If only the Buddha taught about money

The Buddha did teach about money, how to manage and grow it, in the Sigalovada Sutta below.

Temu.com has this cute wall decoration for my home decor (Emotional Pain Chart)

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How much haul of merchandise piles up.

It all started on Brown Friday, calling the plumber the day after Thanksgiving because, well, Americans consume a lot.

That was the first bill. Then began Black Friday wargames at the mall. Who knows what moves me. It's not emotions.

Today is Cyber Monday, so it's time to order what I really wanted but didn't find elbowing people in person. I can track it down and order online. Delivery guys in shorts need the work. It's alright.

Do marketers use our emotions to sell us on things, claiming we sell ourselves with their help?

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, when I allay my guilt at overspending and running up credit card charges (personal debt) I can't afford by spending more on giving money away. I call it philanthropy, charity...snacking. Dieting makes me crazy. I gave at the office, my home office, when I was trying to order shoes.

If only the Buddha taught about money

How our gold is chipped away

In the most important sutra for lay Buddhists, the Sigalovada Sutta (DN 31) or compiled "Advice for Householders Discourse," he does just that. He is giving advice to young Sigala on the best way to live.

The Buddha advises how to use money to become safe and rich. In a simple formula, one's money should be divided in four and spent to make more money, ensuring the future: Gather riches like bees who work pick up pollen. Riches grow like a termite hill suddenly piling up. Gathering wealth in this way, a householder has enough for family and holds on to friends. That wealth is divided into four equal parts:

1. The first portion is to enjoy here and now.
2. The second is used to pay off debts.
3. The third is used to purchase inventory.
4. The fourth is set aside as savings for times of trouble.

• Did the Buddha really care about money? As Prince Siddhartha, he was born rich and influential because his homeland, Kapilavastu (at the foothills of the Himalayas in a part of the range known as the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan not Nepal), was on the Silk Route. Many rich and powerful kings befriended him. His greatest lay-devotee was known as the millionaire (Anathapindika, Sudatta the Banker, his foremost male patron and supporter), who was worth so much money that he was a kind of Mansa Musa. The Buddha also had the great Ven. Sivali, foremost in receiving alms due to his previous store of skillful karma of giving dana. So money (gold, silver, cattle, fields, servants, property) was no object, and the Buddha had no love or need of it, having renounced all such worldly things, but his supporters loved it. So he taught them about making merit (punya) so they would always have all they needed.

Avoid wasting money

Well, I'm not really wasting money. I'm actually saving more the more I buy. The ad says so.

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[A penny earned is a penny saved seems to mean that we make as much money by not spending money as by earning it. Save up. How?] One is advised to avoid the “Six Drains on Wealth.”

“What six drains on wealth does one avoid? (“Drains on wealth” is apāyamukha, literally “openings for departure.”) This is emphasized since a good person wants as an heir to be a proper steward and not squander away the family fortune.

According to the Buddha, habitually engaging in the following things is a drain on wealth:

1. consuming intoxicants like alcohol (beer, wine, liquor);
2. roaming the streets at night;
3. frequenting parties and festivals;
4. gambling;
5. bad friends (companions);
6. laziness.

Alcohol?

The most common phrase in Pali for alcoholic beverages lists three items. Surā is brewed from grains and yeast (Bu Pc 51:2.1.2), meraya is made from sugars, fruits, or flowers (Bu Pc 51:2.1.4), and madya is a catchall term. Together they correspond with a modern classification of the potent drinks “beer, wine, and liquor.” See also Manu 11.94, Arthaśāstra 2.25, Suśrutasaṁhitā 1.45, Amarakośodghāṭana 3.6.

There are six drawbacks of drinking alcohol. Habitually tossing back beer, sipping wine, or guzzling liquors that cause intoxication causes problems like: (1) loss of wealth, (2) quarrels, (3) illness, (4) disrepute, (5) indecent exposure, (6) and weakened wisdom (liquid ignorance). More

• The Buddha sees a young person performing useless rituals and asks then teaches useful behaviors in their place. This becomes the most detailed sutra (DN 31) on lay Buddhist morality and ethics (suttacentral.net).
• DN 31: Siṅgāla Sutta (Kelly, Sawyer, Yareham) translation
• Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly