323-What is poverty?- Buddhism in daily life

What is poverty?


Let me call the family "the Peters" for simplicity's sake.


The father has a prosperous business, he manufactures spare parts
for cars. In his early youth he became an apprentice in a similar
company, graduated as a master craftsman there. A few years later
he started his own business, with diligence and luck he worked
his way up, became wealthy, his company grew bigger and bigger.
He was very proud of his success, liked to brag about his
possessions, felt important to other people, his life had always
gone "according to plan" for him.


Due to his financial independence he was able to find a good wife
at a young age, the couple fell in love, married quickly, and had
two healthy children, a boy and a girl.


The couple bought a beautiful, large house, with a swimming pool,
sauna, surrounded by an enchanting garden.


The wife came from a much less rich country, she still had her
family there, her parents were simple farmers. Often she went to
visit the homeland, lived there a completely different life than
with her husband, simple, but also hardworking.


Often she also took the children with her so that they could
visit their grandparents. The children could spend their
vacations there, learn modesty, help on the farm, experience
animals, feel nature.


Especially her daughter gave her a lot of joy, as the girl
developed into a particularly intelligent and compassionate
being, a little light seemed to burn in her. She charmed her
fellow men, wisdom spoke from her words, despite her few years
she was special.


On the way back after the vacation, a conversation developed
between mother and daughter. The mother asked: "And, my darling,
how were the vacations for you, was it interesting with grandpa
and grandma"? The daughter answered: "Yes mother, it was very
interesting, I played a lot, often helped the grandparents, and I
learned a lot. I also saw how poor our family is, and yet they
are much richer than us". This astonished the mother, she asked
the daughter how she came up with such an idea. "Mother, we have
only one dog, but our grandparents have many animals. We only
have a small swimming pool, but at your parents' house there is a
big lake. We have many lamps on the property, but in the yard
here there are millions of stars that I could look at every
night. Our property is bigger than the neighbors', but we look at
the back wall of their houses, my grandparents can see all the
way to the horizon."


Then the mother understood!


NOT HE WHO HAS LITTLE, BUT HE WHO DESIRES MUCH, IS POOR


- LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA - ROMAN PHILOSOPHER AND DRAMATIST- 1 TO
65


When we internalize the Buddha's teaching, we are rich, rich in
inner peace, in tranquility, balanced and in the pure. Poverty
and wealth are two sides of the same coin. Because it is only up
to us how we look at wealth and poverty, the feeling arises from
our contemplation. Even without having a single coin in our
pockets, we can be very rich people.


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