In India, teachings have always been given on a donation basis. It is a great tradition which has a lot to its credit. For example, it allows people with less money not to be excluded by a high fixed price. Everybody is welcome, and their gratitude will be expressed according to their means.
It also puts us in the situation of having to assess the value of things, the way we spend our money and the systems we support by this.
And last but not least, this tradition open the door to the possibility of being generous, and to thousands of questions that emerge from that. For example, it never is easy at the end of a retreat to estimate the value of what we received, therefore of what we want to give for it.
Contradictory points of view emerge in us – generous or egocentric, realistic or not… All these impulses, these inner fights about how much we finally will drop in the little box, reflect our movements of opening and closing when facing life. There is a lot to learn in living andobserving them. This path frees a natural generosity otherwise often trapped by egocentrism and our fear of being taken advantage of. We are the first beneficiaries of this freeing.
This natural generosity is not crazy, it is the fruit of a deep love for life and of being conscious of what it needs to evolve soundly, and it also takes into account our actual means.
For all these reasons, Dharma Nature wishes to perpetuate this tradition. It is a big challenge, especially in the West where life is expensive and the amounts of money involved are bigger than in India. The future will tell us if this is really possible.
If you who are reading these lines think like us that it is needed to keep the meditation teachings accessible to all, trusting that each individual’s generosity will be enough to take care of the world of money that comes with, then your support is very welcome.