Stories about wealth
16 Buddhist wisdom stories about wealth from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- A map to the toiletStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Blessing a riverside mansion in Perth, Ajahn Brahm asks the way to the toilet and the lady draws him a map. Ten or twelve bedrooms — and she lives there alone. Why not have…
Read full story
that house which I went to bless I won't say where in one of the suburbs in Perth was on the river and when I went there, this huge mansion and this is no joke when I went there I was travelling from serpentine I needed to go to the toilet. And when I asked the lady where is the toilet she got out a piece of paper and drew me a map. That's a big house. It's true... that's what ... . But the point was I asked how many people live in this house I don't know how many bedrooms-10 12 bedrooms ..she said just me. I live in this house alone. And you'll find in many of those big mansions may be one person, two at most. Isn't that telling you something? What it's telling you is that in those big places people are imprisoned by their wealth. You know why ... when I asked why don't you have some friends and relations? she said 'I am afraid of my relations'
- Easier for rich BuddhistsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a talk to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in WA, a wealthy business audience asks about Jesus' saying that it's harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass…
Read full story
I said this at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce about six months ago. I gave a talk at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in W.A and somebody actually asked this question, so it didn't actually come from me, it comes from the audience. They said, because the Chinese Chamber of Commerce is all these rich Chinese business people, and of course you know, the rich people, yeah they're doing okay in this world, but they want to know what happens after you die. So they said they knew in the Christian Bible, it does actually say that it's harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, that's actually in there. Now a camel goes through the eye of a needle, that's a pretty tough thing to do. And actually a lot of people say, well doesn't actually mean like a sewing needle, it was some door in Jerusalem or something, but whatever it was, everyone agrees it's a very difficult thing for a camel to pass the eye of a needle, so it must be even more difficult for a rich person to go to Christian heaven. So when he asked me, so what do you say about that Ajahn Brahm? I said look we don't have that in Buddhism at all, so it's actually much much easier for rich people to go to heaven if they're Buddhists. You lot are rich people over there, so it's quite obvious what religion you should have if you want to go to heaven. I said, that's our marketing, you want to go to heaven and you're rich, come here. Of course we also get more donations that way. But that’s only jokes, so of course that totally untrue.
- Guards with machine guns — to keep the world outStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting a very wealthy man in Kuala Lumpur, Ajahn Brahm passes machine-gun guards at the gate. 'Are you in a prison?' — 'That's to keep the world out, not to keep me in.'…
Read full story
meeting this guy he was the CEO of Tropicana resort and lots of other businesses over in Malaysia and he invited me to his house. No, I can't say houses... mansion, huge thing. But what really I...was really struck me that going into his residence there were like two guards with machine guns at the gate, it's like going into Buckingham palace where they have these household guards. And so, why do you need guards with machine guns? I've got no guards with machine guns in front of my cave
- Money or wisdom?Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Gandhi's law professor asks him: if you found two bags in the street, one of money and one of wisdom, and could take only one, which would you take? Gandhi: 'The money.' 'That's…
Read full story
that Gandhi was challenged by his professor of law. Mr. Gandhi, if you walking down the street and you saw these two big bags, one contained money and the other contained wisdom. Which one would you take up? You can only take one up and take away with you. Money or wisdom? And Gandhi said, I would take the money. That's a trouble with you students these days. You only think of money. And Gandhi replied, "Sir, we always take that which we don't have." Implying very easily that Gandhi was a poor student, but his professor had no wisdom.
