Afterwards, one of my disciples said, “Now you’ re in trouble. He’ s going to want something in return.” Sure enough, the man came back and again offered the piece of land. It turned out that he owned a large, expensive cemetery, part of which would have been included in the land donation. He hoped that in exchange for this donation, we would take care of the cemetery, and that sangha members would pray and chant for the deceased. This, he felt, would attract more burials and increase his reputation and income. I said, “I don’ t care to have your land and you can have your money back if you want it. But if you allow us to keep the donation, realize it is not mine personally. It belongs to a non-profit organization.” In the end, he did not take back his donation.

One of the directors of the institute was confused. He said, “I don’ t understand. As part of their practice, monks and nuns would have naturally chanted and prayed at the cemetery anyway. We could have had more land.” I answered, “Yes, we need money and land, but we do not want anything with strings attached. Otherwise it’ s a double-edged sword that causes suffering on both sides. Asking for things in a covetous way will cause vexation; and accepting things from people with ulterior motives will also cause affliction. That is not the path to liberation.”

As a practitioner, you should avoid carrying a tail that you must drag around and will encumber you. You will be forever catching it in doors. When receiving a gift, accept it with thanks and gratitude; that is enough. If you feel a need to pay something back, do it by helping others and expect nothing in return. I pay back my benefactors by trying to help all sentient beings. This is not having a tail. Not leaving traces behind is one of the aspects of liberation and is a special quality of bodhisattvas.

Many people contribute to our Chan Meditation Center. In fact, because of our fund-raising projects we were able to purchase a retreat center in the countryside of upstate New York. In return, we are helping our donors by using our new retreat center to help people who want to practice. If I felt that I personally owed each of these donors, I would have to spend all my time trying to pay them back. That would amount to a very long tail.