The duty of the people to pay their taxes on time without hiding information about tax payments. The word “royal tax” is used to indicate the tax that must be paid to the state. Therefore, we see that Buddhism, because of its clear economic philosophy, can be considered not only as a theory that talks about the next life, but also as a theory, a religion that talks about the way and means for making society and individuals prosper. The Tripitaka is full of teachings that prove that Buddhism is not only about the next life, but also helps individuals and society to live a prosperous life in society because of the clear economic philosophy contained in the entire Buddhist theory.
By Bellanwila Wimalaratana in Buddhism Society and Environment
Translated by: Chan Iam
Yo ca vassatnam jive kosito hinviryo ekaham jivetam seiya viriyam araphathom. With weak efforts, even if one lives a hundred years, it is not as good as living even one day of a person who has made constant efforts.
(Dhamma) Attanameva pātkam padirūpe nivesaye athanamanusasāceya nā kileśpaiyya bandhīdho. One should first establish oneself in proper virtue, and then teach others, so that it will not be difficult.
(Dhamma) Hinam dhamma sevāyya pamātena nā samvāsem micca dithī nā sevāyya nā sīya lāgavadhana. One should not commit lowly deeds, should not live with insults, should not hold wrong views, should not live merely in the world.
(Dhamma) The view of the lower benefits is the lower benefits, the four abilities that have been mentioned, and this is the work that must be practiced to bring about happiness in the present and future in old age. In this nature, it is considered the lower benefits that are the foundation to be a stepping stone for reaching the higher benefits. If only the lower benefits are not fulfilled well, what ability will there be to grasp the higher benefits! Therefore, do not have the thought of looking down on these lower benefits because they are the manifestations of the Buddha.
May everyone know the benefits according to the things mentioned and act accordingly to achieve happiness according to their desires.
Effort is achieved as desired Definition: Saving gradually can achieve desires.
The phrase “Do not spend according to desire” Of course, human desires have no limits. We see some people who spend with limits because they can control their desires because they know how difficult it is when they have nothing, how hungry they are when they lack food, and how hard it is to earn money. Another old saying goes, “People and money, giants and meat.” Even a giant can eat up a person’s desires. That’s why this phrase says, “Don’t spend according to your desires,” especially for young people who are spending their parents’ money. Because if our lives are not as comfortable as theirs, in line with modern consumer goods that are produced to appeal to people’s desires, and we spend according to our desires, it is clear that it is delicious for a moment, it satisfies our desires for a moment, it is delicious for a moment, and it is delicious for a moment. Then tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we have nothing to eat, or we have food but we eat it to the last drop. Sometimes there are urgent matters, such as illness, or other problems. How can we solve them without using money? So the same phrase is “Don’t spend according to your desires.”
The phrase “Don’t want to follow everyone” means that whatever you want, whether it is positive or negative, wanting to follow everyone is risky. If you want to learn from this and that, you need to look at how many subjects you can divide into a day. If you want a good phone or a new motorcycle, you need to look at your parents' income. If you want to celebrate without regrets, you need to look at your financial strength. If you want anything, you need to think about the results of your desires: how are they like us or different from us? Their abilities are our abilities, their livelihoods are our livelihoods, their family income is our family income, their time is our time, their results are different and the same. So decide, "Don't just follow them." The phrase "Don't follow them" means that they tell you, they trick you, they provoke you, or they curse you. Every word they say, even if it is with good intentions, must go through your mind. Which words should be considered? Which words should be discarded? But not immediately. Which words should be followed? The ancient proverb says, "Jrei loam sra lao, tra vloam beong." Some words are said beautifully and softly, but with bad intentions, they say by tempting you, or by tricking you (popular wisdom). Especially people with this logic are skilled at telling lies. Even though we are people with light ears (some call us white ears), we will always believe in what others say, and we will always follow what others say (subconscious mind). They will lead us to the left and right. As a result, we will become their pawns, becoming a pawn in making profits for them. This result is not good, my friend, so “don’t follow them.”
The phrase “Don’t follow the rich” means if you follow the rich, what will happen? The meaning is like the first phrase. The rich are proud and they sleep and sing because they have big jobs. They have a lot of money and can support their lives. Some of you still spend money from your parents (poor parents), and some have jobs and careers, but they barely support their lives. If you can’t control your desires and still want to follow the rich, when you are in trouble and hungry, you will have no one to help you. The ancient proverb says, “A mosquito sees an elephant and tries to follow it.” Its small body and small buttocks are not worth it. Wanting to imitate an elephant will only make you lose.
