Putting your wealth in context

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
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Kim OHara
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Putting your wealth in context

Post by Kim OHara »

If you're affluent enough to be sitting at your own computer reading this, you are probably better off than most people in the world ... and maybe you already know that, but even if you do know it you probably don't know how much better off you are and you will often forget it anyway, simply comparing yourself to people around you.
Here's a site that does something about both sides of that problem: http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Why did I call our ignorance and forgetfulness on this issue a "problem"?
Simply because we so often forget that, truly, we can afford to give more generously to those less fortunate than ourselves.

:namaste:
Kim
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Ben
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by Ben »

Thanks Kim, that is excellent.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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cooran
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by cooran »

Interesting, Kym.

Who came up with this and what research supports it?

With metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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Ben
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by Ben »

cooran wrote:Interesting, Kym.

Who came up with this and what research supports it?

With metta
Chris
Chris,
The information is on the website. Aftr you get your results scroll down and at the bottom of the page is an 'about us/why we are doing this' link.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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retrofuturist
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
Kim O'Hara wrote:Why did I call our ignorance and forgetfulness on this issue a "problem"?
Simply because we so often forget that, truly, we can afford to give more generously to those less fortunate than ourselves.
I'd suggest another even more frequent application might be in relation to material cravings. In other words, when knowing how comparatively well off we are, those potential material acquisitions or luxuries that could take us to higher eschalons of wealth or income come to seem comparatively trifling in the scheme of mankind... perhaps relinquishing those cravings could become easier?

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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SDC
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by SDC »

First World Problems

For even more perspective.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
Digity
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by Digity »

SDC wrote:First World Problems

For even more perspective.
Hahaha...I love these. These FWP memes actually had a good effect on me. I discovered them for the first time a few weeks ago and recognized myself in a few instances. I realized what a whiner I could be and how fortunate I was to be in the situation I am. We're definitely spoiled in the western world and don't appreciate our good fortune. :/
Digity
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by Digity »

What percentage of your yearly income do you think should be put towards charitable needs? I'm sometimes hesitant about giving money, even though I make a good salary, because I live on my own and have to pay a mortgage. If I lose my job, etc. then I don't have a second income. However, I would like to be charitable and I am at times..I just have trouble figuring out the right amount/balance.
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manas
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by manas »

I.think.we.should.give.in.accordance.with.our.means
a.wealthy.person.can.afford.to.give.more
but.someone.who.is.only.just.getting.by
such.as.a.long.term.unemployed.person
can.afford.to.give.not.as.much
but.all.can.give.something.

i.like.to.give.when.asked
if.its.going.to.a.proper.charity
or.to.a.person.in.need
(unless.its.plainly.obvious.that.the.money
would.only.fuel.a.drug.habit)
but.generally.i.try.to.help
according.to.my.means
metta
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To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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Kim OHara
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by Kim OHara »

Digity wrote:What percentage of your yearly income do you think should be put towards charitable needs? I'm sometimes hesitant about giving money, even though I make a good salary, because I live on my own and have to pay a mortgage. If I lose my job, etc. then I don't have a second income. However, I would like to be charitable and I am at times..I just have trouble figuring out the right amount/balance.
A good question but there is no one-size-fits-all answer (although there used to be - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe.)
Some starting points:
If your income dropped by 5% - 10% - 20% could you still live as comfortably and securely as you do now?
How much of your present income is "disposable", i.e. you are free to spend it on non-essentials?
Do you need a new fridge/coat/cruise more than a Lao farmer needs a new tractor/water pump/education for his kids?

:namaste:
Kim
SarathW
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by SarathW »

I have seen lot of people have become hoarders.
If I buy something new I give away the old one to someone in need.
We don’t have to be millionaires to practice Dana (gift) :group:
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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m0rl0ck
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by m0rl0ck »

That makes you the 1,440,774,310th richest person on earth.

:jumping:

If everybody lived like i did there would be alot fewer problems in the world.
“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig
corrine
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by corrine »

I was raised that ten per cent was for caring (actual charity) and ten per cent was for sharing (that is, giving to and helping friends and/or family who may be in need).

My father taught me to live way below my means, whatever that happened to be, to save for whatever happens in the future and to share whatever I am fortunate enough to be given. I try. I do not always succeed. I am frequently told I am a fool to share what I have. Maybe. But I was told, and I believe, that sharing doubles joy and halves sorrow.

But then, living where I do makes it easy because, really, we all here have much more than we need and we waste a great deal. I think that sometimes those of us to whom much has been given, take it all for granted. We think in terms of being able to afford a newer, bigger television or a fancier phone, and not about finding money just to put food on our tables. It is all about perspective. I think sometimes the more we have the more we seem to require to make us feel comfortable.

corrine
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DNS
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by DNS »

m0rl0ck wrote:
That makes you the 1,440,774,310th richest person on earth.
:jumping:

If everybody lived like i did there would be alot fewer problems in the world.
That's in the top 31% richest in the world -- bourgeois :pig:

:tongue:
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m0rl0ck
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Re: Putting your wealth in context

Post by m0rl0ck »

David N. Snyder wrote:
m0rl0ck wrote:
That makes you the 1,440,774,310th richest person on earth.
:jumping:

If everybody lived like i did there would be alot fewer problems in the world.
That's in the top 31% richest in the world -- bourgeois :pig:

:tongue:
Yah i know. Im striving to be properly abashed :)
“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.” ― Robert M. Pirsig
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