We recently honoured Sally Hopkins, who gave herself unstintingly to our sangha, and, in a couple of weeks, will honour Tony Coote, who gave so much to create Kodoji, our wilderness retreat centre. So, Gilly explores the concept of Dana, the Sanskrit word for giving or relinquishment. Dana is the first of the Ten Perfections, or Paramitas, the others being Shila – morality, Kshanti – forebearance, Virya – zeal, Dhyana – settled, focused meditation, Prajna – wisdom, Upaya – compassion and Pranidhana – aspiration. They are the subject of Aitken Roshi’s book, “The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from a Zen Buddhist Perspective”. She also talks about the sometimes difficult path of receiving.

This talk was given by Gillian Coote, roshi at the SZC July 2023 zazenkai