Tao of wealth - give
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As we can see, chinese emphasis on wealth god. now who's wealth god? He was Fan Li during Chun Chu period, King of Yue's advisor. He was very smart guy and had helped Yue defeated King of Wei. However, he knew that Yue was not a person who appreciate talent and might even due to pride be suspicions of Fan Li. There were 2 talented person that King of Yue used. One's Fan Li and the other is Wen Zhong. So Fan Li warned Wen Zhong to avoid this, but Wen Zhong did not believe. Fan Li was right, Wen Zhong was later killed by King Yue. Fan Li escaped with wife Xi Shi(One of the 4 beauty of china). Changed his name to Tao Zhu and became a businessman. After a few years, his business boom and earned big money. but later He was so generous to gave out all his money and invested all his money to the charities.
Then he start doing his business from scratch. After a few years, his business boom and earned big money again! Then he gave out all his money again and start all over for quite a number of times. Everytime he become rich very fast.
There's as the chinese expression, San1 Zui1 San1 San4 and She3 De1. The more u are willing to give the more u shall get. Fan Li knew how to distribute his wealth to the poor, hence chinese people gave him the name of wealth god, and told business men to learn from him.
This from the buddhist pov, is correct. Give wealth, gain wealth; give dharma, gain wisdom; give fearlessness, gain longevity.
so don't just worship god of wealth, without learning from what He really do, just like we don't 'pray' to Buddha, but learn from what He teach.
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good philosophy to think about.
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Excellent input!
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One issue tho... He gave his riches out not in expectation of future greater wealth. Can most people perform as such? To really give without expectation of any future kickback?
If there is an greed expectation that I give cos I want to receive in future, do you think that the person is genuinely doing charity and is in position to benefit in future?
Very fine line. -
sure of cos there are genuine people in this world willing to give up wealth without expectation. well i feel tho i don't come across in real life of anyone we know of, doesn't mean there never exist such people.Originally posted by pwnz0r:One issue tho... He gave his riches out not in expectation of future greater wealth. Can most people perform as such? To really give without expectation of any future kickback?
If there is an greed expectation that I give cos I want to receive in future, do you think that the person is genuinely doing charity and is in position to benefit in future?
Very fine line.
of cos there are those who would wanna do charity cos they wish to do something good to reap for something good back for them in future. be it a good genuine intention or just want to get back good, it is still a good deed cos not many also willing to be generous to give up or give away or even lend money to friends. around you are rather good example if u open big yr eyes and see.
fine line sure, just maintain such awareness that is a fine line and don't fall off.
karma is working all the time 24/7, be it genuine or fake. what u sow u shall reap. how much genuine or fake wealth intention one gives out, shall also get the same back. it is argumentative enuff to take things too literally. when you really see the temporary side of things, letting go will become a mastery as time passes by. -
Originally posted by pwnz0r:
simple...the answer is still yes...BUT...since he/she did not give willingly...then he/she will "get back" with 'hardship'. it's those that really give out genuinely (like Fan Li did), shall "get back" with 'ease'.
One issue tho... He gave his riches out not in expectation of future greater wealth. Can most people perform as such? To really give without expectation of any future kickback?
If there is an greed expectation that I give cos I want to receive in future, do you think that the person is genuinely doing charity and is in position to benefit in future?
Very fine line.
simple cause and effect.
thus i learn from my master.
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something to add on....
i believe in karma. not blindly cos i have tested it out many many times.
the karma of genuine generosity is the best one can get back mundanely. -
While knowing our mind may not be pure in the act of giving, we should continue doing so, so our greed will gradually be annihilated.Originally posted by pwnz0r:One issue tho... He gave his riches out not in expectation of future greater wealth. Can most people perform as such? To really give without expectation of any future kickback?
If there is an greed expectation that I give cos I want to receive in future, do you think that the person is genuinely doing charity and is in position to benefit in future?
Very fine line.
Some masters teach people to give out without mentioning the benefit of giving out, so they won't be attached to the "good karma".
Likewise, when people ask my master the purpose of doing chanting and meditation, he didn't mention much about the merit or the good karma, but mention abt cultivating the concentration.
