True Wealth

Do gold coins make you true wealthy ?

 Contrary to what most of us perceive as wealthy possessions, these things are temporary:

1. Money
2. Good-looking wife / partner / friends
3. Real Estate
4. Stocks

You cannot eat gold during a famine. Similarly, paper money is subject to inflation and manipulation. Beauty is not evergreen and although many ladies successfully maintained their sexy appearance with plastic surgery, they would still disappear from the world one day. A land that became barren or subject to disaster (such as radioactive one like Chernobyl) becomes unproductive and worthless. Stocks may eat up all your investment if and when the company folds up with tons of debt to be paid. So where should we trade for a better investment ?

Each of the items below are longer lasting:

1. Personal confidence, no matter how you look physically
2. Good reputation with the public
3. Good friends who will support you in your endeavours
4. A good community that mutually supports each other instead of competitively trying to kill each other
5. Knowledge that is shared

We Don't Need Much To Live

All of us have common basic needs: food and water, clothing, shelter and social friends. However, our desire for variety and luxury often takes over and make us compete for things that we value better in quality. And this lust never seem to get sated; just watch the millionaire who strives to become a billionaire.

Let me divert a little: I have some chickens I rear behind my house. Everyday I would check on them and restock their food and water to make sure they have plenty. Each time they see me coming they would get very excited (or shall I say agitated) to the point of climbing on top of each other and pecking aggressively. It is also very difficult to pour the feed into the tray properly as they would crowd-block the whole tray competing for the food coming from above. There is always enough food for each of them but they would still behave outrageously. 

Such a pattern is understandable for animals, but I could totally pick up the same behaviour among us human. It is my belief that by default there is enough resources for everybody, but we still choose to aggressively conquer, rob, mutilate, steal and outgrow each other. God must be snickering at our idiocy - "how very dumb have my best creations become".

True Wealth According To Buddha and Jesus

If we look at the concepts of Buddhism, it teaches us that all living things suffer. It also states that we suffer because of our desire, and to stop our suffering we must stem or curb the ebb of our desire. I think Buddha was right in this sense, as he let go of all his possessions and shared his life and wisdom with all.

The same parallel can also be drawn from the story of Jesus. Jesus once advised a rich man to sell all his wealth, give it to the poor and follow him (to live among the disciples and share wisdom with the public). In doing so, both Buddha and Jesus were teaching the way towards the true wealth for the living.