This Dharma teaching is prompted by an email I received recently though it is a comment I’ve heard numerous time directed either to myself or other Buddhist teachers. I hesitate to bring up the particular situation except for the depth of the harm of the myth and the lie that is told to make a person feel good about themselves while trying to make me feel guilty. I will not participate in this game. As a teacher I am responsible for ensuring the Dharma is treated with respect, I am expected to maintain the treasure and keep it treasurable, and I have a responsibility to ensure those values are transmitted as important concepts and integral to the precious Dharma Jewel. I have failed. I have failed to ensure people cherish the Dharma, I have failed to ensure the Dharma is treated with respect, and I am failing to ensure those values continue on in generations to come. But I’m not failing in the way this email suggests.
The Dharma is not nor has it ever been free. There has always been a cost to pay for the existence of the Dharma and teachers to teach it. The Buddha and his merry band of men were homeless, living on land owned by the king. Today in most cities if not all cities it is a crime to be homeless, and forget about loitering long enough to teach any dharma teaching. Gathering people to listen to a Dharma teaching on the street or in a field will send chills and fears into the hearts of the better class citizens not to mention Law Enforcement and Homeland Security. I’m not joking here. The Buddha and his group had the stable society created by the presence of the king and his army to protect them from those who would steal or harm them. Today, the state would want taxes, or accountants to fill out forms, either way expensive. The authorities would tell you to move on along, you can’t preach here, keep on moving, no loitering allowed. So the police or law enforcement isn’t going to protect you, and this has nothing to do with #blm. It would just be worse for any black people hanging out with us ditty-bopping along listening to the Dharma.
There is noting free going on here, and there is no way to sustain it. It wasn’t free for the Buddha either, and it wasn’t sustainable. The Buddha would go on begging rounds during which time he would offer dharma teaching for which people made offerings. It was valuable to the people. Even if you and I laugh at the thought of receive garbage in a begging bow. Our garbage is terrible, it is filthy, not cared for, has meat that spoils, things heaped in dumpsters and so forth. The garbage received in begging was till fit for human consumption, and often it came cleaned and sorted. This was done by the people daily because they felt a connection to the teacher, they wanted him to return and they found the product he gave, the Dharma, to be of value.
So eventually a monastery was donated. Don’t get any illusions this was a splendid palace. It was not palatial nor splendid. By our standards it would be considered so far beneath the poverty level few would be willing to stay. First sleeping accommodations were little more than a body wide cell with a mat on the floor for night time sleeping, no desk, no chair, no washbasin or sink. There was no need for a closet, you would have but one set of clothes to wear anyway and they would serve as your day and your night cloths. Probably at first it was a small large meeting space. It would be small by our western standard of big personal space requirements, big by those people who do not need 3-5 clear so they don’t feel crowded. The monastery came from donations, and the land for the building and surrounding space also came from donations. I could go on and I will in a separate article which I’ll link here so you can go explore it and I can keep this article short enough to be potential not ignore.
There has been in the past in various cultures an unspoken agreement that the teacher would teach and the community would ensure it by whatever means possible it would continue. Those other means are supplying ample food, supply materials to construct, and make repairs to buildings, they included gold to be pounded to adorn statues and halls because Buddhism to them was a real treasure. Robes were often mended by lay practitioner or new ones donated out right. Only once has a lay person mended a robe for me and that was in Las Vegas where the wife of Matsuda Shonin made a quick repair on my robe while I was there providing two lectures, and no one has ever donated a robe to me, and they are not without cost.
Today there are many expenses required to be met simply to be present, not to mention doing consistent work teaching and making the teachings available. Time spent doing those activities are an expense frequently the teacher absorbs out of their own pocket. Time for me at the temple is time I’m not earning money to support my life at the most meager condition. So the cost of the Dharma gets put back on the teacher, me. To make it work, I need to work, I need to earn additional income. The same is true for most American ministers who live in the reality that there is nothing free about the Dharma and yet they freely give, while practitioners freely take, freely steel.
Steel is a rather harsh sounding word for me to use I suppose some would say. Let’s look at the reality though as an invitation to those to provide a more accurate word.
