Donation

Happiness Planting is the act of giving love

In Happy Science, the term for making offerings is "Happiness Planting," which was created based on "tree planting.” If you plant a tree, the tree will not grow in time for you to cut it down and use it as timber, sell it, or build a house with it. The tree becomes fully grown in the future and turns into mountain greenery or timber for a house. In this way, when you plant a tree, you are thinking of a future about one hundred years from now.

Religious activities are totally different from business activities of companies, as there is no worldly compensation for offerings. When Happy Science receives Happiness Planting from members, it is not to seek compensation for any item or labor. If offerings are to be given in exchange for something, then they will lose their value and are not considered true offerings. Even if a sutra were recited or a lecture given, it is only a chance or an opportunity to make an offering, not to give something in return.

Happiness Planting is also a spiritual refinement by "offering what one has to the holy one and getting rid of worldly attachments.” Since offerings are made to get nothing in return, they are very valuable and have spiritual merit. The precious Happiness Planting you offer is the light that brings happiness to society.

Happiness Planting is the act of giving love while wishing for the happiness of many people in the future. Due to the Happiness Plantings from all members, branches and shojas are being constructed throughout Japan and the world, Happy Science Academy and Happy Science University (HSU) are being founded, and activities for creating utopia, such as political activities and international expansion, are being promoted. The expansion of the activities in this way is a gift to the local community and to the youth of the future.

When we offer Happiness Planting, we have the joy of "offering something precious, not for worldly values, but for the sake of the wishes of God and Buddha," because we do not ask for anything in return. Happiness Planting is also a practice of abandoning attachment. Happiness Planting that is made from your heart will reach God and Buddha.

We make use of the offerings from your heart for building branches and shojas around the world, publishing sutras for truth enlightenment, producing movies, and solving numerous social issues such as world poverty, natural disasters, bullying problems, and suicide prevention.

The merit of Happiness Planting / Offering is for the Buddha

Happy Science receives Happiness Planting, offerings, and donations from members, but the offerings and donations made based on faith are directed to the object of faith, the God and Buddha. These also support religious practices and the religious environment.

The Poor Person’s Candle

“The Poor Person’s Candle” is a famous story in Buddhist scripture. Shakyamuni Buddha taught his disciples, “Many people made donations but who do you think donated the largest amount? It was the poor woman who offered a single candle with all the money she had. Her offering is the most precious.” This story reveals the tremendous importance of the attitude and state of mind of the person making the offering, not the amount. Please know that making offerings from your heart without seeking merit is important. When you make an offering, if you find yourself wondering how much reward you will receive, your offering will not be very valuable, but in another way, offerings that are made from your heart will reach God and Buddha.

Supporting the religious organization

A religious organization is responsible for protecting and spreading faith. To ensure this kind of religious life, there have to be unproductive sections. Those sections are necessary to ensure the master’s state of meditation or to protect the spiritual field. These sections are something completely different from the various sections of a practical business in this world. In the eyes of those who are working in companies, people living for the sake of God or Buddha or protecting a spiritual field look as if they are doing nothing at all. Actually, however, they are protecting something holy and important. The offerings made by members are used to support these sections. All religions have unproductive sections, and making offerings without expecting a return is necessary to support those who are practicing holy training. This act is praiseworthy.

Three Pure Wheels

To make a true offering, the ‘giver’, the ‘receiver’, and ‘the object of offering’ have to be pure and free of attachment. In the Buddhist tradition, it is called the ‘Three Pure Wheels.’ Unless these three wheels are pure and clean, the offering you make is not considered acceptable. It is important for the ‘giver’ to have faith and a mind that truly wants to make offerings. The ‘giver’ should make an offering with a pure mind without attachment, the ‘receiver’ should receive it with gratitude, and the ‘object of offering’ has to be pure too. Happy Science teaches the Virtue of Happiness Planting to members based on these ideas.