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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