It was a msn nick from a friend, and I had a mini discussion with him and another 2 friends last Friday. Of course the actual meaning is to ask you to treat others like how you want others to treat you. But I decided to only give and not receive because I’m afraid of what I get back. Like my friend said, give love, receive heartbreak is also a valid give and take scenario. Afterall it is a perceived value. Anyway after that discussion, we got busy working and I kinda forgot the whole matter other than a little event on Saturday where I give a cake to someone and received something least expected. I’m not putting names in anyway, and as I mentioned, I give but don’t expect to receive so I don’t want to blame or begrudge anybody. Just that… sigh never mind.
So the give and receive theory should be out of mind with the arrival of a new week except that I happen to be reading Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope and came across this story “The Tale of the Giveaway Buffalo”.
A major part of a Washo’s life is centered around something called ‘Giveaway’ – the way of all life. The two-legged, four-legged, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, all know that to be centered they must participate in the Giveaway. Everything in our universe practices Giveaway in one way or another. Among Native Americans the spirit of giving is very important. We believe that ‘without sacrifice there is no real expression of love.’ We give away to friends, relatives, and even to people we may have never met before. We give away for many reasons. We give away if we feel good, or are thankful, or if someone is in need. We express thanks, or attempt to spread the good feelings we have, by giving gifts.
This is a tale of the ‘Giveaway Buffalo’… The Sundance is a twelve-day ceremony of sacrifice, purification, and renewal in which dancers abstain from food and water for four days, dancing from sunrise to sunset while drummers sing ancient prayers and families and friends watch (and dance) from the arbor. Before they dance the dancers and supporters go through four days of purification. The last day of the Dance is the piercing day. The Sundancers are pierced in the chest and tied by leather ropes, which are attached to the upper part of a Sacred Tree. This is done as a sacrifice to the Creator for the healing of a friend or loved one or so that next year the people will have enough to eat.
After the Sundance is over there is a great Giveaway and a wonderful feast with all manner of good things to eat. One of the special foods at the Sundance is that of Taanka, the buffalo, the sacred one given to the people by the Creator to give life to the Nations. It was their food, their clothing, their medicine, their lodging, their tools, and more.
… the miracle of Giveaway. The people were not hunting the buffalos, they weren’t going to take one, or to go out and drag one in, they were waiting for one to offer himself as a gift to the people, in the same way that people may offer themselves to the Creator by giving their lives.
All of a sudden the singing stopped, the valley fell deadly quiet, Luta (a Lakota medicine man) raised the prayer stick and asked for the one whose turn it was to give away to come forward. A large young bull began to walk toward Luta. As he prayed, the bull walked slowly past the elders and headed straight for the medicine man. Luta handed the prayer stick to one of the elders and placed his right hand out to accept Taanka’s sacrifice. When a buffalo comes to offer the Giveaway he will place his head in the hand of the medicine man and then drop his head to die. But just before the young bull reached Luta’s hand an older, larger bull came from out of the middle of the herd, and running in front of the young bull he pushed him away and placed his head in Luta’s hand. Some of the herd came and circled the young bull as though to hold him back.
It was quite an amazing sight. There is no greater love than this – that a man (in this case, an animal) lay down his life for his friends. … I left there more thankful for all those that have given away to me in my lifetime and inspired to give more of myself away than ever
Source: “The Tale of the Giveaway Buffalo” from Jane Goodall’s Harvest for Hope
I did not type the full tale entirely (as I got lazy) but I was amazed to find such a story in this book. The truth is I borrowed this book out of curiosity because Jane Goodall in my memory, is the lady who love, respect and research on chimpanzees. So I was amused to see her as an author of a book on mindful eating. The book can be dry at times, thought provoking at other times and interesting the rest of the times (and I haven’t finished the book FYI).
I think the story of a bull laying down his life for his friends is going to touched me for a long time. It’s like reading all those sacrificial stories related to the recent disasters, it’s like knowing all the sacrifices your family made for you… it’s like sensing the care and concern your friends have for you…
Sometimes, you really don’t have to receive when giving…
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