Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I had an experience just now that gave me pause and about which I’m still unsure what to do. As you may know, I am attempting to help raise funds for a mae chee in need f dental work (https://www.gofundme.com/maechee-khanti-dental-funds) and posted the link to a number of Buddhist groups on Facebook of which I am a member. I naturally assumed that Buddhists and people otherwise inclined to goodness would appreciate the opportunity to give. I was wrong. The post was deleted for being fundraising and I resigned from the group.

Why? I certainly was hurt by the fact that an appeal to generosity was condemned out of hand but what do I expect? This is the world we live in. Perhaps I acted rashly and allowed my hurt and resentment get the better of me. For now I need to sit with the words of one of the admins of the group who messaged me later with the following:

I am sorry that you did not understand that and left the xxxx xxxxx in such a judgmental and angry way. Maybe in the future you might want to ask a group Admin for an explanation first. Also you might want to spend some more time meditating about your own practice before criticising others. May the wisdom of the Buddha come to you soon.

Yes, I still have work to do. May we all work to overcome our defilements and quickly make an end to suffering. In the meantime, please find a booklet on dana written by Bhante Piyadhammo Bhikkhu here: Power of Dana