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Our greedy bank accounts

Wow, another month is down; look at my blog, it is literally starving. Good that it is silent though. I have nothing serious to blog about even today.  

Buddhism denounces enormous wealth. It is not happiness, but it invites suffering and misery. First there is the pain and struggle of accumulating it and then there is burden of having to look after it accompanied by the pain of parting with it. And this leaves us with no or less time to practice the teachings of the Buddha and nearly no time to reflect on the preciousness of human life.  

In mythologies, the King of Klu (Naga; serpent) is said to have nine heads and each one carries a lump of gold. And while gold symbolizes dignity, pride, wealth, power, the serpent king is said to be susceptible to lurking threats.

By token of being born in a Buddhist country, we are taught to value spiritual happiness over material wealth. And then here we are taught that happiness is more important than any amount of wealth. Our policy of GNH prescribes us to be happy with what we have because happiness is being satisfied with what we have.

But the problem is with our greedy bank account, which is always looking for various means and ways to possess more and more. And like a monkey’s weakness for bananas, our bank account has for money. The more it gets, the more it wants. Of course what do we expect this set of numbers to know what Lord Buddha has taught his followers 2,500 years ago? What does it know about spiritual happiness and ultimate bliss? What does it know about the precarious nature of human life? What does it know about our GNH? The banks bear the burden of its safekeeping. Insurance companies are there to render it bulletproof. Where is the Naga King’s vulnerability?

And all because of our greedy bank accounts, we have corruption, fraud, fronting, theft, bribery, black market, vandalism, and desecration of ancient monuments, all that we the Buddhists utterly condemn.

Writers note: This passing thought should be read as light and nothing serious, unintended to offend anyone anywhere.

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