Author Topic: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?  (Read 20365 times)

icy

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Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« on: August 19, 2012, 03:50:47 PM »
We feel money and power can bring happiness and solve problems, but they are not definite causes of those desired states. If that were so, it would follow that those who have wealth would necessarily have happiness, and those who do not have wealth would always experience suffering. Money and power facilitate, but it is clear that they are not the primary causes of, happiness and solving our problems. It is justified for us to make material and financial development for building our nation and providing shelter, etc. for ourselves; we need to do that. But we also need to seek inner development. As we can see, there are many people who have wealth and power who remain unhappy, due to which their health declines, and they are always taking medicines. On the other hand, we find people who live like beggars but who always remain peaceful and happy.

Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.

ratanasutra

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2012, 04:23:05 PM »
Wealth does solves some problems but it doesn't mean that people have wealth doesn't have problem..

People who poor always think that when they are rich their problems will be solved, it doesn't work that way. Yes, with wealth we won't have problem or difficulty with our monthly commitment and we can get assets and properties and other material things as we wishes but we won't be able to get a happy or a harmony, peace in family if the member of family doesn't have love and care of each other.

Wealth is like sword as one side can bring benefit and another size can be harmful, for people who doesn't have spiritual thought as it will make them more greed, selfish and doesn't know how to give. It's also can destroy the harmony, peace of the family. Did you hear about the wealthy family members fight for properties after their parents died??

We should happy with what we have, and give and share to other always as there always people who have less than us. 

 

vajratruth

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2012, 06:14:21 PM »
One of the biggest manifestation of our ignorance is the belief that having wealth/money makes us happy and provides us with security. If there is one thing that having money does to us, is that it makes us either want more of it, or have a strong desire to hang on to it. Money increases our attachment.

Money doesn't solve problems...in that money cannot solve our real problems. Our real problem is that we are Ignorant, we are Angry and we are Deluded. These are in fact our real problems and unless we solve them completely, these problems will follow us from one life into another. I liked what Icy said also i.e. if money can solve problems, how come people with money still have problems? In fact, they usually have more problems.

One of the things I hear a lot of is that money gives us "security". How can anything other then the Three Jewels give us any security? Real security in samsara is an illusion and having money cannot in any way pay off our karmic debts. Karma will do what karma does regardless of whether you are Bill Gates or a homeless person.

Having said that, I do not think that money or wealth per se is the problem. The problem is the notion that wealth can solve any or all of our problems. That very thought takes us down the wrong path and creates the causes for that belief to be tested and ultimately proven wrong.

Aurore

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2012, 06:41:15 PM »
The answer is obvious. If wealth can solve ALL our problems, all the rich will be problem free and live happily ever after. Wealth can give temporary solutions to life if it's used to feed our cravings, pay our bills and school fees, buy friends and live a comfortable life.

Whether wealth can solve our real inner problems is a new angle which is worth exploring.

If we have wealth, we can donate/help others in need for material support and generate merits for a better future.
If we have wealth, we do not need to spend our precious life chasing for money but instead spend the time with loved ones and helping others. We can build temples and let dharma grow to help alleviate others. The benefits of giving happiness to others is to bring happiness to oneself.

Wealth can solve problems only when it's not for oneself.

dondrup

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2012, 07:03:12 PM »
Wealth does not necessarily solve all of our problems.  Wealth is a means to solve our problems. However, if we do not have the right motivation when using our wealth, it becomes a problem for us.  For example, we use our money to further our samsaric desires. If we use our wealth to benefit others, then having this wealth is beneficial.  To solve all our problems, we need a total transformation of our mind from negative to positive. We need to remove the delusions and their imprints completely from our minds to free us from all of our problems.

Tenzin Malgyur

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2012, 07:41:56 AM »
Wealth does not solve all our problems. This is such a clear cut answer to the question. As what everyone have mentioned, money helps in a certain aspect to facilitate our daily activities, it does not wipe out the core of our troubles. Sometimes it can even get us deeper into more complicated difficulties. All being said, we need to obtain some wealth too because we are living in this day and age that puts a monetary value on the very basic necessities of life. I like what aurore said that wealth can solve problems only when it's not for oneself.

pgdharma

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2012, 08:40:29 AM »
Buddhism promotes the virtue of having less wants or non attachment. Contentment is true wealth, not possessions. How we enjoy our riches is dependent on how we define contentment.

A Buddhist's choice to be rich or poor materially should be independent of one's own effort to develop spiritually. When we have cultivated our self with the understanding of the Buddhadharma  then we  will be spiritually rich, irrespective of whether we are rich or poor, we will be materially happy, thus having less problems. 

We must understand that money is good if its use in the right way and to use the wealth that we have towards supporting and promoting Buddhism. Sure, money will not buy happiness or solve our problems but it will at the very least pay for the printing of dharma books, the Buddhist institutions, support the living of the spiritual teachers and their dharma works which will benefit us and many sentient beings.

