Joy of Selfless Service

By Vijaya Samarawickrama

When we reflect on the lives of the Buddha both in his long career as a Bodhisatta as well as the Enlightened One, the unique characteristic that stands out is his selfless service to all beings. In the very first story which marks his career as a Buddha-to-be until his last life as King Vessantara (before he was born as Prince Siddhartha), he gave away all his possessions for the benefit of others. Even as a Buddha his primary concern was to bring to humanity the ultimate bliss of Nibbāna.

The Buddha gained nothing personally by serving others, but he did it out of his deep compassion and his determination to end the suffering of all beings. Therefore we can say that if we want to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, then we must selflessly serve all those who share this planet with us out of love and compassion. In this service we leave out no one: the long, the short, and the middling, the seen and the unseen, the strong and the weak. There is none whom we cannot serve.

One of the persistent misconceptions of Buddhism created either deliberately or through ignorance is that it is a passive religion which encourages its followers to turn their backs on society and selfishly follow a path of self deliverance. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact if one wants to be a Buddhist then one must begin by serving others to reduce and finally eliminate the illusion that one has a permanent self, which is why we call it selfless service.

A Buddhist is one who, while actively working to purify his or her own mind, also ceaselessly works for the welfare of others, to reduce suffering at all costs. This noble aspiration is embodied in the Bodhisatta ideal in which the disciple vows to serve others while at the same time working towards self perfection. One cannot call oneself a Buddhist without actively working to relieve the suffering of others. This ideal arises out of the realization that all beings, humans and non-humans, are interconnected and one can only gain happiness by making others around one happy as well. One’s own happiness depends on destroying the selfish ego by concerning oneself with the welfare of others. This happiness is generated through the practice of Dāna, or liberality. It is said that through dāna one completely empties oneself of the ego-illusion, just like a pot full of water is completely emptied when it is upturned.

Giving can be of three kinds: through the sharing of material things, through spreading fearlessness (as when tending to the sick, the disabled or the needy), and through teaching the Dhamma which leads to Perfect Happiness. A bodhisatta, one who has embarked upon the journey to perfection, practises selfless service in these three ways over countless lifetimes, just as the Buddha had done in the past.

One way of performing Dāna to perfection is by offering one’s services to society. Usually when we think of serving others, it is by dona- ting sums of money for charitable purposes. But one need not spend money to serve. One of the best ways of serving is to give freely of one’s time and energy. There are so many ways in which we can help - by volunteering to bring comfort and cheer to those who are less fortunate than ourselves: for example, by helping out at orphanages and old-folks’ homes, by visiting the sick in hospitals and retirement homes, and so on.

All the actions we perform with willful intention are called kamma. There are different types of kamma, such as kusala, akusala, and puñña kamma. Kusala kamma is any action which we perform with wisdom, with the sole aim of destroying our ego and attaining Nibbāna. Such actions are deemed ‘skilful’. On the other hand, when we act out of ignorance, with the illusion that there is an “I” which acts, and when there are selfish motives based on greed, these are termed akusala - unskilful, and they bring unwholesome results. Finally, we have puñña kamma which may be beneficial actions but which are performed in expectation of a reward. They may ensure good results in the short term, as with favourable rebirths, but may delay our attainment of Nibbāna.

Now obviously it is ideal when we perform services to others, with no other motive than the eradication of the ego-belief and with compassion. These actions cannot frustrate us because we do not expect any gratitude or recognition. Whatever we do, we learn from the teachings of the Buddha that we must act with wisdom, gearing all our actions to the attainment of Nibbāna. In that way, we help others at the same time that we help ourselves. This is the way of Buddhism!