Every service, every lecture, every ceremony I perform there are people who come with the expectation it will happen, that it will represent Buddhism, and that it will be reliable. People expect this temple and myself to perform, to provide content, to provide Buddhism. They not only expect this they want it mostly on their unique customized schedule. If they don’t feel like attending regardless of the excuse they simply don’t attend. Yet attend or not the content is expected. In the temple the majority of people do not leave any donation at all. They come they take and they leave nothing behind to ensure it will be here next time they feel like coming.
Also is the expectation that recordings be provided so they can be watched later, at leisure, in their comfortable situation at a time convenient to them. And people don’t even pay for that. They take and they expect and they do not donate. It is perfectly acceptable to people to consume content without any financial support. That my readers is little more than theft. While not theft of a fixed priced item, it is certainly theft of a priceless treasure. People say Buddhism is important to them, people say it is valuable. That is what they say with hollow voices and shallow beliefs. What the actions manifest is the teaching is worthless, not worth time or money, not worth any expression of appreciation that would ensure it continue.
So either the teachings, their availability, their accessibility are important and valuable or they are not. Currently, universally, they are not worth crap. That is the message I receive every day loud and clear.
I am surprised that this thing people say they value isn’t worth making a donation for. Every day people read my content, some also watch YouTube videos, and many have listened to my Podcasts. The numbers are in the 10s of thousands of views, listens, and reads. Donations for all of that are virtually zero. Yes, occasionally, rarely, someone will make a small one-time donation. I appreciate that I sincerely do.
It isn’t enough to even make a dent in the true cost or to ensure this effort continues. It is not sustainable by me. I have tried all I know how to do and still people abuse the teachings of the Dharma by showing they are of no value and not worth supporting regularly and consistently. I have one person a Catholic, not converted to Buddhism, doesn’t join in with services regularly and still makes a regular monthly donation. Why does he do this, even though he lives and supports a family on a teacher’s salary? His reason to me was it is important to do what he could to make sure this valuable product, this valuable commodity, this valuable teaching be available. He gets it and he isn’t even a Buddhist, when most Buddhist don’t come close and instead offer up “freely given Dharma” or the “Dharma should be free.” There is one Rabbi who makes occasional donations, the Buddha is surely smiling at these people. I’m not so sure about those who consume and don’t even leave a few dollars in the PayPal bucket.
In Southeast Asian countries all day long you hear the sound of coins being tossed in wooden boxes in front of temple buildings. These coins come from practitioners and non-practitioners alike. All day long these coins, most of which are worth more than $1.00, are being tossed. Here, all day long, day after day, service after service, lecture after lecture, video after video, podcast after podcast, and blog read after blog read – – only silence. Not barely a penny, much less a dollar. The people of Southeast Asian Buddhist countries know the Dharma isn’t fee, and they live a life of manifesting the congruency of their belief through the actions of donations. There is no congruency in most American practitioners. The actions of the practitioners do not match up with what comes out of the mouth.
This chorus of “free Dharma” is a lie people tell themselves to make it acceptable to do nothing or to do only a little, while expecting the teacher to give everything and more and pay for it themselves. I have found many Buddhist to be very stingy people willing to complain at the slightest hint of money. Yet the tax man, the water company, the electric company, the gas company, the internet company (by the way the only reason I have the quality of internet I do is strictly for the temple – I don’t own a TV and have no personal use for the capacity I do have in order to provide what I do provide), all of those people and more allow no excuses for not getting their money. The yard maintenance people I’ve had to employ because of health reasons and because there is no one else to maintain the temple yard on a regular basis want their money. Every time I go to the grocery store I am not allowed to leave unless I pay my bill. The Dharma isn’t free to me. My training and the training every priest receives costs something, it isn’t free. Many remove themselves from any revenue producing endeavor so they can devote time and effort to the training and complete it in a reasonable amount of time.
We all do this willingly and freely of spirit. We continue to do this freely, but that doesn’t mean it is free without cost. As a teacher I am responsible to ensure the Dharma is treasured. I am failing in that. I am not fulfilling my role and responsibility to the Dharma if I allow the idea that the Dharma is of no value and worthless. If I allow people to treat the Dharma so cheaply they won’t even make a donation in appreciation for its availability I have failed to convey the treasure of the jewel. I freely give my effort and I am responsible to do so with skill and wisdom to fulfill the command of the Buddha to enable all people to attain enlightenment. I am failing.
