The Buddhist Way of Life for Householders
The Buddha considered economic welfare as a requisite for
human happiness, but moral and spiritual development for a happy,
peaceful and contend life.
A man named Dighajanu once visited the Buddha and said,
"Venerable Sir, we are ordinary layman, leading a family life with
wife and children. Would the Blessed One teach us some doctrines
which will be conducive to our happiness in this world and
hereafter?
The Buddha told him that there are four things which are
conducive to a man's happiness in this world. First: he should be
skilled, efficient, earnest, and energetic in whatever profession
he is engaged, and he should know it well (utthana-sampada);
second: he should protect his income, which he has thus earned
righteously, with the sweat of his brow (arakkha-sampada); third he
should have good friends (kalyana-mitta) who are faithful, learned,
virtuous, liberal and intelligent, who will help him along the
right path away from evil; fourth: he should spend reasonably, in
proportion to his income, neither too much nor too little, i.e., he
should not hoard wealth avariciously nor should he be extravagant-
in other words he should live within his means
(sama-jivikata)
Then the Buddha expounds the four virtues conducive to a
hayman's happiness hereafter: (1) Saddha: he should have faith and
confidence in moral, spiritual and intellectual values; (2) Sila:
he should abstain from destroying and harming life, from stealing
and cheating, from adultery, from falsehood, and from intoxicating
drinks: (3) Caga: he should practise charity, generosity, without
attachment and craving for his wealth; (4) Panna: he should develop
wisdom which leads to the complete destruction of suffering, to the
realisation of Nibbana.
Some times the Buddha even went into details about saving money
and spending it, as, for instances, when he told the young man
Sigala that he should spend one fourth of his income on his daily
expenses, invest half in his business and put aside one fourth for
any emergency. Once the Buddha told Anathapindika, the great
banker, one of His most devoted lay disciples who found for Him the
celebnted Jetavana Monastery at Savatthi, that a layman who leads
an ordinary family life has four kinds of happiness. The first
happiness is to enjoy economic security or sufficient wealth
acquired by just and righteous means (atthi-sukha): the second is
spending that wealth liberally on himself, his family, his friends
and relatives, and on meritorious deeds (bhoga-sukha): the third to
be free from debts (anana-sukha): the fourth happiness is to live a
faultless, and a pure life without committing evil in thought, word
or deed. (anavajja - sukha)
It must be noted here that first three are economic and material
happiness which is 'not worth part' of the spiritual happiness
arising out of a faultless and good life.
From the few examples given above, one can see that the Buddha
considered economic welfare as a requisite for human happiness, but
that he did not recognize progress as real and true if it was only
material, devoid of a spiritual and moral foundation. While
encouraging material progress, Buddhism always lays great stress on
the development of the moral and spiritual character for a happy,
peaceful and contented society.
Many people think that to be a good Buddhist one must have
absolutely nothing to do with the materialistic life. This is not
correct. What the Buddha teaches is that while we can enjoy
material comforts without going to extremes, we must also
conscientiously develop the spiritual comforts without going to
extremes, we must also conscientiously develop the spiritual
aspects of our lives. While we can enjoy sensual pleasures as
laymen, we should never be unduly attached to them to the extent
that they hinder our spiritual progress. Buddhism emphasizes the
need for man to follow the Middle Path.
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