I have a friend who practices in the Tibetan tradition. She is one of the most naturally generous people I have ever known. In fact, I don’t think she knows how not to be generous.
However, her Tibetan Buddhist teachers have warned her about feeling too good about her generosity. They say this is a manifestation of ego.
Forgetting about the Buddha and the Dharma for a second, doesn’t it make sense that anything you enjoy, you will want to keep doing? You create a positive feedback loop. When I talk to people who want to start exercising—sometimes for the first time—I tell them to find something they enjoy. Don’t think of it as exercise. Think of it as having fun.
When you do something kind or generous, doesn’t it make sense that it should make you feel happy? This is from the Dhammapada:
Happiness is virtue lasting through old age. – [Dhp 301-303]
And then, there is this from the Buddha:
Thinking, ‘I’m very generous,’ they find inspiration in the meaning and the teaching, and find joy connected with the teaching. And I say that joy connected with the skillful is a prerequisite of the mind for developing a mind free of enmity and ill will. I say that these five things prescribed by the brahmins for making merit are prerequisites of the mind for developing a mind free of enmity and ill will.” – [MN 99.9]
(In this case, the Buddha was speaking to monks. The five things are truthfulness, diligence, chastity, learning, and generosity.)
Of course, you don’t want conceit to be the cornerstone of your feelings. You want the kindness and generosity to be that cornerstone. The happiness should arise on its own, and it should be its own reward. And when it is perfected, the generosity does not come from you, it comes through you. You become a conduit for the natural kindness and generosity that pervades the spiritual ether around us. There is still the happiness, but there is no “you” to get in the way. It is pure. It is beautiful. It is a radiant jewel.
Enjoy.