I am failing not because I don’t make things free or because I don’t remove copyrights from my publications. I am failing not because I charge people for my books. No I am failing because I allow people to see the Dharma as something so worthless they won’t even make a donation for the teachings they receive.
I wonder why it is so easy for people to read a blog, watch a video, listen to a recording and think nothing of walking away and not making a donation. There is no excuse for the temple’s PayPal button not to be posting all the time day after day, yet only a couple of times a month does an extra donation come in. I am failing in teaching you the pricelessness of the teaching you take. I am allowing you to slander the Lotus Sutra.
Is it not worth even a dollar for every time you read, listen, or watch some Buddhist teaching, mine or someone else’s? Is the Dharma that worthless to you? How is it then possible to even believe it is important, or meaningful, or something you really want to see continue? There is a real disconnect there, a hypocrisy if you will. If it is valuable, then not making a donation is theft.
My most popular book world wide is the Lotus Sutra Practice Guide. It was my promise to myself to make available a free option even while offering it for sale. I have continued to make it available on line in its original format. I will continue to make it available in that format. I do that freely and willingly not because I am obligated to do so. In fact, I had to negotiate with the publisher to continue to have a free digital version even while selling the same content. I didn’t have to do that, I did it freely and willingly from my heart and from a place of integrity that I do my best to make the Dharma accessible. I am not bound by any scripture, or vow, or otherwise to give it away, much less pay out of my pocket so people can use it freely, yet I do. I am not bound by any scripture, or vow, or otherwise to make it any easier or more convenient for people to use a free copy. I am also not bound by any scripture, or vow, or otherwise to turn every thing I create over to public domain so it will be available for anyone to use as they wish. At least in Nichiren Buddhism that would be unprecedented in modern time. It would also be a slander of the Dharma given the cultural practice of treating it as a valueless content not worthy of making any donation at all.
So in order to do the best I can to ensure the continued spread of the Dharma long after I am dead the copyright will be maintained by my estate. It will be up to them to use their wisdom to decide how best to proceed. Of course I will be dead, long burned and turned to ashes. I’ll know nothing and will have no say beyond this lifetime. These are my words today for today.
The royalties I receive from book sales are a small amount and only enable me to work less at the hospital. Without the book sales I would have less time to provide content which people feel free to take freely without any consideration of value. They don’t even cover the cost of food. I’m being more open here than I am required to be. I do this because the idea of Dharma freely given and free Dharma are a perversion and are harmful to the heart and intent of the Dharma. They are ideas that will do more to destroy the Dharma than anything else I can currently think of. And it continues even as people complain there aren’t enough teachers or temples.
My books I honestly admit are probably only second or third rate books. I know that, and you know it as well. I’ve not ever tried to fool anyone into thinking they are great publications. They are my best attempt at teaching the Dharma in a relevant, meaningful, culturally appropriate way so people can actually figure out how to do this very difficult thing of attaining enlightenment. At best they are place holders for someone to fill with superior writings. And gosh darn it when that person comes along I want them to have the resources to write and write and teach and teach. The only way that will happen is if today people realize it is valuable, important, and worth investing in for the future. Giving stuff away, making everything free is not just about how I meet expenses to keep doing this. It is also about ensuring the Dharma will be taught in the future so that better writer will have a teaching to base his work on. I believe this, and this is what is in my heart.
In closing let me address the notion that the burden is too heavy for small groups of people. That is simply not true. The truth is currently in several instances the burden is being carried by one person, the priest. It is apparent that the burden of significant and continued reliable support is only a burden if someone other than the priest has to carry it. There is no large corporate sponsor, there is no secret benefactor. The new temples are primarily self funded which means you get what that priest is able to afford out of their own pocket. Donations at this temple have never met expenses, not once in over 7 years have donations come close to covering what it costs to keep this going. I could shut this down right now and I would be better of financially. This I do freely, but not without cost. And yet it is a burden too great for only two or three people to share. I wonder, could we call this a lie people tell themselves to feel better? Yet the expectation is I will keep it going, I will keep it going after I am dead, I will provide content, and I will give it away all for nothing. No that would be me slandering the Dharma, and it is a misunderstanding of the teachings of the Dharma to have those expectations.