Let's all read the following story to educate our children:
The story of the ants and the ants
This story is based on the French proverb. There was a ants who were lazy. When the season of the month of Pesach, the rainy season, arrived, they flew around singing and playing as they pleased. They did not have to worry about finding food to store for themselves. There was a group of ants, who were lazy animals, who brought rice and stored it in their nests, thinking about poverty.When the rainy season came, the ant was hungry and could not find food. So it flew to borrow rice from the ant and said, "My dear, my dear, I have nothing to eat. Because the rains are very heavy this month, I will not be able to find food. I have come here to borrow rice. I will wait until the dry season comes. When will I repay you? Please have mercy and help me to get rid of this poverty, my dear." When the ant heard this, it asked, "My dear, when the dry season began, why did you not look for food for yourself? What were you worried about?" The ant replied, "My dear! I have nothing to do. I am busy flying around in the forest, singing and playing as I please. That is why I have not found any food." The ant said, "Oh, how did you sing in the beginning? Now, you go and find a song to sing and dance. We must sing and dance, don't stop. This singing and dancing game is for your livelihood. Please continue singing. I will listen to you." The ant replied, "Oh! My dear, we are almost starving to death. How can we go and dance? Please share some of your rice with us." The ant replied, "We also have some rice, but we will keep it for our relatives and relatives. We will have more to share with you. We cannot go and borrow it from you." The ant heard the ant say that, and then he flew away from there towards the abode of the soul. He suffered from hunger and could hardly find it. He tried to endure hunger and thirst according to his nature. Listen to this story, what is the meaning of it? Let's go. The student replied, "Please tell this story to the lazy person who is doing business with others. When the season comes for farming, he does not work with others, and that season ends. Then poverty and hardship also befall that person. Because the power of gambling no longer thinks about doing business and working, he will go to borrow money and eat it. Whoever wants it, he will also be protected. He also clings to suffering according to his deeds, just like the ants who borrow rice and do not lend it. (Excerpt from Tales and Tales, Part 3)

The story of the mother teaches people to know how to do business and respect the truth:
The story of the mother is a folk literature story that is in the genre of folk tales. The elders often tell it to their children to listen to, especially girls, and the teachings of parents who often use this story as an example for their daughters to understand their own actions that are wrong in organizing and storing the wealth that their husbands have earned. Not only that, this story also shows the art of relationships in social life. Let me present the main content of the story of the mother as follows. Once upon a time…there was a king named Brahmadatta Soiraja in the city of Varanasi. At that time, in the city, there was a poor man named Manapa, who lived with his wife. His wife was beautiful and attractive to all the people, but she was stingy and hated by her relatives and friends. One day, Manapa and his wife went to fish, and the net broke because the wife did not know how to take care of it. When the fisherman put the fish in the net, it would come out through the hole. After fishing for a long time, they approached a large ship. The captain and his wife looked from the ship and saw the net broken. The captain’s wife said, “Why don’t you take something to stop the fish from coming out?” Hearing this, the captain was angry and sent her down to live with Manapa. The captain, the owner of the ship, exchanged Manapa’s wife for a beautiful woman. She was the new wife of the man, so she took a fishing rod and went to find something to catch, so that the fish that she caught would not be lost, and then followed the man until he was gone. When she returned home, she ordered her husband, the poor man, to take the fish to his relatives. The neighbors were all surprised because the man and his wife were not kind. When they visited the man's house, they learned that the man had a new wife with a good reputation. One day, the man went into the forest to cut firewood. When he returned, his wife saw that the wood was all valuable wood. She told her husband to cut it into bundles and hire a neighbor's cart to carry it to the store. When the man went to buy it, she sold many of her possessions and prepared to build a large house and hire servants. The points mentioned above teach us to organize, store, and take care of the wealth we have earned, so that our lives and families can prosper. In addition, in the story of the man, it is also shown that communicating with people of influence and government officials makes life more prosperous and strong. For example, the story goes... The husband also knew the king's son, the king's son, the king's son, the king's son, and the king's son, etc. One day, the wife told her husband that she wanted her husband to learn to run as fast as he wanted. The husband followed suit and ran until he was tired. The wife saw that her husband had run fast and had plenty of strength, so she took him to meet the officials so that her husband could serve the king. One day, the king went to the forest. The king's son told his wife to prepare food for the king's procession. The wife prepared food for her husband and prepared a meal for the king. She thought that the king would be separated from all the officials. Only the king's son would go. With satisfaction from the king's service, the king named him "Cao Ma Ma". One day, when he was hungry, the king's son said that he had some food for him to eat. After he had eaten to his heart's content, he lay down on the king's lap. He said he would tell the king a story. Before he could tell it, he passed away. These show the good relationship, the ability