The Recommendation of "Less Desire and Contentment"

Well, maybe the current situation of Buddhism is that there are too many Buddhist scriptures, and various sects have been born and it is difficult to control them, but I think that the basis of Buddha's teachings is still the original Buddhist scriptures (Agama sutras). I was originally saved by Shinran, so I think of myself as a "Jodo Shinshu sect". Despite that, why do I dare to push the "original Buddhist scriptures" (Agama sutras) here? Because I have to go back to the topic of money here.

In modern society, or rather since ancient times before Christ, humans have been obsessed with, addicted to, and controlled by the "money" they created themselves, and as a result, they have become increasingly unhappy. God, Buddha, could not bear to see us like that, showed us the path to happiness that we should really follow. So I guess that at that time, full-scale religions arose simultaneously all over the world, and the teachings to regain control over "money" to humans, that is, one of the strongest weapons, are the teachings of Buddhism, "have little and be content." Now that I said it's one of the most powerful teachings, you might be wondering if there are more, but yes, there are. It's the teaching in the Quran of Islam that says,

 "You shall not earn interest."

 I'd like to think about that another time, but in today's capitalist society, money controls humans. Humans are addicted to money, so even the human mind and the human soul are controlled by money. What is the purpose of that "money"?

"To increase."

"To multiply."

That's right, money wants to increase. It just can't help but want to increase.

At that time, it doesn't matter whether humans are happy or unhappy. Money-boy just wants to increase. Here, I've personified money by calling it "money-boy," but this is not a simple personification, money is actually alive and has a will. I believe that money has a life. It is humans who have breathed life into that "money" thing. Human "desire" was projected onto "money", and eventually it became "life" and even had its own will. And it freely manipulates humans. And its goal is

"to multiply by itself". 

Think about it. What is life? 

One of the basic requirements of life is

"to reproduce by itself".

 Isn't it defined in science that the purpose of life is to replicate its own genes and reproduce by itself? If so, then "money", or "capital", which has the ability to reproduce by itself, is already "life", isn't it? This guy is quite dangerous, quite formidable, quite a "strong enemy". That's why he is the real, final, true final boss. And humanity has never been able to defeat him, except for a very small number of people. It's always a losing battle. That's why, even though science and technology have developed so much and humanity is trying to advance into space, humanity as a whole is not happy at all. Happiness seems right in front of us due to the progress of science and technology, but it seems like we can grasp it, but we can't. It always slips through our fingers like a mirage.

The reason for this is that I think it is inherent in the capitalist system itself. What is capitalism? It is a system in which capital, that is, money, or rather the original investment, is invested and profits are made. Then, when the profits increase, everyone shares them and everyone is happy. That would be great, but unfortunately, it is not like that. Even though the profits have increased, they are put into the next investment along with it. And then the profits increase again. Then, they put all the profits they made into the next investment to make even more profits. It would be nice if they could distribute the profits at some point with a feeling of "this is enough," but just as there is no end to desire, this cycle of profits and investment never ends. They never say "I'm satisfied with this much." They truly "never know enough." Well, there will be some profit distribution in the form of dividends for shareholders and higher salaries for employees. I'm not saying that there are no benefits to profits at all. However, in capitalism, the first objective is to increase capital. Human happiness is secondary. I'm sure the capitals think this way:

 "Don't let people live, don't kill them."

 I've heard that somewhere before. It's the same as what Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu said: "Don't let the peasants live, don't kill them." These are the true feelings of the rulers towards the ruled class. And in modern society, the rulers are "money" itself, and the ruled are "human beings." I said "the capitals" earlier, but I didn't say "the capitalists." That's because I think the real enemy is "money" itself. Whether they're capitalists or shareholders, they're human beings too. And I think they're victims who have become captives of money, addicted to money, sold their souls to money, serve money, are controlled by money, and are slaves to money. Nowadays, even business managers are employed, and if they do not make a profit in a short time, they will be fired. And the shareholders who fire them only think about rising stock prices. They have never thought about such vulgar things as contributing to society or human happiness, and because they are servants of money, they can no longer think about such things. How can we be happy in such a social system?

So instead of Marx's "Workers of the nation, unite!"

"All mankind, unite!"

And I think that the "few desires and contentment" preached by the Buddha is the base of resistance to a social system in which money controls humans. And I think that "few desires and contentment" is the basis of the Buddha's teachings. In other words, it comes from the original Buddhist scriptures. That's why I want to emphasize the "original Buddhist scriptures" (Agama sutras) here. There are many more things I would like to think about, but I will leave it at that for today.

Guided by love and mercy