Properties Conservation

Once Buddha lived in Kakakrapatta with Koliya people. One day, Byagghapajja came and prostrated himself before the Buddha with reverence and then he said:

“World Honoured One”, we, worldly men,  are leading a life of indulgence in earthly desires, enjoying excessive material such as sandal wood (one of the most valuable timbers in the world) perfume, wreaths and gold jewelry and being imposed constraints by our family relationship, “World Honoured One”, please give us an instruction so that we can live in peace and contentment …

 Buddha responded: “Byagghapajja, there are four ways that dissipate one’s properties: indulgence in debauchery, gambling, and being friends with bad people. This can be illustrated by an image of a big pool with four entrances for water to come in and four exits for water to come out. If we close the four incoming entrances and open the four exits, the pool will be exhausted.”

“In addition, Byagghapajja, there are four ways to get the properties: abstinence from lust, alcohol, gambling and relation with bad people. Take the pool above for example, but the pool will be full of water if we close four the outcoming exits and open the incoming entrances.”

(Vietnamese Tripitaka, Anguttara Nikaya 3, chapter VIII, section Gotamì, part Dìghajànu - Koliya People, published by the Vietnamese Buddhist Research Institute, 1996, p.661)

 

DISSCUSION:

Passion is the human’s pleasure and bad habits. It can be said thatmost of our success come from our passion, but among that, a lot of people have failed in business and ruined their reputation due to it. Our life will become insipid if we do not have passion. Passion itself is not the cause which leads us to be guilty, but the problem is what your passion is and to what extent your passion is.

 Passion is an expression of people’s karma; it can be found in their mind: thinking, will and actions. Those who have passion for something tend to be dominated by it. Therefore, Buddhists should always be in self-contemplation in order to realize our own karma. If your aspiration, desires and passion are directed for the true, the good and the beautiful, it is advisable to promote them. Otherwise, you had better dominate and exclude them.

 We can keep our properties effectively if we can avoid excessive indulgence in these bad deeds. Once we indulge in sex, gamble, alcohol and bad friends, we do not care how lavishly we spend. People who used to spend money like water for their passion satisfaction will realize the true value of money once awaken from the dream.

 

 In short, properties are made by hard working, so the Buddhists should appreciate the value of money, spend money reasonably to benefit yourselves and other people. Besides, always be in self- contemplation, beware of bad indulgence and do not waste money to have a contentment and happy life.

 

Quảng Tánh.

Translated into English by Nguyen Phuong Trinh.