Alms
As shown in Lama Tsong Khapa's 'The Abbreviated Points of the Graded Path' (Wylie: lam-rim bsdus-don): Total willingness to give is the wish-granting gem for fulfilling the hopes of wandering beings.
It leads to bodhisattva conduct that enhances self-confidence and courage, And is the basis for universal proclamation of your fame and repute.
Realizing this, the wise rely, in a healthy manner, on the outstanding path Of (being ever-willing) to offer completely their bodies, possessions, and positive potentials.
It is closer to a symbolic connection to the spiritual realm and to show humbleness and respect in the presence of the secular society.
As the Buddha has stated: Householders & the homeless or charity [monastics] in mutual dependence both reach the true Dhamma....
Money cannot be accepted by a Theravadan Buddhist monk or nun in place of or in addition to food, as the Patimokkha training rules make it an offense worth forfeiture and confession.
In China, Korea, and Japan, local cultures resisted the idea of giving food to 'begging' clerics, and there was no tradition of gaining 'merit' by donating to practitioners.
Competition with other religions for support also made daily practice difficult and even dangerous; the first Buddhist monks in the Silla dynasty of Korea were said to be beaten due to their minority at the time.
Such care for the poor was to be understood as love for God, who, in the person of Jesus Christ, sacrificed himself for the salvation of believers.
In some churches, the alms are placed near to the altar to symbolize that the offering belongs to God and to represent the unity of the congregation.
[e] The offertory is the traditional moment in the Roman Catholic Mass, Lutheran Divine Service, and Anglican Eucharist, when alms are collected.
[12][13] Some fellowships practice regular giving for special purposes called "love offerings" for the poor, destitute or victims of catastrophic loss such as home fires or medical expenses.
Sharing possessions was practised in the church: Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
[16] Dāna has been defined in traditional texts as any action of relinquishing the ownership of what one considered or identified as one's own, and investing the same in a recipient without expecting anything in return.
[17] While dāna is typically given to one person or family, Hinduism also discusses charity or giving aimed at public benefit, which is sometimes called utsarga.
[19][20] The 11th century Persian historian Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, who visited and lived in India for 16 years beginning in about 1017 CE, mentions the practice of charity and almsgiving among Hindus as he observed during his stay.
[24] Kohler states that these scholars of Hinduism suggest that charity is most effective when it is done with delight, a sense of "unquestioning hospitality", where the dāna ignores the short term weaknesses as well as the circumstances of the recipient and takes a long-term view.
[28][29] The dāna the temples received from Hindus were used to feed people in distress as well as fund public projects such as irrigation and land reclamation.
[35] The Gods have not ordained hunger to be our death: even to the well-fed man comes death in varied shape, The riches of the liberal never waste away, while he who will not give finds none to comfort him, The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in miserable case begging for bread to eat, Hardens his heart against him, when of old finds not one to comfort him.
Let the rich satisfy the poor implorer, and bend his eye upon a longer pathway, Riches come now to one, now to another, and like the wheels of cars are ever rolling, The foolish man wins food with fruitless labour: that food – I speak the truth – shall be his ruin, He feeds no trusty friend, no man to love him.
For example, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states in verse 5.2.3 that three characteristics of a good, developed person are self-restraint (dama), compassion or love for all sentient life (daya), and charity (dāna).
[37][38][39] Chandogya Upanishad, similarly, states in Book III that a virtuous life requires tapas (meditation, asceticism), dāna (charity), arjava (straightforwardness, non-hypocrisy), ahimsa (non-violence, non-injury to all sentient beings) and satyavacana (truthfulness).
[44] In the Vana Parva, Chapter 194, the Mahabharata recommends that one must "conquer the mean by charity, the untruthful by truth, the wicked by forgiveness, and dishonesty by honesty".
In Book 8, Chapter 19, verse 36, it states that charity is inappropriate if it endangers and cripples modest livelihood of one's biological dependents or of one's own.
Ṣadaqah is possibly a better translation of Christian influenced formulations of the notion of "alms" for that reason, though zakāh plays a much larger role within Islamic charity.
Zakāh is the amount of money that every Muslim, male or female, who is an adult, mentally stable, free, and financially able, has to pay to support specific categories of people.
"The obligatory nature of zakat is firmly established in the Qur'an, the sunnah (or hadith), and the consensus of the companions and the Muslim scholars.
The owner should deduct any amount of money he or she borrowed from others, check if the rest reaches the necessary nisab, then pay zakat for it.
"In Judaism, tzedakah, a Hebrew term literally meaning righteousness but commonly used to signify "charity",[57] refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just.
[citation needed][h] In the Mishneh Torah, Chapter 10:7–14, Maimonides lists eight "laws about giving to poor people" (hilkhot matanot aniyim), listed in order from most to least righteous, with the most righteous form being allowing an individual to become self-sustaining and capable of giving others charity:[61] In Mandaeism, zidqa refers to alms or almsgiving.
