(Photo above by Annie Spratt / Unsplash)
So, who hasn’t fantasized about winning the lottery? Money can be a great source of anxiety and suffering because we need money to survive in this world. However, beyond that… does having more of it mean we are happier? As the Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda aptly explains:
People may live in fine houses or possess great wealth, but if their hearts are mean and their life conditions are low, they will not be truly happy; they will be dwelling in palaces of misery. In contrast, people who have beautiful, generous hearts and a high life condition, irrespective of their present circumstances, are certain to attain both material and spiritual happiness. This accords with the Buddhist principle of the oneness of life and its environment—that our lives and our surroundings are one and inseparable.
The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, Part 1
Buddhism teaches that we perceive the world and use the resources in our environment is determined by our inner condition of life.
Just as the 13th-century Buddhist reformer Nichiren Daishonin writes in the letter “Reply to the Lay Priest Soya”:
Hungry spirits perceive the Ganges River as fire, human beings perceive it as water, and heavenly beings perceive it as amrita. Though the water is the same, it appears differently according to one’s karmic reward from the past.
“Reply to the Lay Priest Soya,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 486
Ikeda continues with the following example:
To illustrate, if people with little money manage to stay at a first-rate hotel by resorting to unreasonable measures, then even though they may enjoy fine living there for a time, eventually the truth will come out, and they will have to return to their shabby homes. Using the same analogy, it could be said that the purpose of Buddhist practice, rather than being able to check into a nice hotel, is to securely rebuild one’s home. Through our practice we develop a self that is like a splendid palace. To do so, we must first understand the fundamental causes of our suffering— the places where the roof leaks or where there are drafts—and fundamentally repair these areas, and so create a comfortable and homey state of life.In other words, Buddhist practice lies in perceiving that the cause of suffering is none other than one’s own illusions and then struggling to transform the self so as to conquer these illusions.
The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, vol. 4, p. 157-158
For instance, if we chant to overcome our financial woes but still spend $11 for every $10 we earn, we are, in essence, avoiding the hard work of repairing our “leaky roof” and constructing the splendid palace that is our lives.
The yardstick we can apply here is whether money is something we use or something we are controlled by.
Ultimately, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for conspicuous benefits enables us also to gain inconspicuous benefits, which take longer to cultivate.
Speaking to young people, Ikeda defined inconspicuous benefit as:
Good fortune accumulated slowly but steadily, like the growth of a tree or the rising of the tide, which results in the forging of a rich and expansive state of life. We might not discern any change from day to day, but as the years pass, it will be clear that we’ve become happy, that we’ve grown as individuals. This is inconspicuous benefit.
Discussions on Youth, new edition, pp. 226–27
When we make time to be there for the people in our lives based on a wish for their happiness, we can live with composure, unaffected by fleeting joys and sorrows. We accumulate such fortune by persevering in Buddhist practice, by not backsliding in chanting. In so doing, we become truly wealthy people, millionaires of faith.