Why is almsgiving the best way to save money, and how high is the "interest"?

Image source: Phoenix Buddhism

When it comes to offerings, the first thing that comes to mind is the first and fifteenth day of the first month, and many temples have the habit of offering offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Also, every day before eating, we have to offer offerings to the Buddha, the three virtues and six tastes, to the Buddha and the monks. So, offering is also a way of practicing, and this way is an expression of respect, respect for the Buddha. Offering to the Buddha does not mean that the Buddha must eat our things, and when you don't make offerings, the Buddha will have to be hungry for a meal. Offerings are an expression of our devotion and respect for the Buddha, as well as our reward for the Buddha's kindness! Buddhism teaches the fourfold grace, among which there is the master's favor, and the Buddha is our teacher, and of course it is also the category of the teacher. Because of the buddha's birth, we know how to know the truth, how to practice, how to get rid of defilements and sufferings. The Buddha has great kindness to all sentient beings, and we cannot repay the Buddha's kindness in pieces, in addition to paying respects and praises, we must also make offerings.

To make offerings is not just to make offerings to the Buddha, but to make offerings to those in the world who are kind to us and those who are not, and we have to make offerings to them. Like our parents, relatives, friends, and all those who have helped us, we must repay them with a grateful heart. Buddhism talks about cultivating three kinds of blessed fields: One is the grace field. It means that those who are kind to us, we must know the gratitude and repay the gratitude, and repay their kindness. The Buddhist scriptures say, "A person who can honor his parents is the one who has the greatest merit." "If the Buddha had not been born, we would have honored and provided for our parents, and our merit would have been greatest. Filial piety to parents and repayment of their kindness are also cultivating our own blessings. Therefore, if a person who studies Buddhism cannot even pay homage, provide for, and repay the parental nurturing grace at home, then you are not a good Buddha. The second is to respect the field. All the objects that belong to us, such as teachers, teachers, good knowledge, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, these are our devotions, and we are to provide for them. The third is the sad field. Sadness refers to the object of our compassion: for example, those who are poor, beggars, who lack food and clothing, have difficulties in life, and need people's help, as students of Buddhism, we must sympathize with him and help him with a compassionate heart. On the surface, we seem to be helping others, but in fact, we are helping ourselves to plant blessings, so as long as we see people in difficulty, we must be proactive to help others.

Buddhism calls Peifu farming: just as a farmer sows seeds in the spring and reaps them in the autumn, if he does not sow in the spring, he will find nothing in the autumn. Where does one's blessing come from, not from heaven. Some people in their lives, any good things can not fall on his head, so they complain about the world, saying that God does not have long eyes, and unfortunate things always fall on their heads. In fact, whether a person's luck is good or not depends not on God, but on your blessings, and the blessings come from cultivating the blessed fields, planting the fields of grace, respecting the fields, and the fields of sorrow, and only through almsgiving and offerings will there be blessings. From the surface of the scriptures, although it only talks about offering to the Buddhas, from the content of the sutras, it actually includes offering to all sentient beings.

"All the Dharma Realms, the Void Realms, all the Buddhas of the Ten Fangs and the Three Worlds, and in the extremely small dust, each of them has all the worlds of the Extreme Dust and counting Buddhas, and all kinds of bodhisattva seas of buddhas will be surrounded by them." All Buddhas, all the tiny dusts in each of them, are the buddhas who are infinitely infinite, and there are many bodhisattva seas around each Buddha. This tells us that the object of our offerings is all the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and Three Worlds. The meaning of offering is, first, to express respect for the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, second, to cultivate blessings and increase blessings, and third, to eliminate our greed. Make offerings to the Buddha, take out your best things and overcome stinginess. If you don't have an offering, a generous heart, and you are reluctant to take things out, then you will get the results of poverty in the future. Almsgiving and offerings are the best ways to save money, and the "interest" will be high in the future. Therefore, a person's wealth cannot be obtained by desperately making money, but by blessings, which are usually called luck.

Offering and giving charity can not only cultivate blessings, but also overcome one's own greed and attachment. If a person is attached to money and is reluctant to give his own things to others, it is like you have not deposited a penny in the bank, although there is a lot of money in the bank, some people can withdraw 100,000 and 200,000 from there, but you can't get a penny out. So while giving alms and providing for others, you are actually saving money for yourself.

Because of our greed, we are unable to practice generosity extensively. In real life, we often take what we don't like to give to people: the clothes we give to people are outdated, and they don't like to wear them, so they will be more generous to others, and few people can give the fashion they just bought to others. Another example is to send people's electrical appliances, always look at the home that do not need to use the old to send people, you will not just buy the big color TV to send people. Why are we reluctant to give the most upscale and valuable things to others? The reason is greed, because we have attachment to good things. If you are not greedy for the best things, if you can give alms to those who need your help, then you are also breaking our selfishness, greed, attachment, and defilements.

We cling to something, and this kind of thing is often the source of our problems, and attachment is the biggest obstacle to our liberation from life and death!

Text | Master Jiqun