The Giving Tree Confuses Me

Is the classic little book an example of the perfection of generousity, or is it good-old-granny-style kindness, or even worse . . . idiot comassion (gasp!)?  I love the book and the little video I found on youtube; it touches my heart.  Maybe it's not a perfect example of generousity, but because it touches my heart it's more about the seeds the tree is able to plant instead of a line-by-line reading.  I remain touched by it, but unsure.  It would really be unfortunate to discover that the giving tree is a co-dependent instead of the great inter-being place to rest.

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Permalink Reply by Tamon Mark Uttech on March 10, 2011 at 2:58pm
Onegaishimasu, confusion always means something new, like looking at a new angle. It can also mean giving up something that we thought was tried and true. Never knowing a final answer is why we continue and have a practice. Sometimes it is like a breath of fresh air, or encountering a fresh dharma breeze.
In gassho,
tamonmark
Permalink Reply by Moreland Nicholson on March 11, 2011 at 5:55pm
Yes--I feel that the more Koan-like a notion is the more helpful it might actually be, espeacially a main-stream notion that is just accepted without looking at turning phrases or poetic density or anything like that--I should look at my confusion as my friend more.  Confusion is the "furtile ground" I stand on a lot of the time.
Permalink Reply by Patrick Holloway on March 23, 2011 at 9:28pm

Hi Moreland, 

You're right, there are many ways to read this text. Set in classical Buddhist terms, we could think about it in terms of upaya, or skillful means. Instead of seeing it as a rather morbid parable of cutting off one's arms and legs to help a rather clueless fellow, we can see it as a way to consider that we can always find a way to provide help, no matter what our own situation is in life. In the case of the story, the tree functioned according to the need of the person. It just so happened that function and need corresponded perfectly in this case. Real life, unfortunately, is not always so clear cut. 

Seen in this light, we can consider that Shel Silverstein's story is about one particular tree, rather than the ultimate nature of every tree. Trees can do much more than provide wood for carpenters, but unfortunately they don't have much say in the matter. In my opinion, at least, from the Buddhist point of view, the "skillful" part of "skillful means" is that one always takes into account the actual capacities of all concerned, beginning with oneself. 

Hope this helps. 

-p

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