What giving has taught me
From my teacher, in the work, on the land, through the institution and with the student in the room. Five places I practise it, all of them now.
What follows is what giving has taught me.
Much of what I know about giving, I learned by watching.
I have been fortunate to follow Master Jeff Chew on pilgrimages and visits, at home and abroad, and to see how he meets a need when one appears: unplanned, on the spot, in deed or in funds, and never announced. When calamity strikes, near or far, he is the first to act and the last to talk about it.
This is the practice he has shown me. Give time. Give what is needed. Do not look for recognition, and do not bring an agenda. The act is complete in itself.
One more discipline: a kindness offered for advantage, or one that makes the person receiving it smaller, is no kindness at all.
I do not treat kindness as a business tool. Loving kindness is what carries depth and meaning into what I finally make, something for the senses that feeds the mind and stays as memory.
Conservation is giving too, and a way of caring for home. It is what gives us permission to exist, and to live alongside everything else in the balance of nature we belong to.
Giving through the institution opens the practice to others. Colleagues, partners and shareholders are invited to take part, and recognition is no part of the invitation. The discipline grows when it is shared, and the benefit reaches more people, and the place we work in and earn from.
Joining an educational institution is another way of giving. I am there for the student in front of me. I would not call it legacy; the word is too large for me. What I was given, I give now.
What I have learned, my mentees learn. Whatever their standing, rising or arrived, public or quiet, the practice is the same, and I remind them again and again to honour it.
What follows is kept as a quiet record of the practice as it is lived.
Questions answered
What is James Won's approach to giving?
James Won's practice is to give time and give what is needed, without looking for recognition or bringing an agenda. The aim is to give in time, in deed and in funds, and to want nothing back.
How does James Won connect conservation with giving?
James Won sees conservation as giving too, and as a way of caring for home. He describes it as what gives us permission to exist, and to live alongside everything else in the balance of nature.
How do James Won's colleagues and partners take part in giving?
James Won invites colleagues, partners and shareholders to give through the institution, and recognition is no part of the invitation. In his view the discipline grows when it is shared, and the benefit reaches more people.
How does James Won give through teaching?
James Won sees joining an educational institution as another way of giving, and is there for the student in front of him. What he has learned, his mentees learn, and he reminds them again and again to honour the practice.
To give in time, in deed and in funds, and to want nothing back.
The practice
Giving is the real Ajinomoto (MSG) to the food.