Giving is bu-shi in Chinese transliteration: bu, literally, cloth, substantial

and influential when unfurling to cover and protect, and shi, giving what

we have to another as needed, anything from tangible substance to

formless energy.

Boosting another, whether financially, materially, or in spirit, is an act of

giving, of benefiting. The Buddhist interpretation of giving is threefold:

giving of wealth, giving of the Dharma, and giving of courage.

First, giving of wealth, lending financial rescue to another, falls into two

categories: external wealth and internal wealth. External wealth includes

On expounding the meanings of names and appearances

jewelry, clothing, food, land, houses, and animals, and internal wealth,

head and eyes, skin and bones, teeth and hair, hands and feet, brain

and marrow, and parts of the body;

Second, giving of the Dharma pertains to telling and expounding for

another the Dharma and relevant knowledge; and

Third, giving of courage, literally, fearlessness, pertains to employing

different methods to help end the anxiety, misery, disappointment,

crisis, and dread of another.