Contentment

sinweiy SG

Here's a powerful simile, thus i heard.

Five children were playing the wishing game. "If you are granted a wish, what will you want?" In this game, the first child said, "If I have a wish, I'll wish for an ice-cream." Because it's quite a sunny, hot day. The second child said, "I'll wish for an ice-cream factory." Because, if there's an ice-cream factory, you can have all the ice cream you one when you want it. The third child did even better, he said, "If I have a wish, I'll wish for a billion dollars." Because with a billion dollars, you can buy all type of factories. The fourth child is smarter, he said, "If I have a wish, I'll wish for 3 wishes. In my first wish, I can wish for an ice-cream factory, and for my second wish, I can wish for a billion dollars, and for the third wish, I can wish back my 3 wishes." Because with endless wishes, you can get what you want again and again. The fifth child bet all the four children. His wish was more profound and brought more happiness. He said, "If I have a wish, I wish I don't need any more wishes ever again, end of wishing." Because without wishes, one let go, that is contentment and freedom, freedom of desire. If one still needs wishes, one is not happy with the present situation. Worldly beings would rather choose to be the fouth child, but the fifth child IS the idea of Buddha. /\

sinweiy SG

another story by Ajahn Brahm:-

“In my tradition, monks aren’t allowed to accept, own, or handle any money, whatever its kind. We are so poor that we mess up government statistics. We live frugally on the unsolicited, simple gifts from our lay supporters. However, infrequently, we may be offered something special.

I had helped a Thai man with a personal problem. Out of gratitude, he said to me: “Sir, I would like to give you something for your personal use. What can I get you for the amount of five hundred baht?” It was usual to quote the amount when making such an offering, to avoid any misunderstanding. Since I wouldn’t think what I wanted straight away and he was in a hurry, we agreed that I could tell him the next day when he returned.

Before this occured, I was a happy little monk. Now I started to contemplate what I wanted. I made a list. The list grew. Soon, five hundred baht wasn’t enough. But it was so difficult to take anything off the list. Wants had appeared out of nowhere and solidified into absolute necessities. And the list kept growing. Now, five thousand baht wasn’t sufficient!

Seeing what was happening, I threw my wish list away. The next day, I told my benefactor to give five hundred baht to the monastery building fund or to some other good cause. I didn’t want it. What I wanted most of all was to regain the rare contenment I had had the day before. When I had no money, nor the means to get anything, that was the time when all my wishes were fulfilled. Wanting has no end to it. Even one billion baht isn’t enough, nor a billion dollars. But freedom from wanting has an end. It is when you want nothing. Contentment is the only time you have enough.”

- Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? : Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life’s Difficulties (Ajahn Brahm)

sinweiy SG

There is a story of a man who worked as a basket weaver. He was a simple man who enjoyed weaving his baskets. He whistled and sang and passed the day happily as he worked. At night he retired to his little hut and slept well.

One day a wealthy man passed by and saw this poor wretched basket weaver. He was filled with compassion and gave him a thousand dollars.

“Take this,” he said, “and go enjoy yourself.”

The basket weaver took the money with much appreciation. He had never seen a thousand dollars in his life. He took it back to his ramshackle hut and was wondering where he could keep it. But his hut was not very secure.
He could not sleep all night because he was worrying about robbers, or even rats nibbling at his cash.

The next day he took his thousand dollars to work, but he did not sing or whistle because he was worrying so much about his money again.

Once more, that night he did not sleep, and in the morning he returned the thousand dollars to the wealthy man, saying, “Give me back my happiness.”
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/buddhism/pandit9b.htm

sinweiy SG

BUT Contentment must not be misunderstood as complacency and apathy.

Ven P.A. Payutto taught: Contentment While not technically an economic concern, I would like to add a few comments on the subject of contentment. Contentment is a virtue that has often been misunderstood and, as it relates to consumption and satisfaction, it seems to merit some discussion. The tacit objective of economics is a dynamic economy where every demand and desire is supplied and constantly renewed in a never-ending and ever-growing cycle. The entire mechanism is fueled by tanha. From the Buddhist perspective, this tireless search to satisfy desires is itself a kind of suffering. Buddhism proposes the cessation of this kind of desire, or contentment, as a more skillful objective. Traditional economists would probably counter that without desire, the whole economy would grind to a halt. However, this is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of contentment. People misunderstand contentment because they fail to distinguish between the two different kinds of desire, tanha and chanda. We lump them together, and in proposing contentment, dismiss them both. A contented person comes to be seen as one who wants nothing at all. Here lies our mistake. Obviously, people who are content will have fewer wants than those who are discontent. However, a correct definition of contentment must be qualified by the stipulation that it implies only the absence of artificial want, that is tanha; chanda, the desire for true well-being, remains. In other words, the path to true contentment involves reducing the artificial desire for sense-pleasure, while actively encouraging and supporting the desire for quality of life. These two processes -- reducing tanha and encouraging chanda -- are mutually supportive. When we are easily satisfied in material things, we save time and energy that might otherwise be wasted on seeking objects of tanha. The time and energy we save can, in turn, be applied to the development of well-being, which is the objective of chanda. When it comes to developing skillful conditions, however, contentment is not a beneficial quality. Skillful conditions must be realized through effort. Too much contentment with regards to chanda easily turns into complacency and apathy. In this connection, the Buddha pointed out that his own attainment of enlightenment was largely a result of two qualities: unremitting effort, and lack of contentment with skillful conditions. [D.III.214; A.I.50; Dhs. 8, 234] http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/econ3.htm#Contentment

From: “Buddhist Economics: A Middle Way for the Market Place” by Ven P.A. Payutto