The English word “generosity” comes from the Latin meaning “noble birth”  •  in talking about the bodhisattva path, this doesn't mean elitism or nobility in the sense of being kings and queens, but nobility in terms of a noble way of being in the world—with dignity, with skill, with love and with compassion, and with a sense of respect for one's own life and the life of other beings  •  of the six paramitas, generosity is fundamental; it is about the quality of your very spirit, your inner workings, your heart and your mind  •  it refers to a sense of inner richness combined with a sense of outer connection and invitation toward other beings  •  in the practice of cultivating generosity, we’re looking at the contrast between what one could call “poverty mind”—a pinched mind, an imploded mind, a shrunken mind—and “generous mind”—a bigger mind, a more relaxed mind, a mind expanding and opening outward.