SBYIN

OK, next sentence in the commentary. The first word is sbyin. This is translated as giving, or generosity, or it's also a verb, to give. As we are dealing with the Bodhisattva Way of Life that deals with the six perfections - paramitas -- in Tibetan pha rol tu phyin pa drug the we could make the conclusion that the commentary starts to talk about the first perfection, the perfection of giving. This is sbyin pa'i pha rol tu phyin pa, in Sanskrit dana paramita. You could actually sometimes hear about dana in the dharma circuits when talking about donations.

There's also another form of this word, sbyin pa, this is again where the pa syllable is added to a verb to make it a noun. This could then be translated as generosity in general, or a donation.

Now, you could also see sbyin in the form of conferring or bestowing an empowerment.

There are usually three ways to do this practice: giving material things, giving dharma, or giving protection. Giving dharma is considered the highest form of this practice -- the reasoning is similar to the expression of teaching someone to fish rather than giving fish.