- Naked in the coffin — hell has air-conJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Dying businessman asks to be buried naked — hell is hot, no clothes needed. Days later his naked ghost asks for the old gardening jumper and golfing trousers: hell is full of…
Read full story
he told his wife that he wanted to be put in his coffin without any clothes on you keep the coffin lid open if you wish but I don't want any clothes on my body when I die have you ever thought of that but anyhow so it was his last wish she didn't want to be haunted by him afterwards so she buried him naked but she oh she asked why why first of all and he said look I've been doing a lot of business in my life I know I've just you know broken a few rules here actually more than a few rules that's why I've been very wealthy look I know where I'm going it's very hot down there I don't need any clothes so she buried him naked [laughter] [gasps] two or three days later two or three days later he appeared as a ghost in her room naked as the day he was born and he said wife wife have you still got that that old gardening jumper I used to use and they go golfing trousers you still got them said yeah but what do you need them for didn't you go down to Hell and said well actually yes but there's so many rich people down there they've installed air conditioning everywhere
- Next to a media heir at the urinalStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At a Parliament House state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II, Ajahn Brahm finds himself at the urinal next to Lachlan Murdoch and thinks he should have brought a donation envelope…
Read full story
once I was I was at Parliament House in in Canberra a state dinner with Queen Elizabeth the second Wow And I went to the toilet like you have to do in the men's toilet in the urinal next to me Was Lachlan Murdoch? And I thought oh, I should have bought a donation envelope for the Buddha Society of Western stupid yeah But I didn't have one with me
- One buffalo, or wanting twoStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Living among subsistence farmers in north-east Thailand, young Ajahn Brahm wonders why some equally poor villagers are happy and others miserable. Every house has a water…
Read full story
But one of the things which I did notice living in that village. yeah sure many of those poor people were happier than the people I knew sort of from the great university like Cambridge I also saw some miserable people in that village. When I saw those miserable people in that village I wanted to find out why some people were miserable other people were happy when they both had very few things. and I found out that basically it worked out like this Every house had a water buffalo which they used to plough the fields. and the dung from the water buffalo would be the fertilizer for their fields The buffalo would plough their fields and do all sorts of tasks like pulling the cart and that was a very important part of their house But I noticed the farmers who had say one water buffalo and happy with one water buffalo seem to be the ones always smiling But the farmer who had one water buffalo but wanted two that was the farmer who was unhappy. who didn't seem to have so much time and so much joy in their lives Seemed to me that happiness was not so much how much you have but how much you want.
- The lawyer who tried to take it with himJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A dying rich lawyer, sure he can find a loophole, has his wife stash suitcases of cash in the attic above his bed so he can grab them on his way up to heaven. After the funeral…
Read full story
This really wealthy lawyer, you know, he thought he was smart. He made a lot of money. And when he got very sick and the doctor said he only had a few weeks to live, he thought, "How can I take it with me? Just because other people say you can't take it with you, I'm a lawyer. I can find loopholes so I can take it with me. So he's looking for the loophole so he could take it with him afterwards. He worked so hard to get all that money and so laying in bed having nothing else to do but think he had this brilliant idea. He told his wife he said go to the bank with my two suitcases which I usually go overseas with big suitcases. go to the bank and draw out as much money as you can from my bank account in cash. I think the biggest note is euro note, isn't it? A€,000 euro note is,000 euro notes so I can get as much money in my bags as possible. And once you brought the suitcases back, stash with millions in cash, put them in the attic just above my bed. Because my plan is when I die and I go up to heaven, I can grab the bags on my way up and take them with me. That's my plan. So the wife now, it's a waste of time arguing with husbands, especially if he's a lawyer. a waste of time. So she said, "Okay, I'll do that." So she went to the bank, got all the money out, and put them in the attic above her husband's bed, just on either side of the bed. So he went straight up. He could actually grab them. Not too far to the left, not too far to the right. She got it perfect. And a couple of days later, he died. And after doing the ceremonies for him, she went up to the attic for the first time. And of course, the bags were still there full of cash. I say, "Stupid old guy. If he'd have asked me, I'd have put the bags in the room below him cuz I know where he's gone.
