Rebecca Yakumei Ryan Roshi was raised in the Lutheran faith. She notes that in the Christian tradition, believers are told to follow the Ten Commandments — rules handed down by God about what NOT to do. Buddhism has something that, at first glance, looks similar: the paramitas. But they're not commandments. They're qualities that arise naturally through training. And the one at the top of the list isn't meditation, isn't wisdom, isn't patience. It's generosity. Why would that be first? And how does our training enable generosity?
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