The Butler Project

A Buddhist perspective on debt and happiness:

“Herein, householder, these four kinds of happiness are appropriate for one who leads the household life and enjoys the pleasures of the senses. They are the happiness of ownership, the happiness of enjoyment, the happiness of freedom from debt, and the happiness of blamelessness.

“And what is the happiness of freedom from debt (ananasukha)? Herein, a son of good family owes no debt, be it great or small, to anyone at all. He experiences pleasure and happiness, reflecting. ‘I owe no debts, be they great or small, to anyone at all.’ This is called the happiness of freedom from debt.

And Buddhism’s take on how we should think about money:

the Buddha stresses four areas in which householders may relate skillfully to wealth [D.III.188; A.V.176-182]:

Acquisition — Wealth should not be acquired by exploitation, but through effort and intelligent action; it should be acquired in a morally sound way.

Safekeeping — Wealth should be saved and protected as an investment for the further development of livelihood and as an insurance against future adversity. When accumulated wealth exceeds these two needs, it may be used for creating social benefit by supporting community works.

Use — Wealth should be put to the following uses: (1) to support oneself and one’s family; (2) to support the interests of fellowship and social harmony, such as in receiving guests, or in activities of one’s friends or relatives; (3) to support good works, such as community welfare projects.

Mental attitude — Wealth should not become an obsession, a cause for worry and anxiety. It should rather be related to with an understanding of its true benefits and limitations, and dealt with in a way that leads to personal development.

It is the Buddhist belief that our circumstances at birth stem in large part from how we behaved in previous lives. This excerpt discusses how that belief relates to our actions in the present:

…the Buddha praised the quality of goodness and benefit more than wealth itself. The common tendency (in Thailand) to praise people simply because they are rich, based on the belief that their riches are a result of accumulated merit from previous lives, without due consideration of the factors from the present life, contradicts the teachings of Buddhism on two counts: Firstly, it does not exemplify the Buddha’s example of praising goodness above wealth; secondly it does not make use of reasoned consideration of the entire range of factors involved.

A favorable birth is said to be a good capital foundation which affords some people better opportunities than others. A good “capital foundation” can easily degenerate. If it is used with care and intelligence it will lead to benefit for all concerned, but if one is deluded by one’s capital foundation, or favorable situation, one will use it in a way that not only wastes one’s valuable opportunities, but leads to harm for all concerned. The important question for Buddhism is how people use their initial capital. The Buddha did not praise or criticize wealth; he was concerned with actions.

Finally, the article discusses the highest and best use of wealth:

According to the Buddhist teachings, wealth should be used for the purpose of helping others; it should support a life of good conduct and human development. According to this principle, when wealth arises for one person, the whole of society benefits, and although it belongs to one person, it is just as if it belonged to the whole community. A wealthy person who uses wealth in this manner is likened to a fertile field in which rice grows abundantly for the benefit of all. Such people generate great benefit for those around them. Source

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