More recently, Bhutan,  which is one of the "poorest" countries in Asia, has been at the forefront of efforts to develop a new index for measuring human well-being:  "gross national happiness." This shows  that  they may not be materially rich but they are spiritually rich and contented.  They do not need material wealth to solve their problems.

buddhalovely

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2012, 05:11:40 PM »
People underestimate the emotional complexity that wealth can bring. There is a whole layer of concerns that perhaps the non-affluent clientele wouldn't necessarily experience. It can make life easier in some ways but in other ways it can just make it that much harder.

Clients make their money from all sorts of different places. Some of it was inherited, a lot of it is self made. Those are the two primary sources. A few of them are lottery winners. The person who wins the lottery, if they're not equipped to deal with it and they end up in a lifestyle that they really aren't ready for, it can actually make them pretty miserable. If they're not familiar with how to handle finances, they can find themselves spending it very quickly. They can find themselves with a bad crowd. People who win significant funds are often called upon to loan money or donate money, so the expectations placed upon them can be hard. They also can find themselves in some unhealthy habits. If there is more money, there are more opportunities for substance abuse.

If money isn't the secret to happiness, what is?I honestly think it's attitude. It's working with what you've got, and how you feel about it and the people around you and the life you lead. And being thankful for what you have.

yontenjamyang

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2012, 05:29:36 AM »
Money/Wealth is neutral. Much has been written about the "evils" of money. I would say that it is the number 1 cause for many to steer away from religion in general and Buddhism in particular. It is the paradox of religion to say "money does not buy happiness and the poor can be happy" for the reverse is also true. Why emphasize one and not the other? Ultimately, if the above is all true, then money itself is not the problem, is it? Without money, no religion can survive.

It is how we acquire the money, what we do when we have it and the results of having money that is important. It is about the attachment and interestingly aversion to money that is the delusions associated to money.If one is attachment to money, then it cause the person to do whatever it takes to acquire it including throwing out morality out the window. They may steal, cheat, lie and have wrong livelihood as a way of making money. So as long as the money is made the correct way, with the realization of impermanence, then I think it is "good money". Then when the money is use to benefit oneself and family and more importantly others in the practice of charity and dharma it is the highest way of using money. Benefitting oneself with the money earned is not wrong either if we have others in mind and always practice the Dharma.

On the other hand, aversion to money is wrong view. To me, it is not skillful to say "the poor is happier" for I have not seen many happy poor people unless they are the sangha. It is safe to say the majority of the poor are unhappy. Hence, for that to work, one has to practice renunciation first. Ironically, if one is renounced then it does not matter if one is rich or poor.

For me ideally they must be dharmic people, who practice renunciation but at the same time make money to help the Dharma. That is true Wisdom.

rossoneri

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2012, 06:52:10 AM »
Wealth do solve a lot of matters. In this time and day, money play an important role for us. Who does not want to have a comfortable living environment so that we could concentrate on doing good to the society and practicing Dharma. The poor obviously will have these impression of money will solve their problem because i think most of their issues in due to lack of funding. But money also can be very deceptive if did not handle it in proper. Majority it will slowly create an self projection of "I am Better". It'll lead us to have the sense of pride, hunger for power, greedy and etc...So its very important for us to have Dharma instill in our life be it for the rich or poor so that we have a stable mind with good motivation to guide and help others who are in need.

bambi

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2012, 05:10:10 AM »
Yes, wealth can solve my problems in this life. I have so many problems that I need to solve with money. I am single mother with children and family of whom I have to take care. Working in the secular world doesn't pay much as I am not that smart nor experienced. I don't have any left for my own at the end of the month.What happens if one of them fall sick or die? Wouldn't that require money? How do I travel to Dharma centers or take part in their activities? How do I even support the Dharma center when I don't even have enough. Many of you say that it is not true but you have not experience what the poor have to endure. I am sorry my karma involves my current family members. I hope I can make it up to them one day. A little wealth is a lot to a lot of people you don't know. And yes, it depends how much wealth one is talking about and the motivation.

icy

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2012, 10:48:40 AM »
In the frenzy of modern life we lose sight of the real value of humanity. People become the sum total of what they produce. Human beings act like machines whose function is to make money. This is absolutely wrong. The purpose of making money is the happiness of humankind, not the other way around. Humans are not for money, money is for humans. We need enough to live, so money is necessary, but we also need to realize that if there is too much attachment to wealth, it does not help at all. As the saints of India and Tibet tell us, the wealthier one becomes, the more suffering one endures.

Tenzin K

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2012, 05:50:11 PM »
Many of us have wondered why some people are blessed with wealth while others are always struggling to make ends meet. Some people are like magnets for wealth. Their homes are beautiful like those showcased in interior decoration magazines; their biggest problem of the day is which car they should drive or where they should go to have lunch. At the other end of the spectrum, some people toil their whole lives and still cannot afford a home of their own. Why is there such a disparity? What exactly is poverty? What do we mean by wealth?

Cause begets effect. How much wealth we have depends on a combination of how hard we work and our past karma. Wealth is not something that is bestowed by the gods. It is the fruit of past generosity. While alms giving is the seed of wealth, hard work is the condition that nurtures the seed to fruition. We cannot change the past, but we can definitely change the future by our present actions.

