When you drink water, remember where it comes from. If the water runs out, you can always go back to its source and get more. When you benefit from Dharma teachings, you should be grateful to the Three Jewels ─ Buddha, Dharma, Sangha ─ because that is where they come from. Without gratitude, the benefit you gain today will be gone tomorrow.

You have to be willing to offer what you consider most precious. What is most precious depends on the person. In Sakyamuni's time, there was a poor woman who had only one chipped bowl. She begged for oil and burned it as an offering to the Buddha. Rich men offered thousands of lanterns, but Sakyamuni said that the woman's offering was the most precious in the world, because she offered the only thing she had.

Furthermore, making offerings is not as important for the recipient as it is for the donor. Buddha does not care if you give him anything. Neither do the Three Jewels, patriarchs and masters. Recently, someone told me, "Shih-fu, I'd really like to offer you something in order to show my gratitude for your teaching, but it seems like you don't need anything, so I'll just thank you instead."

I said, "Making offerings is for your benefit, not mine. It's your affair. It has nothing to do with me."