I have been trying hard to detach myself from the merit of doing meditation, chanting and giving out, but everytime people always talk to me saying doing this and that will give you merit. lol -
Karma is just a matter of faith not a matter of fact.Originally posted by paperflower:something to add on....
i believe in karma. not blindly cos i have tested it out many many times.
the karma of genuine generosity is the best one can get back mundanely. -
is that your point of view?Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:Karma is just a matter of faith not a matter of fact.
ok so be it then.
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Buddhism and Science articleOriginally posted by Herzog_Zwei:Karma is just a matter of faith not a matter of fact.
Excerpts only, pls see entire website on URL above:Originally posted by concerned_man:
Science and Buddhism
When a Buddhist looks through a telescope, they are not scared by what they might find. They are not scared of science. Science is an essential part of Buddhism. If science can disprove rebirth, then Buddhists should give up the idea of rebirth. If science disproves non-self, and shows there is a self, then all Buddhists should abandon non-self. If science proves there is no such thing as kamma, but instead there is a big God up in the sky, then all Buddhists should believe in God. That is, if it's provable science. Buddhism has no sacred cows. However, I encourage you to do those experiments for yourselves. I'll bet you will find out that there is no one 'in there'. You will find out about kamma. You will find out you've been here before, that this is not your first life. If you don't behave yourselves in this life, you'll have another life to come yet. Do you think you are finished with nappies, with school? Do you really want to go through all that again? If not be careful.
So, here is my thinking about science and Buddhism. I think that Buddhism is pure science, a science that doesn't stop 'out there', but also investigates the mind, the 'being', the 'ghost in the machine'. And it doesn't disregard any anomalies. Buddhism takes everything as its data, especially experience, and looks at it scientifically. It is incredibly successful.
One of the reasons why people celebrate science is because of all of its achievements in technology. One of the reasons why Buddhism is growing these days is because of all of its achievements in the 'technology of the mind'. It solves problems. It explains mental difficulties. Buddhism succeeds in solving those inner problems because it has all these strategies, these ancient 'gizmos', which actually work. If you try some of these Buddhist gizmos, you will find out for yourself that they produce the goods, they solve your inner suffering and pain. That is why Buddhism is growing. I think that Buddhism will supplant science!
Thank you very much.
[/b]Originally posted by concerned_man:
Come and See for Yourself
If you had just one person who had been confirmed as medically dead who could describe to the doctors, as soon as they were revived, what had been said, and done during that period of death, wouldn't that be pretty convincing? When I was doing elementary particle physics there was a theory that required for its proof the existence of what was called the 'W' particle. At the cyclotron in Geneva, CERN funded a huge research project, smashing atoms together with an enormous particle accelerator, to try and find one of these 'W' particles. They spent literally hundreds of millions of pounds on this project. They found one, just one 'W' particle. I don't think they have found another since. But once they found one 'W' particle, the researchers involved in that project were given Nobel prizes for physics. They had proved the theory by just finding the one 'W' particle. That's good science. Just one is enough to prove the theory.
When it comes to things we don't like to believe, they call just one experience, one clear factual undeniable experience, an anomaly. Anomaly is a word in science for disconcerting evidence that we can put in the back of a filing cabinet and not look at again, because it's threatens our worldview. It undermines what we want to believe. It is threatening to our dogma. However, an essential part of the scientific method is that theories have to be abandoned in favour of the evidence, in respect of the facts. The point is that the evidence for a mind independent of the brain is there. But once we admit that evidence, and follow the scientific method, then many cherished theories, what we call 'sacred cows' will have to be abandoned.
When we see something that challenges any theory, in science or in religion, we should not ignore the evidence. We have to change the theory to fit the facts. That is what we do in Buddhism. All the Dhamma of the Buddha, everything that he taught, if it does not fit the experience, then we should not accept it. We should not accept the Buddha's words in contradiction of experience. That is clearly stated in the Kālāma Sutta. (AN III, 65) The Buddha said do not believe because it is written in the books, or even if I say it. Don't just believe because it is tradition, or because it sounds right, or because it's comforting to you. Make sure it fits your experience. The existence of mind, independent of the brain, fits experience. The facts are there.
Sometimes, however, we cannot trust the experts. You cannot trust Ajahn Brahm. You cannot trust the scientific journals. Because people are often biased. Buddhism gives you a scientific method for your practice. Buddhism says, do the experiment and find out for your self if what the Buddha said is true or not. Check out your experience. For example, develop the method to test the truth of past lives, rebirth and reincarnation. Don't just believe it with faith, find out for yourself. The Buddha has given a scientific experiment that you can repeat.
