence of attachment i.e. a sense of freedom from attachment
that appears in the mind of the donor, or knowing that
dÈna
is conducive to good
destination and wealth, i.e. on thinking of the effects of giving, the donor senses
that his act of generosity will result in attainment of rebirth in the human or deva-
world and attainment of great wealth.
(d)
The proximate cause of giving is having objects of offering in one’s possession.
Without having anything to give, there can be no act of charity, only imagining
that one gives. Thus objects to be offered are the proximate cause of
DÈna
.
4. HOW MANY TYPES OF DŒNA ARE THERE
The subject to be dealt with under this topic is quite vast as it entails considerable
exercise of mental alertness and intelligence to study them.
Types of DÈna in Groups of Twos
1. Œmisa/Dhamma DÈna
Offering of material things (Œmisa-dÈna) and the gift of the Teaching (Dhamma-dÈna).
(a) Offering of material things, such as alms-rice, etc., is known as
Œmisa-dÈna
. It is also
called
Paccaya dÈna
(when the things offered are the requisites of
bhikkhus
).
Teaching the Buddha Dhamma in the form of talks, lectures, etc. is giving the gift of
Dhamma. The Buddha said that this is the noblest of all types of
dÈna
. (This classification
of
dÈna
into two types is made according to the objects of offering.)
In relation to this division of types of
dÈna
, it is necessary to look into the question of
what type of
dÈna
accrues to one who erects pagodas and statues of Buddha.
There are some who maintain that although erecting of pagodas and statues of Buddha
involves relinquishing of large amount of wealth, it cannot be an act of generosity (
dÈna
),
because they say, for an act of giving to become
dÈna
, three conditions must be fulfilled:
(1) there must be a recipient, (2) there must be an object for offering and (3) there must be
a donor. In erecting pagodas and statues of Buddha, there is obviously the donor, but who
receives his gift, they asked. In the absence of anyone to receive the gift, how can it be an
act of generosity (
dÈna
).
From their point of view, the pagodas and Buddha statues are not objects to be given as
an act of
dÈna
but rather, they serve as aids to recollection of the attributes of the Buddha.
A builder of pagodas and Buddha statues has no particular receiver in mind to give them
away. He builds them to help produce vivid visualization of the Buddha in the mind of the
devotees so as to enable them to practise the Recollection of the Virtues of the Buddha. It
should, therefore, be considered, they maintain, that erecting pagodas and Buddha statues is
related to the BuddhÈnussati Meditation, cultivation of the Recollection of the Virtues of
the Buddha, and is not act of generosity.
There are, again, some people who maintain that as the person, who builds pagodas and
installs Buddha statues, undertakes these works in order to honour, to make homage to the
most Homage-Worthy Buddha, his act must be considered as an act of honouring the
Buddha (
apacÈyana
), one of the ten qualities contributing to merit (
puÒÒakiriya-vatthu
).
They further say that since this kind of merit, namely, honouring those who are worthy of
honour, is a practice of morality (
cÈritta-sÊla
), it should come under (observance of)
sÊla
and not under (cultivation of) BuddhÈnussati Meditation.
But neither the merit of BuddhÈnussati Meditation nor the merit of honouring