Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

4. In order to accomplish well the first three
paramitas, what practical methods of giving,
morality, and patience may be used in everyday life?
(See also Ch. X, Part One, C and Appendix III.)
This shows another lack of knowledge of the Vajrayana
and its methods. Knowing these techniques, even if one
is poor and without money, much may be done to help
others, for this is not so much a matter of means as of
mind.
When we get up early and put on our shoes, there is a
mantra to recite so that insects and other small creatures
shall not be killed by us, and if they are, as a result of
the mantra they attain birth in the Pure Land. This is an
almsgiving of fearlessness (abhaya dana). There are
many practices of this sort which in fact constitute a
yoga of daily life.
To take another example: when we make water, by
using a mantra it can be transformed into nectar. And
when we pass stool, the excrement may be converted in
the same way into good food. But why bother to do this?
In latrines and bathrooms many unhappy ghosts and
hungry spirits gather. For them that place is not at all
unpleasant, for they see it as full of good food and drink.
They try to take this "food" but find out that it is only
filthy. To give them the nutriment they so badly need,
these mantras are recited. This is a good way of giving
(dana) even if one has no money.
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