The amount of money that one has does not determine one’s happiness. True, the rich may not have to worry about where the next meal is coming from, but they can be burdened by social engagements and wearied judging others’ ulterior motives. The poor are not troubled by such problems. As long as they have their dignity and self-esteem, they can stand tall and be proud. In the phenomenal world, everything is subject to impermanence. Wealth and poverty are no exceptions. Wealth can disappear, and people can go from rags to riches. Wealth cannot solve all problems, and our happiness is dependent more on how we feel about ourselves than how much money we have in our bank accounts.

The Buddha shows us by example how we should look at our wealth. He was just as happy with a simple robe as he was with a royal garment. He enjoyed the food that he collected from his alms rounds as much as the food that was offered to him when he was the guest of honor. He could sleep under a tree and yet was equally at ease in a royal palace. Sometimes he lived in solitude, and at other times he lived in the company of his followers and bhiksus. The Buddha was always at ease with his circumstances. The distinctions of rich and poor, coarse and fine, or fame and rejection had no bearing on his inner peace.

The great contemporary monk, Hung-yi, also led a life of equanimity. He never complained about anything. He lived a simple life of little want and great contentment. Whether it is a worn-out handkerchief, a simple plate of pickled vegetable, or a spartan bed, he was equally appreciative. Most of us look at a life of subsistence as a burden, but Hung-yi truly enjoyed what he had. One day, the famous scholar Hsia Mien-tsun visited him while he was finishing his lunch of rice and pickled vegetables. The venerable showed such delight that Hsia Mien-tsun exclaimed, “Only someone wise like the venerable can truly relish such simplicity.”

I want to share with you this parable. Once there was a wealthy businessman who lived in a penthouse with a breath-taking view of the city. He had a childhood friend who was poor but happy. This friend had a loving wife who adored him and greatly appreciated his hard work to provide for the family. The tycoon was a successful business man and had to spend many evenings away from home socializing and finalizing business deals. He was quite enviable of his friend’s simple lifestyle and thought to himself, “What is the point of having all this money if I cannot enjoy it? My friend may be poor, but he is having a grand old time with his wife. Sometimes I wish my life could be more like his.”

One day, someone told him, “If you want to be more like your friend, just give some of your money to him.” He was tickled with the suggestion and decided to give his poor friend two hundred thousand dollars, a small fraction of what he had. The poor couple was ecstatic. They thought the money was the best thing that could happen to them. When night fell, they began to worry about how to safeguard their newfound wealth. Should they put it in the drawer? Someone might steal it. How about under the mattress? That did not sound like such a good hiding place. Worried about their fortune, they hardly got a wink of sleep that night. After a few days, they began to argue how to best use the money. The wife wanted to do one thing, while the husband wanted to do something different. Their fights almost destroyed their marriage. Upon reflection, they realized that all their problems started when they were given the money. They decided to return the money to their tycoon friend instead.

This is, of course, a parable, but there is a valuable lesson here. Money can solve many problems, but it can also create many new ones. One of Confucius’ students, Yen Hwei, was said to have lived a life consisting of “a bowl of rice, a gourdful of drink, and an abode on a humble lane. Many could not tolerate such subsistence, yet Hwei would not change his life of joy a bit.” One of the Buddha’s disciples, Mahakasyapa, practiced a life of poverty and often spent his nights by tombstones without much of a thought. It is one thing to be poor in a monetary sense, it is quite another to be lacking spiritually. The store of treasure within our hearts and minds is inexhaustible, and it is up to us to mine this internal wealth. If we know how to apply the treasure within, we are wealthy in the truest sense of the word. 

diamond girl

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2012, 06:01:04 PM »
Wealth is like medicine. It will relief our ailments and pains, and bring us good health when sick. This is important as we need good health if we to live long and healthy to make our lives worthy of living. It is in pursuing what is worthy to live for which brings us true happiness.

I agree that true happiness cannot be bought. Real happiness does not come in Prada bags nor Ferrragamo shoes but lies within when one knows they have done something good for someone else. I feel good about myself when I know that I have brought happiness to another person. When I can spend time with someone and give them love and care. The result is that person feels care and love, this does not require a single cent spent.

So, no money does not solve all our problems. It merely solves the surface problems. When we have money and we put it to good use then we can say money can solve real problems. So in conclusion - Money is very important because nothing is free. It solves problems but not ALL.

Tammy

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Re: Does Wealth Solves All Our Problems?
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2012, 01:29:45 PM »
Wealth can be a good thing and bad thing, it is all depend on the person who had it.

A rich man can use his money to indulge in sinful vises, whilst a poor man could use his last penny to help someone who needed it more than himself.

Kids who are born into rich family grown up to be spoiled and selfish person because money cannot buy wisdom.

Two persons who are given the same amount of money could use their fortune differently.

In summary, it's not the wealth but the person using it could make the difference.

I always wonder what would I do if I strike jackpot and becomes an instant millionaire... Build a charitable hospital? Donate it all away to a cause I truly believe? I guess I would pay off the mortgage first LOL
Down with the BAN!!!