GOLD? Buy, buy, buy! (The Craving Sutra)

Sheldon S., Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly based on Ven. Thanissaro/Geoffrey DeGraff (translation), Tanha Sutra: "Discourse on Craving" (AN 4.199 PTS: A ii 211)

Invest without being swindled?

Gold prices soar as investors gaze on uncertain future (Forbes) Investors moved cash into gold, pushing the price to a record high of over $1,934 per ounce today [Monday, July 27, 2020] as tensions between the U.S. and... [On July 1st Forbes reported that] "Gold prices are soaring to the Moon. Here's Why." The following chart shows that the price of gold has had the longest quarterly run since the 2007 financial crisis. Gold is in a strong uptrend. CNBC reports that "Gold prices soar after $2 trillion Europe stimulus package"

The Craving Sutra

The golden hand that craves no gold

"Meditators, craving ensnares as it flows along, spreads out, catches hold, and smothers the world, entangling it like a knot, a tangled ball of thread, like matted reeds, so that one does not get beyond rebirth, beyond the planes of deprivation and misery, the unfortunate destinations of rebirth.

Heed well, and I shall speak."

"Yes, venerable sirs," they responded.

The Buddha then said, "What sort of craving ensnares as it flows along, spreads out, catches hold, and smothers the world, entangling it like a knot, a tangled ball of thread, like matted reeds, so that one does not get beyond rebirth, beyond the planes of deprivation and misery, the unfortunate destinations of rebirth?

There are 18 things evaluated by craving* that depend on what is internal and 18 that depend on what is external.

• *Tanha-vicaritani, literally "things evaluated by craving," is the past participle. It is related to the noun vicara ("discursive thinking"), which is classified as a verbal formation, that is to say, a necessary precondition for speech (as in MN 44). A person free of craving is still able to verbalize but does not contemplate (vitakka) or ponder in these terms, which are foundational to our ordinary thought patterns.

"What are the 18 things evaluated by craving that depend on what is internal? [Clinging to the wrong view of self, one engages in faulty reasoning full of harmful assumptions:]

1. "There being 'I am,'
2. there comes to be 'I am here,'
3. there comes to be 'I am like this'...
4. 'I am otherwise'...
5. 'I am bad'...
6. 'I am good'...
7. 'I might be'...
8. 'I might be here'...
9. 'I might be like this'...
10. 'I might be otherwise'...
11. 'May I be'...
12. 'May I be here'...
13. 'May I be like this'...
14. 'May I be otherwise'...
15. 'I will be'...
16. 'I will be here'...
17. 'I will be like this'...
18. 'I will be otherwise.'

Here is about $12,000 in troy ounces.

"These are the 18 things evaluated by craving that depend on what is internal.

"What are the 18 things evaluated by craving that depend on what is external? [Clinging to a wrong view of self, one reasons:]

1. There being 'I am because of this,'
2. there comes to be 'I am here because of this,'
3. there comes to be 'I am like this because of this'...
4. 'I am otherwise because of this'...
5. 'I am bad because of this'...
6. 'I am good because of this'...
7. 'I might be because of this'...
8. 'I might be here because of this'...
9. 'I might be like this because of this'...
10. 'I might be otherwise because of this'...
11. 'May I be because of this'...
12. 'May I be here because of this'...
13. 'May I be like this because of this'...
14. 'May I be otherwise because of this'...
15. 'I will be because of this'...
16. 'I will be here because of this'...
17. 'I will be like this because of this'...
18. 'I will be otherwise because of this.'

Gold holds its value against fiat paper cash.

"These are the 18 things evaluated by craving that depend on what is external.

"There are, therefore, 18 things evaluated by craving that depend on what is internal and 18 that depend on what is external.

"Together they are called the 36 things evaluated by craving. So with 36 of them in the past, 36 of them in the future, and 36 of them in the present, there are 108 things evaluated by craving.

"This, meditators, is the craving that ensnares, that flows along, spreads out, catches hold, and smothers the world, entangling it like a tangle, a knotted ball of thread, like matted reeds that do not allow one to get beyond rebirth, beyond the planes of deprivation and misery, the unfortunate destinations."