Conversation Between Buddha And The Poor (佛陀与穷人的对话）

last SG · 2011-03-13T12:19:46+00:00

more involve in money making per se. :)

Dawnfirstlight SG

穷人问佛陀：我为什么这么穷？

佛：因为你没有学会给于别人。

穷人：我什么都没有，如何给于？

佛：一个人即使没有钱，也可以给于人五样东西：

1）颜施：微笑待人处事。

2）言施：多说鼓励赞美和安慰的话。

3）心施：敞开心扉对人诚恳。

4）眼施：用善意的眼光给于别人。

5）身施：以行动帮助别人。

阿弥陀佛！

An Eternal Now SG

阿弥陀佛！

sinweiy SG

nice....it's the generous heart that count.

Wiser SG

hahaha...how to be generous when you are poor ?

In india, my friend saw a poor mother holding out her hand , carrying a baby. A little girl desperately wanted some money did an acrobatic stunt in front of them. When you are that hungry and starving, are you able to smile ?

dun think the above applied to the really slum and beggar poor.

Wiser SG

and most of the really poor are so worried about how to get money to buy food, they can't even think of other things except what can they do to get help. Like the father who jumped down into the tracks of MRT.

Most of the really dirt-poor are also bullied and looked down by others better off than them that they don't even dare to say they are poor.

A smiling face, a helping gesture should be from the better off to the poor even if they don't want to donate any money.

realization SG

hahaha...how to be generous when you are poor ?

dun think the above applied to the really slum and beggar poor.

Ya, it's true that in Singapore, we seldom give thought to the truly destitute. Yours is an apt and timely reminder that we each have responsibility to look around us and help in our own way.

Still, the advice about offering kindness and a positive attitude is a good reminder that giving doesn't always have to be of the material sort. Even when we despair of not having the monetary means for philanthropy, the option of creating good karma by sharing lovingkindness is always there; and it's a choice we can make from moment to moment, day by day. Easier said than done sometimes, but we can try.

Rooney9 SG

Kamma is not easily understood and clearly defined. I understand that stealing and being a miser and ungenerous are causes of being born in poverty?

Wiser SG

if you can understand your own karma , you are very deep in meditation and can see your past lifes. It's like the onion peeling slowly one layer by one layer.

Karma is a complex thing. Mainly a vicious cycle. intertwined.

Not to be used to threaten others though. That's not the purpose of explaining karma.

Should be used to encourage people to sow good karma rather than using their past lives to scare/intimidate them.

TWE SG

Being poor doesn't mean one must be in bad or sad moods all day long , hungryness doesn't affect your facial muscle at all , from a scientific point of view . Or the buddha could be referring to his past life when he was not that bad .

I use live a poor life too ( although maybe not as poor as in the story ) in toa payoh half living room n half room . I have a neighbour who was worse off then us having 4 children and the eldest is a retarded and the husband was a painter , wife is not working as she need to care for the eldest daughter .

But the wife would always chat with my mum as per normal joking , gossiping etc . And when my grandma diead , she even volunteered to help us pour hot tea and coffee to our " guest " without my mum asking her for help at all , as me and my siblings were still too young to be of any help or to know what to do . When my mum thank her for all her help she just smiled and say no problem we are neighbours and must help one another .

But the thing is all my relative whom have money , never bothered to help at all . They only came to give some " money " then at most consol my mum and father . None of them actually offered to help out the manual stuff except for a few of their wife helping out for a few hours and being questioned by their husband over why they help us .

So can you pple imagine if everyone just come and give some money then was served some " curry chicken " . Can my family cope with the funeral at all ? Without my neighbour i can't imagine how my parents can cope with the funeral not to mention having to take care of us too ( and my neighbour also have her own children to take care of ) .

And when my mum heard that one of her neighbours child was unable to stand up due to mal-nutrition . My mum even though don't really have much cash to spare , still use her household allowances for buying food for the whole family to buy a big tin of good milk powder for her son to drink to get some nutrition .After which we had a few weeks of plain white porridge with soy sauce for our meals . After abt 1 week my neighbours son recovered and my neighbour thanks my mum profusely for the milk powder which they can't afford to buy .

