Daily Inspiration Quote by Bodhidharma

“To give up yourself without regret” lands like a koan with teeth: it takes the feel-good idea of charity and yanks it out of the donation box, aiming it straight at the ego. Bodhidharma, the semi-legendary monk credited with catalyzing Zen in China, isn’t praising self-sacrifice as moral performance. He’s attacking the quiet vanity that often hides inside good deeds: the self who wants credit, the self who wants to be seen as “good,” the self who keeps an internal ledger of what it has surrendered.

The phrase “without regret” is the pivot. Regret implies a lingering owner, someone still clutching what was supposedly released. In Buddhist terms, you can give away money, time, even comfort, and still tighten around identity: I am the giver. I deserved better. Look what I lost. Bodhidharma’s instruction is harsher and cleaner: charity isn’t just what leaves your hand; it’s what loosens inside your mind. The real obstacle isn’t scarcity but attachment, including attachment to the story of your own generosity.

Calling this “the greatest charity” is also a cultural provocation. In many religious and civic traditions, charity is legible, countable, publicly admirable. Bodhidharma redefines it as an interior act that can’t easily be displayed. The subtext: if you’re still narrating your sacrifice, you haven’t finished the job. His leadership voice isn’t legislative or consoling; it’s surgical. The “greatest” gift is the one that dissolves the giver.