The Wealth of Europe
The financial crisis in Europe, and the suffering caused by it, is something that has increasingly drawn my attention. The population of young people—my own age group—is particularly affected by it. I believe that in Spain more than half of young people are unemployed. Therefore, I believe that questions such as “what is wealth?” and “what makes us wealthy?” are more relevant today than ever before.
It goes without saying that a certain amount of material wealth—for example, those things related to food, clothing and shelter—is a necessity to sustain our life. Every individual has to work to survive, but when earning a living becomes the exclusive focus and priority of one’s life, problems can arise. When we live to earn rather than earn to live, there can be problems of excess and greed.
However, there are also other forms of wealth, required not just to sustain the physical body, but to sustain and develop our mind.
In this perspective, it may be interesting to look beyond the traditional ideas of financial wealth and really reflect on why our human species, among the many different types of existences, is so special and valuable.
As a Buddhist practitioner and teacher it is my hope and belief that Buddhism may have some interesting and valuable input to offer in this area. First of all, when trying to identify the causes for the present crisis from a Buddhist perspective, the root problems are certain human traits such as greed and laziness, all of which arise on the basis of ignorance.
It is one thing to cultivate just enough crops for your day-to-day needs. But when you start to collect crops, and start to stock up with the idea that you’ll have less work and more money, this can sow the seeds of unchecked greed. So it is really important to be aware of certain human traits that bring a lot of unnecessary problems. Sometimes, when we think we are getting richer, from a different perspective, we are becoming poorer.
Though I never went to school myself (as the head of a lineage, I had a special type of education), I had the good fortune to learn about all this from my parents. Later on, when I got into Buddhist studies and teachings, I learned more and more about the faults and qualities of humanity, and that helped me to learn about life.
The inner wealth is our mind, our consciousness. I believe that this mind is like a wish-fulfilling jewel. If you know how to utilize this mind, it can produce the most beneficial effects. The best way to utilize and develop this mind is to absorb knowledge, and the most important kind of knowledge is the one that makes us a kind person, a decent person, a person worthy of respect. And the qualities that make an individual kind, decent, and respectable are qualities such as patience, generosity, and kindness. The good news is that we do not have to adopt or create these qualities, since they are already potentially there in all of us.
So all we need to do is give ourselves, every day, a bit of a reason to generate these qualities, bit by bit. If we do this, it will not make society perfect, but it will enable us to appreciate whatever circumstances we might face.
I am particularly concerned with the young generation, because they will have a great say in the outcomes of today and tomorrow. In spite of all the negative news about the wealth of Europe, I do not think that we are living in the worst of times. Yes, there is a crisis, but the world is not at an end. If there is richness within each and every one of us—inner wealth—then there is an almost limitless supply in the vision and values of our young people.
Yes, there is a crisis, but thanks to the new communication technologies, we can be aware, share our knowledge, and put our heads together to find solutions. This is a great opportunity, and I am sure that something positive will come out of it. Every obstacle is always a turning point. It is a challenge, but it makes us think and forces us to come up with solutions.
From a Buddhist perspective, we actually have to be grateful for obstacles, because without them we never learn. It is thanks to difficulties and challenges that we can come up with solutions, some of which will work and some not. But even if they don’t work it doesn’t mean we should give up. It only means we should try again.
Ever since I first started traveling, the purpose of my travels has been to visit Buddhist centers around the world, and share Buddhist theories and ideas, and also to convey how we can contribute to the betterment of society and the world.
During my European tour this year (Summer 2012), I would like to learn more about how the financial crisis is affecting different groups and individuals in Europe and understand what they feel about the true definition of wealth. That’s why we have created the ‘Wealth of Europe’ poll1 to see what the opinions and ideas of Europe’s young people are. Perhaps when we see the results, we might see that we are all wealthier than we might think.
Five Steps to a Wealthier Life
We all want to lead healthy and prosperous lives. The news headlines in the United Kingdom and around the world, however, are firmly focused on the activities of banks and bankers and the weakness of our global economy. They paint a picture of wealth and prosperity defined by possessions and materialism alone. How do we lead wealthier lives, in ways that don’t just involve accumulating money?
From the Buddhist point of view, the root causes for the current crisis are certain human faults—in particular greed—and therefore, I believe that the solution to the challenges we are facing today equally lies within the mind, or the consciousness, of each individual.
If we ask ourselves what we, as individuals, can do to make a difference, I trust that change can be achieved by taking small steps to accumulate inner wealth. Fortunately, since there is a great number of human beings, if we add up the small steps that each individual takes, then within a very short time it will make a big difference. Therefore, the strategy of taking small steps is both doable and effective.
First of all we have to be aware of the various types of means and resources that we have in our lives. Even ambition or desire can be used to develop inner wealth, if they are channeled in the proper way. For instance, if we have the desire and the ambition to generate contentment, then that is a good desire and a good ambition. So, in this way, we must make ourselves aware of various types of means at our disposal, and once we have done that, then an important method is that of comparing ourselves with others.
If we know how to properly apply the method of comparing ourselves with others, we can extract a lot of inner wealth from that, too.
Often, we tend to compare ourselves with those who are wealthier, healthier, better-looking and generally better off, which leaves us feeling underprivileged and at a disadvantage—feelings which then become fertile ground for greed and desire.
If, on the other hand, we compare ourselves with those who are worse off, this will help us generate contentment and a sense of our own inner wealth and resources. Once again, in learning how to apply this method it is best to proceed step by step.
1. Consider animals. We might even start out by looking closely at the situation and suffering of animals and the limitations of their mental and verbal resources and thus make ourselves aware of how much more freedom and scope for action we have as human beings.
2. Consider those less fortunate. The next step would be to compare ourselves with those who are worse off—those who are poor, deprived or sick, and once this step has been engrained, we can then go on to the next step, which is about learning how to compare ourselves with others who may not be sick or poor—maybe even healthier and wealthier than ourselves—but mentally unhappy or lacking in qualities such as compassion, courage or generosity.
3. Question crisis. This training may lead us to a point where we might re-examine the very idea that we are in a crisis. Maybe it’s just a judgment on our part, based on the one-sided importance we have attached to material wealth. From our new perspective we may see that those who are poor in terms of material wealth might actually be quite wealthy in other areas.
4. Question ourselves. We might be very critical of our own condition and think that we are very poor, but on closer examination this may not really be the case. Maybe we have been misjudging ourselves, but we will only realize that once we know how to compare.
5. Be grateful. Finally, this way of training can bring us to a stage where, when we feel that there is some sort of crisis, we can actually be thankful about it: it makes us think, it makes us reassess where we stand, and it can help us realize that we are being too judgmental about everything, especially ourselves, and make us appreciate that it wasn’t as bad as we thought.
Therefore, I think that especially for us as “youth” it is important to constantly ask ourselves the question
“How much is enough?”, both in relation to our material and non-material values. The world has come to a point where things are moving very fast, there is constant time pressure and we are often forced to grow up and mature very quickly and take on heavy responsibilities, and therefore it is all the more important to be very aware of our own state of mind as well as of our environment.
I look forward to meeting with young people and youth organizations. The purpose of this blog is to share some of my thoughts with you, but also to improve my own understanding by learning about young people’s ideas and concerns.
Photo credit: Mike Churanov
- Go to “Wealth of Europe” poll on Facebook ↩︎