So end of story is , whats the point of being rich but selfish to only care of how to make more money ? WHY can't the poor SMILE ? WHY can't the poor offer anything ? They CAN ok . Even news also ever reported of a baby female infant being abandoned by the roadside to die in other poor countries only to have another POOR KID scooping water from a nearby pond to feed it and to give it whatever scraps of food the POOR kid have himself .

Don't always think money is everything , nowadays i see most pple able to do anything unscrupulous to their own pple just to be promoted or to get any form of benefits . And they will say that poor pple deserve to be poor and only those who have status and wealth will become buddhas or gods ( this was told to me by my very own colleagues ) . To those pple , i can only say karma will come to you one day .

Sory for having such a long " composition " but this is a very true story happening to me . Last but not least , remember , money cannot buy everything .

TWE SG

Wiser , your statements seems to say otherwise about your nick . Pple tend to see things from their own point of view but ahve you ever try to put yourself in their shoes ?

Generous don't necessary mean in terms of money , it can be in terms of time . You ever heard of voulnteer work ? Do you have to be rich to do volunteer work ? Surely you have heard of mother teresa , is she rich ? And when you see poor pple , have you though of helping them even though if its just for that monent ? For example you say your friend saw a children performing a acrobatic stunt to get money , did your friend gave her some money or just walk off then tell you this story when you meet each other ?And then to pity them ?

To those beggers in the street , maybe they really have no time to help others or give anything or time at all to help others . But to us , they are pple in urgent need of help . You have the choice of helping or not helping . But i'm sure if you help them , you will definitely see their smiles for you . So WHO says the poor have no smiles ?

Wiser SG

the poor can only SMILE when help come in their way at the right time. Do they smile every day?

of course the poor can also help the poor by sacrificing in a short term.

Long term?

Among the poor and the rich , both will have friends like what you cited in your example.

The rich can also have rich neighbour helping out manually, even by just being there to console the rich friend, it is still kindness. It doesn't apply only to the poor alone.

The rich has more resources to help others and they do. Some rich people do.

Let's not condemn all the rich people.

Wiser SG

TWE how do you know i never help the poor ? you know me in person , is it? so what is your real name.

Secondly i think you have grossly misunderstood and mis-interpreted what i have said up there . If you have problem reading my post, read again to understand better where i am coming from. Put yourself in my shoes .

Thirdly TWE what made you think that you are the only person in this world who had ever experienced poverty? don't be so self centered and arrogant based on your proclaimed self-righteouness.

Fourthly, i tell you the ending part of the story my friend told me about her trip in India. I asked her, so did you give any money to the poor mother and the performing little girl. She told me non of her tour group dare to give money because the tour guide warned them that they would be surrounded by beggars and would not be safe.

Who gave some money in the end. A caucasian woman who walked past the hotel.

Wiser SG

TWE i seriously doubt you have ever been a volunteer and help any poor in your life except to be proud of the fact that you were ever being poor before.

realization SG

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Amitayus48 SG

光緒十八年，大師住北京阜城門外圓廣寺，一日與一僧在直門外緩步，一丐童，年十五六，向大師乞錢。大師曰：「念一句佛，與汝一錢！」丐童不念。大師又曰：「念十句佛，與汝十錢！」丐童仍不肯念。大師將錢袋取出，約有四百多錢，和顏謂之曰：「汝念一句，與汝一錢，儘管念，我儘此一袋錢給完為止！」丐童大哭，終不肯念。大師歎其太乏善根，因與一文錢而去！此二則軼事，乃大師親與我說，覺有情編者以大師西逝，向余徵稿，書此畀之！

印光大師三十二歲的時候，在北京圓廣寺掛單，有一天他跟一位法師到寺院的附近散步，看見一個年約十五、六歲的少年，在路上行乞。這位少年看見了他們，就走過來向印光大師說：
「師父行行好！布施我一點錢吧！」
「你念一句『南無阿彌陀佛』，我就給你一文錢。」大師說。

少年瞪大眼睛看著大師，不念！

大師看到這個情形，又告訴他：
「你念十句『南無阿彌陀佛』我就給你十文錢。」

少年目瞪口呆，用難以置信的表情看著大師，仍然不念。於是大師將身上所有的錢都掏出來，大概有四百多文錢。他再次對少年說：
「你念一句佛號，我就給你一文錢。你儘管一直念下去，直到這袋錢都給了你為止。」

