Helping Haiti: Why?

"If living beings knew the fruit and final reward of generosity and the distribution of gifts, as I know them, then they would not eat their food without giving to others and sharing with others, even if it were their last morsel and mouthful. If they should meet a person who is worthy of receiving a gift, selfishness would not abide in their hearts."

-- The Buddha (Avadana Jataka)

Haiti, which is next to the richest nation in the world, is one of the poorest (arguably the poorest). Their juxtaposition and proximity is not coincidental. Haiti is kept in slave-like conditions. That's what we as a nation do around the world. The profit goes does not go only to us. A tiny fraction goes to a few well-educated and installed Haitian businessmen/politicians, a power elite. Their self-interest as they sell their people out is stoked by Americans, goaded by American firms, and enforced by the CIA and other economic gatekeepers. (That's how wealth and might are wielded by empires).

HOW TO HELP HAITI

For us to be rich, the vast majority of the world's people are kept dirt poor. Haiti is particularly bad in that it has a history of being left desolate -- from time to time, as covered by Wisdom Quarterly, subsisting by eating mud as food.

But why give? The Buddha is reputed to have said that a beggar or person need is potentially one's best friend. Why? That person provides the opportunity for the making of a great deal of merit (puñña). Merit, or profitable karma, is remarkably valuable in Samsara and exceedingly rare.

There are not many worlds given over to making merit. In some, such as Haiti and Hades, the suffering is such that people do not get the chance. In others, such as the US and Japan, the luxury is such that it does not frequently occur to beings to make merit for the future. The Buddha praised giving (dana), second only to meditation, as a wellspring of good karma.

The Motivation for Giving
The sutras record various motives for exercising generosity. The Numerical Discourses (AN.iv,236) lists the following eight motives:

1. One gives with annoyance, or as a way of offending the recipient, or with the idea of insulting the person.
2. Fear motivates a person to make an offering.
3. One gives in return for a favor done to oneself in the past.
4. One also may give with the hope of getting a similar favor for oneself in the future.
5. One gives because giving is considered good.
6. "I cook; they do not cook. It is improper for me who cooks not to give to those who do not cook." Some give urged by such altruistic motives.
7. Some give alms to gain a good reputation.
8. Still others give alms to adorn and beautify the mind.

Favoritism (chanda), ill-will (dosa), and delusion (moha) are also listed as motives for giving. Sometimes alms are given for the sake of maintaining a long-standing family tradition. Desire to be reborn in heaven after death is another strong motive. Giving pleases some, and they give with the idea of winning a happy frame of mind (A.iv, 236).

• with the expectation of getting
• to gain a good reputation
• to adorn the mind

One is inferior and will not produce excellent results. The other is middling. The third, giving with the thought of helping others (as one helps oneself) is an excellent motive! The misguided notion that only pure altruism is of value is incorrect and harmful, since it leads people not to give. Give because it feels good, and give again. Better than giving is encouraging others to give as one gives. Even with inferior motives, the result is good.

Merit grows for one who gives; no enmity builds up for one restrained; one skilled abandons unskillful deeds; with greed, anger, and delusion exhausted, one attains release, a final of suffering (Verses of Uplift, Udana 8.5).

• All About Giving (accesstoinsight.org)
• Reasons for Giving (urbandharma.org)
• The Perfection of Giving
• What is the giving of "alms"?
• Int'l Buddhist disaster relief: TzuChi.org