RESOURCEFULNESS

Building up confidence and joy in your own richness is the essence of generosity. It is the sense of resourcefulness, that you can deal with whatever is available around you and not feel poverty-stricken. Even if you are abandoned in the middle of a desert and you want a pillow, you can find a piece of rock with moss on it that is quite comfortable to put your head on. Then you can lie down and have a good sleep. Having such a sense of resourcefulness and richness seems to be the main point. Practicing that resourcefulness and richness, or generosity, is the way to become mahayanists, practitioners of the great vehicle of Buddhism. >From "Transformation of Bad Circumstances," in TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING-KINDNESS, page 64. Shambhala Library Edition.