to accept responsibility, and the love between the ruler and his people. In addition to having a good relationship with people, especially leaders, they must also uphold the truth. The story goes that at that time, there were devas who guarded the jhey tree. Hearing that the king was telling the king a story, they gathered together to collect myrrh on the jhey tree. When they realized that the king was asleep, the devas became angry and ordered Brahmadatta to be punished and not to take the oath.Kya Satya. They thought that they would break the branches and force the king to give up his life. If they could not do it now, the king would go to Borei and break the gate and force it to close. If they did not pass, the night and the day would be a snake and bite until the queen's breasts were covered. Hearing this, our mother woke up the king and took him through the three stages. In the last stage, when the snake was killed, the snake's blood spilled and stained the goddess's breasts. Our mother thought that if she woke up the goddess's breasts, she would not understand, and if she wiped them with her hands, she would not heal. Then she took the snake's body and placed it under the goddess's breasts and licked the blood that stained the queen's breasts. The goddess woke up, woke up the earth and said, "My mother, use your tongue to lick her breasts." King Brahmadatta only heard this, but he was very angry. Without thinking long, he ordered the executioner to arrest my uncle and put him to death at night. The above points clearly show that not honoring the promise will bring harm to oneself, and also clearly show that the great is like fire. Far away, it is cold, but close, it is hot. "But the word of truth still has power for those who respect it, especially those who uphold the law. As in the story, with the obstruction of the gatekeepers of the four directions, because the law of the kingdom cannot take people to be executed before dawn, each gatekeeper also explained many reasons to the executioner so that the executioner would not execute my uncle and make the king regret it later. Speaking of King Brahmadatta, when he woke up and considered all the reasons, he saw that my uncle was very kind to him. He ordered Amata to run after the executioner and went to the executioner at the northern gate, which was the last gate, and brought my uncle back. King Brahmadatta asked his uncle and learned everything. King Brahmadatta asked for forgiveness from his uncle and asked him not to be angry with him because he had given him a suitable reward. My uncle returned to live with his wife in peace. According to this point, respecting the truth and respecting the law really brought true peace. Speaking of the boatman, when he changed his wife, because his wife was a poor woman, she did not help in any business, only thinking about spending money when her son pooped, urinated, did not wash her, she always tore off new leaves, wiped them, and threw them away without regret. All the gold and silver she had had was also melted away until she sold the boat to spend. When both of them ran out of money, the couple went to ask for alms from their children. After walking for a long time, they reached my uncle's house. My uncle's wife saw him and called him for alms as usual and recognized him as her former husband, who had been the boatman. Why is he now begging from him again? The ex-husband saw this and was ashamed and took his wife and children and ran away. As the story above shows, no matter how rich we are, if we do not know how to take care of ourselves and save, the wealth we have earned will surely disappear. The four benefits, as mentioned above, are the result of our own efforts, without anyone to manage or fulfill them. Happiness for life in the present requires wealth, materials, knowledge to support and support life and make it easy to function. Therefore, it is necessary to try to find, try to learn and memorize, and to know how to protect, maintain, and save according to the wealth and knowledge we have, with a mind that day and night will not neglect to associate with bad friends, leading to various bad deeds that will lead to the destruction of wealth. The Buddha's teachings, the teachings of the Supreme Master Buddha, are a book of great depth and breadth. He did not advise people to think only about living today, tomorrow, or this world. It is to think about the life that will leave this world for the next. Life must pass, and we must walk a long way, so we must be prepared to strive to fulfill the interests of the next world. The four benefits that come to a person will bring prosperity and success to that person in this present and future. These dhammas are the source and a strong foundation for cultivating and sustaining world organizations, state organizations, and individual family organizations to be progressive and prosperous. If any dhamma is lacking, those organizations will inevitably be in crisis. In each state, there are many organizations such as economics, society, and politics. In the economic sector, such as industry and commerce, if those in charge in the world lack the first dhamma, which is laziness, not making efforts for business matters, being busy with each other, jealous of each other for their own interests, not trying to keep industry and commerce up to date, the economy cannot be immortal because there is still lying, cheating, corruption, stealing, embezzlement, bribery, and confusion in the course of life. It is necessary to study and create a class to reach the level of a teacher, to reach the study of the truth path, the third, fourth and fifth, namely right speech, right action, right conduct, for many years until one cultivates noble and pure conduct, which is called noble conduct. If there is a good disposition and lacks good disposition, there is waste, not checking the place, always standing, one relying on another, still in the office, relying only on paper, on that list, the results of industry and trade will be damaged, the economy will decline. If there are these two dhammas, but the third dhamma, which is the friend of wealth, is lacking, there is a connection

Read More