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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Charity · 1 of 12

The First of Charity: To Shun Evils as Sins

1.I THE “FIRST” OF CHARITY IS TO LOOK TO THE LORD AND SHUN EVILS BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS; THIS IS DONE BY REPENTANCE. To be expounded in this order: (1) In so far as anyone does not shun evils because they are sins, he remains in them. (2) In so far as anyone does not recognize and know what are sins, he does not see otherwise than that he is without sin. (3) In so far as anyone recognizes and knows what are sins, he can see them in himself, confess them before the Lord, and repent of them. (4) Before repentance, good is spurious good. It is the same with charity, because good is of charity. (5) Consequently the “first” of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils because they are sins.

2.1. In so far as anyone does not look to the Lord and shun evils because they are sins, he remains in them. Man is born into evils of every kind. His will, which is his proprium, is nothing but evil. Unless, therefore, a man is reformed and regenerated, he not only remains just as he was born, but becomes even worse, because he adds actual evils himself to those hereditarily acquired. A man remains such if he does not shun evils as sins. Shunning them as sins is shunning them as diabolical and hellish, and thus deadly, and because accordingly there is eternal damnation in them. If a man so regards them, then he believes that there is a hell and a heaven; he also believes that the Lord can remove evils, if he, too, as from himself, makes an effort to remove them. But the things which are shown on this subject in THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE FOR THE NEW JERUSALEM, nos. 108-113, may be seen, to which I will add this: All evils are innately delightful, because man is born into the love of self, and that love delights in all the things that are of his proprium, that is, the things that he wills and thinks. Unless these inbred delights are subdued, everyone remains in them until death; and they are not subdued unless they are regarded as sweet poisons which kill, or as flowers beautiful in appearance but inwardly toxic, that is, unless the delights of the evils are regarded as being fatal, and this until they become undelightful.

3.2. In so far as anyone does not recognize and know what are sins, he does not see otherwise than that he is without sin. Because of the Word, he knows that he is a sinner, in evils from head to foot, yet he does not really know, because he does not see any sin in himself. Consequently he prays with a ringing voice as it were, he confesses with a ringing voice as it were, and yet inmostly in himself he believes that he is not a sinner. This belief is made evident in the other life; for then he says, “I am pure, I am clean, I am guiltless”; nevertheless, when he is examined, he is impure, unclean, indeed even carrion. It is as if the skin were outwardly clear and soft, [but] the inner parts from the heart itself were diseased; or as if a liquid were, on the surface, like water, but in its depths putrid from stagnation.

4.3. In so far as anyone recognizes and knows what are sins, he can see them in himself, confess them before the Lord, and repent of them. It is said that he can if he will, and he who believes in eternal life does will. But even so, he ought to think not about the things he does, but about those he wants to do, which, when he believes them allowable, he also does, or, if he does not do them, it is on account of the world. There is an internal effect and an external effect, or internal and external deed. The external effect or deed proceeds and has existence from the internal effect or deed, just as action from effort. Effort in a man is will; consequently, although he does not do a thing in body, yet if he makes it allowable, then the effort or will remains, and this, in spirit, is action itself. Therefore, recognizing and knowing what his sins are is recognizing and knowing his thoughts, and in them what he makes allowable, and then what he lusts after and favours in his thought. For example, if a man considers whether whoredom is a sin, and what a serious sin it is, whether hatred and acts of revenge are sins, whether thefts and the like, arrogance and pride, contempt also for others, and avarice, are sins; he must then remove any disguises he has cast over them, that is, any confirmations, and let him consult the Word, and he will see.

5.Everyone sees that he who acknowledges that a sin is a sin [can see the sins in himself] but he who makes them allowable in thought, and, on account of the world, not allowable in the body, cannot see them. He is like a man turning a mirror upside down to see his face, or like one who wants to see his face putting a piece of linen gauze in front of it.

6.4. Before repentance, good is spurious good. It is the same with charity, because good is of charity. For there is evil inwardly with the man, because it has not been opened, and therefore not healed; and genuine good cannot spring from evil. The fountain is impure. The good which springs from evil may, in its outward form, appear good; but within it, is the man, such as he is inwardly. All that the man does thence is an image of him. Before the angels he himself appears in his own image, indeed, outside himself; which I have seen a thousand times. On this account the good which anyone does with the body may appear good before those who see only the external; but within there lies hidden the will and intention, which may be that he wishes to be thought sincere and good, so that he may impose on others for the sake of honour and gain. In a word, it is good that is either merit-seeking, or hypocritical, or diabolical, which is in order to deceive, revenge, kill, etc.; but this good is taken away at death when he is let into his interior things, and it becomes openly evil.

7.Every good that a man does to the neighbour is of charity, or is charity. The quality of the charity therefore may be recognized from the three things preceding, namely: 1, To what extent he shuns evils as sins, 2, To what extent he knows and recognizes what are sins; 3, And to what extent he has seen them in himself, confessed them, and repented. These are the indications to anyone of what quality is the charity he has.

8.5. Consequently the “first” of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils because they are sins. Every good which a man does to the neighbour for the sake of the neighbour, or for the sake of truth and good, thus for the sake of what is in accordance with the Word, or for the sake of religion, thus for the sake of God, which therefore is from a spiritual love or affection, is called a good of charity, or a good work. This is not good in so far as it derives [anything] from the man, but is good in so far as it is from the Lord through the man. The Lord does good to everyone, chiefly through others, but yet so that a man scarcely knows otherwise than that it is from himself; and therefore He quite often moves the wicked to do good to others, but from an affection of the love of self and of the world. This good is indeed of the Lord or from the Lord, but the man is not on that account rewarded. But a man is rewarded if he does good, not from a merely natural love or affection, but from a spiritual love or affection. The reward is the heavenly delight of that love and affection, which awaits him in eternity; and this in so far as he does not do it from himself, that is, in so far as he believes that all good is from the Lord, and does not place merit in it.

9.That no one can from himself do good which is good, but that in so far as a man shuns evils as sins, he does goods not from himself but from the Lord, may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE FOR THE NEW JERUSALEM, FROM THE PRECEPTS OF THE DECALOGUE, nos. 9-17, and 18-31.

10.From these it is evident that before repentance it is charity, the good of which is not from the Lord but from the man; but after repentance it is charity the good of which is not from the man but from the Lord. For the Lord cannot enter with a man, and do any good from Himself through him, before the devil, that is, evil, is cast out, but after he is cast out. The devil is cast out by repentance, and when he is cast out the Lord enters and does good there through the man, yet always in such a way that the man does not perceive otherwise than that he is doing it from himself; though he knows nevertheless that it is from the Lord.

11.From these things it is now evident that the “first” of charity is to shun evils as sins, which is done by repentance. Who does not see that an impenitent man is wicked? And who does not see that a wicked man has not charity? And who does not see that he who has not charity cannot do charity? Charity must be from charity in the man.

12.In conclusion, let some passages be brought forward from the Word, for example from the Lord’s words to the Pharisees, about the internal man having to be purified. Passages in Isaiah 1. Some of the passages In THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE FOR THE NEW JERUSALEM, nos. 28-31; also 50-52.