Question

I hear you both say "give without expecting anything in return". Isn't the good Kamma that comes to us our reward for giving?

Answer

Yes. But, to a certain degree, expect Dukkha. Expect it everywhere, any time, any place, anybody, anyhow. Even when you give, expect Dukkha. As to the Law of Kamma - giving, being generous is going to have good results, but we don't know when the good results are going to come. We actually don't know. It might be straight away, that we see the results straight away. It might be tomorrow. According to Buddhism, it may not even be in this lifetime.

So if you are giving with wanting something in return, expecting something in return, well, you're giving with wanting. That's not the best way to give. Give without expecting anything in return. Give because you want to give. Give because you know it's so nice. Give because it'd be wonderful if everybody on this planet gave.

What would it be like if everybody on the planet gave just two hours a week? If every adult, especially in the West, could afford two hours. Turn off the TV for a little while, give two hours. What would it actually be like? I think I figured it out once, it's 40 million full-time charity workers for the planet. Maybe the numbers have changed now, I don't know, but wouldn't that be nice! 40 million people doing something for free!! 40 hours a week, like me and Rosemary, like the assistants, wouldn't that be nice? Yes! So when we give, we don't want to expect something in return, even though the teaching says, yes, doing good Kamma, you will get good in return. But the expecting is what we want to get rid of, expecting something in return. When we get something beneficial in return that's nice, that's a bonus.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.