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Thank you for looking through the site. If you would like to find out more than please contact the teachers listed below :
If you wish to contact the site author then you are welcome to complete the form below, but please consider my note below entitled, The Economy of the Gift. Thank you...
Economy of the Gift
In 2011, I attended a Buddhist retreat taught by an ex-Buddhist Australian monk and felt inspired by his commitment to maintaining his Buddhist precepts while living as a married lay teacher. This included the precept of not receiving money that isn't freely given.
My own name for this is the "Economy of the Gift". One person gives, acts, makes effort or works, however it is viewed because it comes naturally to them from their own inner response to the situation at that time. Their being wants to do it and is moved.
The response can be with total exertion i.e. one can put ones heart and soul into it, in an authentic natural way, because no energy is spent in tying the effort made, to achieving a conditioned response in return i.e. to get paid.
This doesn't mean that the 'giver' doesn't need to receive in return, to survive in the economic society that we live in right now, but that no effort has been made in trying to control or coerce the receiver with some kind of set of conditions or value placed on the gift before it can be given and received.
The natural response to receiving benefit from the efforts of another, even if it was given without awareness of the individual recipient might be gratitude and so their is an invitation for a gift to be made in return.
The return gift though is a response to the inner feeling of gratitude and not directly to the initial effort made by the original giver, so creating two unconditioned acts, which leaves both parties able to celebrate the unity and creative freedom of giving and receiving to and from life. This for me is the "economy of the gift".
I'm interested to try this for part of my work at least and so there is a Paypal 'Donate' button below. Donate isn't the right word, but it will do until I am able to rename it to "Economy of the Gift".
Thank you...