It goes without saying that a certain amount of material wealth -- for example, those things related to food,clothing and shelter -- is a necessity to sustain our life. Every individual has to work to survive, but when earning a living becomes the exclusive focus and priority of one's life, problems can arise. When we live to earn rather than earn to live, there can be problems of excess and greed.
However, there are also other forms of wealth, required not just to sustain the physical body, but to sustain and develop our mind.
In this perspective, it may be interesting to look beyond the traditional ideas of financial wealth and really reflect on why our human species, among the many different types of existence, is so special and valuable.
As a Buddhist practitioner and teacher it is my hope and belief that Buddhism may have some interesting and valuable input to offer in this area. First of all, when trying to identify the causes for the present crisis from a Buddhist perspective, the root problems are certain human traits such as greed and laziness, all of which arise on the basis of ignorance.
It is one thing to cultivate just enough crops for your day-to-day needs. But when you start to collect crops, and start to stock up with the idea that you'll have less work and more money, this can sow the seeds of unchecked greed. So it is really important to be aware of certain human traits which bring a lot of unnecessary problems. Sometimes when we think we are getting richer, from a different perspective we are becoming poorer.
Though I never went to school myself (as the head of a lineage, I had a special type of education), I had the good fortune to learn about all this from my parents. Later on, when I got into Buddhist studies and teachings, I learned more and more about the faults and qualities of humanity, and that helped me to learn about life.
The inner wealth is our mind, our consciousness. I believe that this mind is like a wish-fulfilling jewel. If you know how to utilise this mind, it can produce the most beneficial effects. The best way to utilise and develop this mind is to absorb knowledge, and the most important kind of knowledge is the one that makes us a kind person, a decent person, a person worthy of respect. The qualities which make an individual kind, decent and respectable are qualities such as patience, generosity, and kindness. The good news is that we do not have to adopt or create these qualities, since they are already potentially there in all of us. In this way,the Wealth lies latent within each and every one of us.
So all we need to do is give ourselves,every day, a bit of a reason to generate these qualities, bit by bit. If we do this, it will not make society perfect, but it will enable us to appreciate whatever circumstances we might face.
From a Buddhist perspective, we actually have to be grateful for obstacles, because without them we never learn. It is thanks to difficulties and challenges that we can come up with solutions, some of which will work and some not. But even if they don't work it doesn't mean we should give up. It only means we should try again.