少年聽到大師這麼說，突然大哭起來，因為他非常想要錢，卻仍然不肯念佛。

大師體會到一句佛號要從缺乏善根的孩子口中念出來，竟然是那麼地困難，他搖搖頭，嘆了一口氣：
「唉！這孩子實在太缺乏善根了！」

大師從錢袋中拿出一文錢，給了這位少年，然後就回去了。

sinweiy SG

hahaha...how to be generous when you are poor ?

dun think the above applied to the really slum and beggar poor.

ya, that's how poorer people become even poorer and richer people become richer. generous(in a pretend form) and real Heart of generousity is bit different.

i think they would smile if it's for money. if they know, doing an acrobatic stunt performance should put on a smiling face in order to get the money, they would smile. :)

our old master was poor once, and his teacher told him to practice generousity. then old master say he no money. teacher say ten cent got or not. old master say ten cent have. teacher say then start from ten cent. start from small to big. now old master is giving by the millions.

the idea Buddha taught is the more u give the more u gain. especially like the Wealth God 财神爷, like Bill Gate, like Li Ka Shing. gain can be of wealth, health or wisdom.

Wealth God 财神爷(forgot his real name as a human) was a benevolent and honest man who used to be a palace minister, but later he was mistreated and he left the palace to do business and start to earn big money. and every time he did, he gave it all to the poor. and only keep a little, to start another business, and every time he was able to make big money and start another. and every time the money keep rolling in, non stop. hence he became known as God of Wealth. but actually it's his heart of generousity.

sinweiy SG

for me i try to give, but not easy to give like that of Wealth God 财神爷. almost everything give out. in his mind, money is not important. i still money important. try to give also thinking of gaining more. :P

to have a heart of generousity not easy.

Buddhism also have a case where this poor girl who donated a big ratio of all her money to a great monk and the great monk came out to bless her. later the girl became the queen and went back to visited the great monk. she donated some big money but the great monk only told a small monk to do the blessing. and she wonder why, as she had gave more than last time. the great monk told her that the heart of generousity was different now and then. (one can see it in term of ratio between the amount u giving and the amount u have.)

realization SG

the idea Buddha taught is the more u give the more u gain. especially like the Wealth God 财神爷, like Bill Gate, like Li Ka Shing. gain can be of wealth, health or wisdom.

It's like 有钱出钱，没钱出力 (have $$, contribute $$; lacking $$, contribute in deed). Still can 布施 (be charitable).

I always remember the "corny" (but true) line in those HK charity shows:　多多益善，少少无区. Give generously to charity, even a little counts. Give as generously as you can, within your means.

I read one Dharma teacher say that when you are rich and have means, it is easier to do charity by donation. However, the poor, for obvious reasons, have less chance in this respect.

Therefore, he stressed that if you are poor, you should take every opportunity to help others in deed. He said the opportunity to do good doesn't always present itself. If you cannot give materially, then at least treasure opportunities to give in deed.

Wiser SG

My favourite buddhist story. Do you know how a hata start? The white piece of cloth that the Tibetan will offer to guests of honour and when they go to the temples.

During Buddha's time, a very poor old man wanted to offer something to the Buddha . He had only on him, the white cloth that covered his lower body. So he took it off , washed it very clean in the river and walked up NAKED to the Buddha and offered it to HIM. Everyone laughed at him for giving a tattered piece of cloth to the Buddha but Buddha said he would be reborn in the heaven with a very beautiful heavenly body because he gave all he had ( his only asset) away.

Now how many people can give until they are naked ?

Last time, people can still walk around with nothing on them but they can survive from taking food from forests and ponds, in this modern society, how do you survive when you have to pay so many bills first ?

Wiser SG

actually sinweily, the irony of my friend's story in India is that they have the coins, the means to give to the dirt-poor but they dare not, out of fear for their personal safety.

Whereas the caucasian woman had the guts to do so.

Any-way, many beggars in India are also sydnicate controlled group. Kids were kidnapped to do this begging business. Donating to these beggars are not encouraged. Instead helping them to find a skill to survive is much more practical.

For eg, a school for sewing, a school for making ornaments , but first you have to fight the sydnicates to free their controlled hostages.