Part 2.1 - Dāna Pāramītā (charity) in the Jātakas

‘Dāna’ literally means giving or offering one’s possessions with pure mind for the welfare of others. A real donor does not give through fear or shame and never repents for his charity. He gives voluntarily, realizing the Kamma and Vipāka -the cause and effect. As a result of his noble deeds of charity, he will enjoy a happy, fortunate and prosperous life.

We see in the Vessantara Jātaka (No. 547)^[1], Bodhisattva was born in the womb of queen Phusati. She was the Chief Consort of King Sañjaya. She had a strong desire to do charity during her pregnancy. So the King built six dānasālā. There the Queen Phusati gave alms to beggars, the poor and the monks. Every day she spends almost six hundred thousand Kāhāpaṇas. Once she gave birth to a son, Vessantara. The King appointed sixty nurses to look after the Prince. When the Prince was only five years old the King made a necklace worth a thousand Kāhāpaṇas. But one day the Prince gave his valuable necklace to a nurse due to a strong desire to practise Charity. In this way the king made nine necklaces and each time the Prince gave it away. And secondly we know once in the kingdom of Kaliṅga, there was a great famine and severe drought. The people requested the king Vessantara that his white elephant considered of good omen, be brought to Kaliṅga. The king Vessantara agreed and presented the elephant to the people of Kaliṅga. Vessantara requested his father’s permission to perform ‘Satta Satika Dāna’ (i.e. offerings of material things each upto a limit of seven hundred). One day Sakka Devarāja invited Vessantara with his family for a grand celebration in the Himālayas where Sakka built a hermitage for them to stay. Vessantara went together with his Queen Māddī and two children. Before reaching their hermitage, he gladly dispensed with his four horses and a chariot to a certain Brāhmin who asked for them. At last they reached their destination. 

Once Sakka Devarāja tested his degree of charity in Vessantara, Sakka by disguising himself as a Brāhmin. “Eventually, king Vessantara whose whole intention was to do charity, had to give away his two children to an old Brāhmin—Jujaka who wanted them to assist his wife at the house chores. Then the Brāhmin asked for his wife. Vessantara was perforce to depart his wife to the Brahmin, but the latter gracefully returned the Queen to king Vessantara. In this way, our Bodhisattva practised Dāna Pāramītā to the highest degree of perfection.