This book argues that donation is one of the central practices in early Buddhism for, without it, Buddhism would not havesurvived and flourished in the many centuriesof its development and expansion. Buddhist relationship between donors and renunciants developed quickly into a complex web that involves material life and the views about how to attend to it. Buddhist dana's great success is due to the early and continuing use of accomodation with other faiths as a foundational value,thus allowing the tradition to adapt to changing circumstances.