Читать книгу Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1) - Aryashura - Страница 24

Different types of gift are given by the Bodhi·sattva, including wealth and even his own body. Due to its transient nature, wealth is depicted negatively as a source of greed and attachment, which ascetics discard “as though it were chaff” (7.8). But while wealth is considered worthless, the act of giving is sometimes described as extracting the “essence” or “worth” (sara) out of wealth:²¹

Wealth itself is essenceless and trifling.

Its essence lies in being given by benefactors of the world.

When given, it becomes a treasure.

When ungiven, it ends only in loss.(2.91 [50])

This “essence” or “treasure” is merit, often portrayed as a purified, more permanent form of wealth, which, unlike material riches, can be taken to the next life:

Wealth must one day be left behind

and then it is of no use.

By giving up one’s wealth correctly,

one produces a kind of asset.(3.32. [20])

You should give to the virtuous,

gracing your gift with reverence.

For wealth deposited this way

cannot be lost and follows you after death. (9.70 [29])

Reiko Ohnuma (2007: 205ff.) has observed a similar theme when the body is given away. In such stories, the Bodhi·sattva is often said to make use of an otherwise useless and impure body by giving it away and thereby extracting its “essence” (8.71 [33]).