How Can We Acquire Wealth with Peace of Mind?
In this world, no one can live without the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Everyone must work to provide for these needs. As the saying goes:
“The bustling world is driven by profit; the surging crowds are drawn by gain.”
It can be said that no one can live entirely without money, and few people dislike having it. As a result, money and wealth have often become symbols of a person’s social status and are frequently used in modern society as measures of one’s ability and success.
However, as another saying goes, “A person of integrity may value wealth, but acquires it through proper means.” Under the pressure of making a living or the desire to compare themselves with others, many people become eager for quick success. Some stray onto improper paths and even resort to unscrupulous means for profit, completely forgetting the principle that ill-gotten wealth should not be taken; what comes easily through improper means may just as easily be lost.
But what exactly constitutes ill-gotten wealth?
Many people narrowly assume that only money or property obtained through theft, deception, robbery, embezzlement, or similar wrongdoing can be considered ill-gotten. In reality, the scope of ill-gotten wealth extends far beyond these obvious examples.
Take an ordinary employee as a simple example. First and foremost, we should be diligent, dedicated to our work, and conscientious in carrying out our responsibilities. The salary and compensation we receive in return are then rightfully earned.
On the other hand, if a person is lazy, avoids responsibility, exploits loopholes in the system or workplace, does as little work as possible while still collecting a full salary, and constantly tries to get by through cunning shortcuts, then it is difficult to regard all that income as properly earned. Such a person has failed the organization as well as the supervisors and coworkers who placed their trust in them. Sooner or later, those debts will have to be repaid.
There is an old saying: “Whom has Heaven ever spared?”
Putting that aside, people who habitually behave this way are unlikely to make substantial progress wherever they go. Without planting the cause of diligence and self-improvement, how can one expect to reap the fruit of advancement? We often find that when organizations reduce their workforce, those who habitually shirk responsibilities, take shortcuts, and rely on petty cleverness are particularly vulnerable. In the end, their cleverness may work against them.
Namo H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III teaches us in Philosophical Sayings for Worldly Matters:
“Richness comes from diligence. A rich person is one who is diligent and who chooses a fit career with proper goals.”
In other words, if we wish to attain prosperity, we must first be diligent. Diligence alone does not necessarily guarantee wealth, but without diligence, prosperity is difficult to achieve. Therefore, we must work diligently and apply ourselves through proper and constructive effort.
Second, diligence must be accompanied by ability and talent. Simply working hard without developing the necessary knowledge and capabilities may not be enough to build a successful undertaking. With knowledge, ability, and wisdom, we learn how to distinguish what should be pursued from what should be avoided. We become better able to assess circumstances and make sound choices—choosing endeavors with wholesome and promising prospects rather than improper, harmful, narrow, or unsustainable paths.
Third, and most importantly, the nature of one’s undertaking must be proper. The occupation or business we choose should follow a righteous path, and our intentions and conduct must also be upright. We should never harm the interests or well-being of others merely for our own benefit.
When it comes to what constitutes a proper occupation, however, many people have misconceptions. Some assume that anything permitted by law must therefore be proper. That is not necessarily so from the Buddhist perspective.
Take, for example, businesses involving the sale of live animals for food and the slaughtering of animals. Although such businesses may be permitted under national law, from the Buddhist perspective they cannot truly be regarded as proper livelihoods because they involve extensive killing. Such actions are believed to affect the karmic consequences one experiences in this life and in future lives.
This is not regarded in Buddhism merely as superstition, but as a matter of cause and effect. The Buddha taught that all living beings are equal. Pigs, dogs, cattle, sheep, fish, shrimp, birds, and other animals are all living beings. They too can experience pain and fear; they struggle, cry out, and try to escape suffering.
If our accumulation of wealth is built upon the suffering and cries of countless living beings, how can we assume that we ourselves will remain entirely untouched by the consequences? In ordinary language, one might ask, “Where would justice under Heaven be?” From the perspective of Buddhist teachings, the question is one of cause and effect.
If we observe carefully, we may see people who accumulated wealth through businesses involving the killing of living beings but later lost much of that wealth through illness, accidents, or other misfortunes.
I once knew the owner of a pharmacy whose business had initially been doing quite well. Several years later, however, the pharmacy was shut down following an investigation, leaving the owner owing substantial sums of money to various sales representatives. Whatever could be removed from the store was taken away.
Not long afterward, the owner passed away before reaching the age of sixty. His wife spent several years moving from place to place before eventually finding work as a caregiver, which barely provided her with enough to live on. Even then, she was afraid to let others know where she was. Their son was also imprisoned for several years because of debts involving high-interest loans and other problems.
I wondered how a family that had once operated a seemingly successful pharmacy could have fallen into such circumstances. Later, I heard that the elderly couple had worked as pig slaughterers in their earlier years. After saving several hundred thousand yuan, they left that business and opened the pharmacy. Their son, however, lived extravagantly, quickly squandered the family’s savings, and accumulated high-interest debt. In the end, a once-established family fell apart.
I also knew of someone who had worked in the fishing industry for more than twenty years. His daughter developed an unusual illness that severely affected her mental functioning. The family spent a great deal of money seeking treatment, but her condition did not improve. Later, the man himself became seriously ill, and the family eventually exhausted all of its savings.
If we pay attention, we may encounter many stories of this kind.
Many people wonder why so many unfortunate things happen in life. From the Buddhist perspective presented here, apart from the effects of harmful causes created in previous lives ripening in this life, some suffering may also be related to unwholesome karma created through our present actions.
The Mangala Sutta (Discourse on Blessings) teaches:
“To engage in occupations that cause no harm—this is the greatest blessing.”
Therefore, for the well-being and peace of ourselves and our families, we should stay away from occupations involving killing. From this Buddhist perspective, wealth accumulated through the taking of life is among the most troubling forms of improperly acquired wealth. The more such wealth is accumulated, the heavier the corresponding karmic consequences may become, for causes bring corresponding effects, and no one can ultimately escape the workings of cause and effect.
Therefore, if we wish to prosper, we should apply our diligence, abilities, and talents to righteous and wholesome endeavors. Wealth acquired in this manner can truly be used for our benefit without becoming a source of calamity.
As the saying goes, “Great virtue carries great responsibility and abundance.”
Virtue refers to morality, character, self-cultivation, and integrity. Material possessions include money, wealth, influence, and the conditions of our lives. Position refers to status, authority, office, and power.
We should therefore guard our minds and uphold virtue. We must never allow greed to drive us into reckless conduct. If one possesses little virtue yet seeks an exalted position, has limited wisdom yet attempts enormous undertakings, has little strength yet tries to bear an overwhelming burden, or possesses insufficient ability yet seeks great responsibilities—how could such imbalance not eventually bring trouble?
True prosperity, therefore, is not simply about how much wealth we accumulate. What matters equally is how that wealth is obtained, what causes we create in obtaining it, and whether we can enjoy it with a clear and peaceful conscience.
Written by: Danbo
Edited by: Dongji
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