- The lottery shop he blessedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Asked to bless a friend-of-a-friend's new small business, a busy Ajahn Brahm gives it his full blessing without asking what it is. A year or two later the West Australian reports…
Read full story
this was of this blessing once a Friend of mine here. He said the friend of a friend one of the people who came here very often And he's moved out of Perth now. He said one of his friends was opening up a small business Can I come and bless the business for him and of course you know just a blessing is just just giving you extra energy? You know making you feel good Just like you know the your honor the grounds of the football stadium or the cricket pitch and you cheer on your team Just my father cheered me on when I was playing soccer that meant a lot to me that made lifted up my spirit So I decided to go and chant for this business But you know I do get very busy sometimes and sometimes I forget to ask what type of business is it and this was a lottery store I Won't say which which shopping center this was in but I went there just opening out first time and I Really gave it a big full blessing ajahn brahm superpower And it was only about a year later two years later. I read in the West Australian Saturday edition clue to get the Saturday paper here to find out what's going on and There was a big article about this the most successful lottery outlet in Australia And I realized oh my goodness the one that I blessed I better not bless anymore
- The lottery winner led to jailStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A happy man of modest means wins a US lottery of over a hundred million dollars; soon his picture is in the paper as he is led to jail. With wealth came friends he couldn't trust…
Read full story
A classic story is few years ago one of the people who won a huge lottery in the United States hundred million dollars or more , his picture was in the newspaper being led to jail He was a very happy man before he won the lottery and as soon as he won the lottery things started to go wrong in his life Sure before he won that lottery he didn't have much money he had enough to enjoy his life, to be able eat and have a modest little house and go out with his friends but as soon as he became really really wealthy all of his friends he could not trust anymore. all were asking for loans or bits of money here and there it was one of the problems with wealth; even though it promises you so much it tends to limit your enjoyment of the world rather than facilitate it
- The lottery winners who couldn't find their kidsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A UK couple win about £40 million and buy a huge dream mansion — then sell it a year later, because the house is so big they can never find their children. They realise something…
Read full story
somebody sent me an email about this couple in the UK who won the lottery. They got instant money, about 40 million GBP. So they bought this huge mansion, one year later they sold that mansion. The reason they sold that mansion was they couldn't find their kids. It was just too big. So there they were in this dream mansion, just what sometimes, you'd drool over, you see maybe in the TV or you see in the magazines or you may go past if you go driving down Peppermint Grove. You'd think - wow wouldn't it be amazing living in a huge place like that with manicured gardens, swimming pools, and with people to serve you whatever you needed. But then, you think about what happens to a person in there. And this was someone who'd been there and done that, because the house had so many rooms, they could never find their kids. Almost had to send a search party out to see which room they were in. And because of that, they realised that something was terribly, terribly missing in their life. Family, relationships, a bit of love.
- The mango tree with no mangoesAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A king sees two mango trees — one laden, one bare — and almost curses the bare one. Returning for fruit he finds soldiers have stripped and ruined the laden tree; the bare tree…
Read full story
one of the kings in his Buddhist story he went went this is in the time of the Buddha he went with his soldiers to train and as he was coming back to his Palace after doing the training he saw two mango trees one of those mango trees had so many ripe mangoes on them the other tree had no mangoes at all and he thought what's the point of being a mango tree if you don't have any mangoes so he almost cursed that mango tree with no mangoes and the tree with lots of mangoes he thought that when I finished and got back to the palace and got changed I'll come out and enjoy some of these R mangoes that's what he did so he changed and got on his horse and came out to taste some of those right mangoes and only then he saw that his soldiers who's helping train they never bothered to get changed they stripped that mango tree which had the mangoes of every fruit which was on there and as they were stripping every mango they broke so many branches and stripped off so many leaves that mango tree which was once full of succulent mangoes was actually destroyed he looked at the mango tree which had no mangoes and that's the still had all its branches and leaves intact and he thought I'm going to renounce being a king if you have power and wealth there's other people who want it isn't it more happy to be someone who has enough to live but not too much so other people will never want to break into your house they never want to steal anything that's just like Monastery you know right now where I live the door of my coutti is open I never locked it this after oh it's actually this morning when I left bodana to come here my cave those doors are open too there's nothing in there just space there emptiness who can steal emptiness we can't st
- The Mexican fishermanStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An American business professor on holiday meets a Mexican fisherman unloading his morning catch: enough to feed his family, then lunch, a siesta, playing with his kids, dinner…
Read full story