Until you understand the law of kamma, which is part of Buddhism, kamma is just a theory. Do you believe that there is a God 'up there' who decides when you can be happy or unhappy? Or is everything that happens to you just chance? Your happiness and your suffering in life, your joy, your pain and disappointments, are they deserved? Are you responsible or is it someone else's fault? Is it mere chance that we are rich or poor? Is it bad luck when we are sick and die at a young age? Why? You can find the true answer for yourself. You can experience the law of kamma through deep meditation. When the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, the two knowledge's he realized just before his Enlightenment were the knowledge from experience of the truth of rebirth, and the knowledge from experience of the Law of kamma. This was not theory, not just more thinking, not something worked out from discussions around the coffee table this was realization from deep experience of the nature of mind. You too can have that same experience.
All religions in the world except Buddhism maintain the existence of a soul. They affirm a real 'self', an 'essence of all being', a 'person', a 'me'. Buddhism says there is no self! Who is right? What is this 'ghost in the machine'? Is it a soul, is it a being, or is it a process? What is it? When the Buddha said that there is no one in here, he never meant that to be just believed, he meant that to be experienced. The Buddha said, as a scientific fact, that there is no 'self'. But like any scientific fact, it has to be experienced each one for themselves, paccattam veditabbo viññūhī. Many of you chant those Pāli words every day. It is basic scientific Buddhism. You have to keep an open mind. You don't believe there is 'no self', you don't believe there is a 'self' both beliefs are dogmatism. Keep an open mind until you complete the experiment. The experiment is the practice of sila, samādhi and pañña, (virtue, meditation and insight). The experiment is Buddhist practice. Do the same experimental procedures that the Buddha did under the Bodhi tree. Repeat it and see if you get the same results. The result is called Enlightenment.
Men and women have repeated that experiment many times over the centuries. It is in the laboratory of Buddhist practice that the Enlightened Ones, the Arahants, arise. The Arahants are the ones who have done the experiment and found the result. That's why Buddhism always has been the scientific way. It is the way of finding out for your self the truth of Enlightenment. -
Hmmm maybe my past lives really too evil liao , thats why me now always taken advantage and sabo by pple even though i always try to give to charity n help the needies . My whole life , good to pple yet always being saboed by the very person i good to . Really very discouraging . Can anyone tell me how to avoid siao ren ? No matter how many job i change i just seem to avoid such pple . Now my own job is also threatened by such pple .
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read Eckhart Tolle'sOriginally posted by TWE:Hmmm maybe my past lives really too evil liao , thats why me now always taken advantage and sabo by pple even though i always try to give to charity n help the needies . My whole life , good to pple yet always being saboed by the very person i good to . Really very discouraging . Can anyone tell me how to avoid siao ren ? No matter how many job i change i just seem to avoid such pple . Now my own job is also threatened by such pple . -
niceOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:
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Wrong.Is not a matter of faith. kamma is the Universal Law of Cause and Effect, just like NewtonÂ’s Laws. When there is an action there will be a reaction. Like scientific theories such as Law of Motion, Gravity and other laws, they are discovered (realised) by human and not created or invented by any other beings.Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:Karma is just a matter of faith not a matter of fact.
In Buddhism, kamma is a law operates in its own field without intervention of any external authority. It is not governed by any god(s), but an independent agency. Just like gravity, it was there since the existence of earth. It is an invisible force like energy in scientific term. -
It is quite difficult to 'avoid' and is due to our karma. Even Buddha has someone who wants to kill him (devadatta). Even 6th Patriarch also has someone who wanted to harm him. How do they react? We have to accept it and be unmoved by practising the dharma. If you think you have very bad karma you may also practise repentance. http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol6no2c.htmOriginally posted by TWE:Hmmm maybe my past lives really too evil liao , thats why me now always taken advantage and sabo by pple even though i always try to give to charity n help the needies . My whole life , good to pple yet always being saboed by the very person i good to . Really very discouraging . Can anyone tell me how to avoid siao ren ? No matter how many job i change i just seem to avoid such pple . Now my own job is also threatened by such pple .