The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at adioderma.org. So, hello and welcome to the fifth talk on gratitude.

And I want to begin with, I want to use a couple of quotes from the sutas, the ancient teachings of the Buddha.

And one is the Buddha saying, there are two kinds of people who are rare in this world.

The one who helps and the one who is grateful.

The ones who help and the ones who are grateful.

And they need each other

because there's a circle of giving, a circle of receptivity

that allows the gift to continue down through the ages, the wheel of giving and receiving,

the wheel of generosity and care, and the wheel of being cared for,

of receiving generosity.

Both are important.

And ideally, we play both parts.

Many years ago, I learned that how unfortunate it is at times when someone wants to offer a small

favor or do something to say no I remember once I was going to offer someone a friend who arrived to the airport. I was so

happy to be able to do it and spend time with my friend. And the person was clearly, was very

embarrassed or didn't want to put me out, felt somehow they were a burden. And said, no, no, no.

So finally I kind of let go and I thought to myself,

oh, this is so unfortunate. I had this wonderful, delightful feeling. I wanted to do something

for my friend and it didn't go anywhere. So this idea of receiving and then being grateful, offering gratitude and

thanks is a form of generosity. So it keeps it going. But these two things, these are rare in the

world, those who help and those who are grateful.

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