it's a story of the old Mexican fisherman you know there was American who went on vacation to the Caribbean coast and when he was uh just walking around by the shore he saw a fishing boat come in to unload its morning catch and his Mexican fisherman unloaded the catch and this American came up to have a conversation with him said what are you doing seor he told the American I've been out fishing all morning I've got enough fish here to sell to feed my family so now I'm going to go home and have a nice lunch after lunch I'm going to have a sleep a cesta it's good for your health you don't get stressed out if you have a siesta can you have a siesta or you're too busy I'm going to have a cester and after cester I'll be home when my kids come back from school they play with them help them with their homework and in the evening I'm going to have dinner with my wife and maybe you know go to the the canteen or the pub in Mexico having a a couple of tequilas not much and play the guitar with my friends now life is good and that's when the American said sir I am a professor of business studies in a business school in the United States I think I can help you don't be so lazy you are not exploiting this wonderful resource of a fishing boat yeah go home and have lunch but go out in the afternoon you'll catch twice as much fish with the extra profit from twice as much fish you'll be able to buy a much bigger boat with a crew that way you'll soon be able to catch about four or six times as many fish with that extra profit you'll be able to buy a second boat in about four or five years you'll probably have a whole Fleet of boats and then with a whole Fleet of boats you can even make your own caner so you can process the fish it's Downstream processing to make increase your profits and then with that business you can actually uh move the center of your business to Mexico City or even better to LA and then because you own the whole business you can float it on the stock market know sell shares because you're the CEO you can award yourself these amazing obscene salaries and give yourself stock options which means if the stock goes up you can buy if it doesn't you don't need to you can make a millionaire many times over in about 10 years now I'm a professor of business studies that's how it's done and the Mexican fisherman listened very respectfully until the end of this presentation the Mexican fisherman said but Senor what will I do with all those millions of dollars and Professor thought for a few moments he hadn't thought the business plan out that far so he had to think that's all people think about making the few Millions but then what and the professor said well yeah with all that Millions few Millions you know you can retire you know you can retire to you know a nice fishing Village like this buy yourself a small boat just to go out in the morning for fun you'll be able to have lunch with your your wife every day you'll be able to take a siesta afterwards and you always be home to play with your children when they come back from school and you'll be able to go out in the evening with no worries at all Senor I do that already
- The millionaire who retired to GuadalcanalStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A man who made his fortune in the Roaring Twenties and cashed out before the Depression researches the safest, most perfect place in the world to retire, and chooses the tropical…
Read full story
There was a man who was in the boom years of United States in the roaring 20s made enough money and managed to cash it in before the depression years and being a multimillionaire he decided 'why should I just live in the United States' are there any other places in the world where I can live which got a better climate, safer, more happy existence so he went to the local public library got out books and he used his intelligence to try and find the perfect place in the world where he could retire and enjoy his remaining years using his great wealth. He could go anywhere he wanted with so much money. So he decided on a tropical island with perfect climate it was called Guadalcanal For those of you who are old enough you know that Guadalcanal became famous because it was the site of two major battles in the Second World War. First when it was taken over by the Japanese Imperial Troops and then it was actually taken over by the Americans afterwards two huge battles. So there was a guy who made his pile, and thought I am now gonna retire to Guadalcanal thinking of being peaceful for ever after. What happened? He gets involved in two major wars, Actually he survived both battles apparently. Two major battles, he survived both and lived to tell the tale but it wasn't a peaceful place.
- The tycoon's mansion that felt like a prisonStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting a Kuala Lumpur tycoon's mansion to give a blessing, Ajahn Brahm passes machine-gun guards, huge walls and CCTV everywhere, and realises the very wealthy live in private…
Read full story
I just remember just going to give him in a blessing and his mansion It was over in Kuala Lumpur somewhere I won't say which guy this is I went to his mansion and there were guards with machine guns the guy You know he was a private person just a tycoon Guards at his gate huge Huge walls see CCTV ninety-three two seats CCC saw something TVs and guards everywhere And I thought this is like going in a prison And it was like a prison He reminded me of a prison, so these guys are very very wealthy actually lived in their own private prisons And they couldn't go anywhere by themselves Always had to have somebody take them around Bodyguards everywhere and so what type of life is that?
- “They're all Buddhists” — the expensive clinicStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A very wealthy Kuala Lumpur businessman tells Ajahn Brahm he paid a fortune for therapy at a famous US clinic, even meeting the founder of the mindfulness movement — and came…
Read full story
This incredibly wealthy businessman, you know, he came up to me and he said he'd just been to the Mayo Clinic in Cleveland where all the film stars and pop stars, you know, go. It cost fortune to go to that clinic for therapy. Had depression, anxiety, I forget what it was, some addiction. And he went to this place cost him an absolute fortune. He had actually because he had money he had a personal in interview with John Kabbertson the guy who founded the mindfulness movement. And when he came back he said ajan bra all these guys here they're all Buddhists every one of them. And he said they teach the same thing as you do only not as clear. And he said I'm crazy. I spent all this money going to United States and I can hear better from you. He said, "Yeah, I teach these guys. You go to the source and it's really cheap when you come here.