Wealth in the Present and Happiness in the Future

By Category: Buddhism in Everyday LifeTags:

Everyone in this world wants to have wealth and live a carefree life. They also want a good rebirth. Richness in this life and pleasure in the next are the hallmarks of a successful life.

In the Sumati Sutra, the Buddha defined a “successful life” to be wealth in this life and happiness in the next life. Having wealth in the present life includes an elegant, proper appearance, attaining wealth and nobility, keeping one’s family from destruction, living blamelessly, and being trusted by others. Having happiness in the next life includes being reborn in the presence of a Buddha, seeing Buddhas at the end of life, gaining supernatural powers, completely eliminating Dharma obstacles, and forever leaving behind Mara. All these benefits can be gained by practicing the Buddha’s teachings.

As the Buddha answered Sumati’s ten questions, he provided
four methods of practice for each.

The core of the Dharma is the Bodhisattva path, the practice of Mahayana Bodhisattvas. What makes Bodhisattvas special is their initial vow, the promise to attain Buddhahood and liberate sentient beings.

They endeavor to serve others, not only for their own fulfillment, but also to bring sentient beings’ peace and happiness.

In Buddhism, people are called “beings formed from the arising of many conditions,” usually translated as simply as “living beings.” There is no one within the world who could exist on their own. To live we all rely on many other factors. Each person can only exist after a great multitude of causes and conditions come together. Anyone who wishes to succeed must first learn to become part of the group.

People’s actions create various kinds of positive and negative karmic effects, and thus people have different destinies. However, destiny is not fixed. It can be changed. An individual’s presence, a given occurrence, a single sentence, a little money, or even one thought can all change a person’s destiny.

Once, there was a novice monastic who was destined such that he only had seven days left to life. But he happened to save the lives of some ants, and the power of that wholesome action extended his lifespan of seven days to eighty years. Destiny is not fixed. If practitioners cultivate wholesome actions and merit, their destiny can be changed.

We can cultivate wholesome actions and merit by aiming to benefit all beings. Once we give rise to the bodhi mind by setting our intention to attain enlightenment, we are already Bodhisattvas. By continuing down the paths of happiness as taught by the Buddha, we can attain wealth in this life and happiness in the next.

Read more from Ten Paths to Happiness, by Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

Image from Pixabay.

More Featured Articles

Music and Buddhism
Music gives us the capacity to express deep emotions. Whether through holy hymns or chants of praise, music is capable of uplifting the mind to an almost sublime state. As such, it has a significant role in the promotion of religion.All Buddhas and bodhisattvas are very skilled in utilizing music to teach the Dharma and guide sentient beings to enlightenment.Music has a very important function Read more
Speaking with Kind Words
If we want to understand what the Dharma teaches us about building affinity and living in harmony with others, we must first understand the four great all-embracing virtues. The Buddha teaches that for us to realize our true capacity of connecting with and serving our fellow citizens, we have to first build a good rapport, and the four virtues are tools to that end. The four Read more
Lamp Offering
Offering lamps at Buddhist temples and stupas is a common practice. The Flower Adornment Sutra says, "The lamp of wisdom can break through all forms of darkness." As such, lamps represent the light of wisdom that pierces through the darkness of ignorance. This empowers sentient beings encumbered by confusion. The Buddhist practice of offering lamps originates from the actions of a poor girl named Nanda. Read more
Steady Progress
If you keep your practice steady,morning and night, summer and winter,there is nothing you can not doand nothing that can harm you.— Upasakasila SutraThe Importance of Being SteadyLaziness and fear of work will get you into trouble no matter where they appear. Laziness is a basic animal tendency that must be confronted the moment it starts. Once you begin to allow yourself to be lazy, Read more
Realize Eternity through the Brevity of Life
We should not look at life just as the limited span of one person’s life; we should look at the larger life of the universe. While a person’s life may only span a limited number of years, its value is everlasting. Read more
The Stages of Counting the Breath
Master Zhiyi’s “six wonderful methods” describe four different kinds of specialized breathing: bellowing winds, broken panting, low-pitched breathing, and internalized breathing.1. Bellowing Winds“Bellowing Winds” describes when one’s inhalations become more and more powerful. As the breathing becomes deeper and longer it can become very loud. This is because, once the power of one’s concentration has been gathered, it can be transferred elsewhere with great force. Read more
What is Chan?
Chan is meditation throughout our lives. When we live with Chan, the taste of food and feel of clothes will change. We will not feel difficulty when dealing with our affairs. Any matter can be laughed away. The human world has its ups and down, but when we have a Chan mind it is like the world is ours and nothing is lacking. All human Read more
Overcoming Greed
Greed is a basic disease of all sentient beings. In our realm, the desire realm (kamadhatu), the force and effects of greed can be felt especially strongly. Greed is based on ignorance and cannot function without it. The fundamental ignorance that enables greed to function is the belief in a self that exists separately and independently from other sentient beings. This belief leads to nothing Read more
The Significance of Breathing
In the Sutra of Forty-Two Sections, the Buddha asked his disciples, "How long is one's life?" One of the monks replied, "A few years." The next one answered, "A few days!" Another one said, "Less than one day!" Another responded, "Between meals!" Finally, the Buddha said, "Life lasts for the duration of one breath." Life is extraordinarily precious and yet it is based on a Read more
True Stature
True stature is not created by form or ornament; words spoken out of jealousy and greed oppose it. Only when evil has been stopped at its roots, and when there is wisdom without anger is there true stature.— Dharmapadavadana Sutra The False Stature of This WorldEveryone wants to be well regarded by others. However, in seeking true stature, people too often waste their time in Read more
I Am Not a Monk “Sponging Off” Buddhism (I)
At the many places I engaged in practice and study—at places such as Qixia in Nanjing, Jinshan and Jiaoshan in Zhenjiang, and Tianning in Changzhou, where I was brought up experiencing spring breezes, summer rains, autumn frosts, and winter snows—I studied silently and grew up quietly. I was always thinking as to how I could repay Buddhism’s kindness. I could not make a living by depending on Buddhism over Read more
Development of Mahayana’s Four Universal Vows
While the Four Noble Truths explain the phenomena of the universe, the Buddha expounded on them mainly as a guide for life. It is inadequate, however, to merely learn the Four Noble Truths. We must resolve, cultivate and practice accordingly. We must end the causes of suffering, practice the path, and reach the cessation of suffering in order to achieve liberation. Consequently, the Four Universal Read more