A Monk in the World by Wayne Teasdale

Author:Wayne Teasdale
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781577317043
Publisher: New World Library

THE USE OF MONEY

We all must focus some attention on money, whether we like it or not. But my interest in the use of money surpasses typical economic concerns. In the monastery, all property is held in common by the community. Money is included as part of the common trust, owned by the monastery and its members. This arrangement helps to prevent money, property, and possessions from being seen as ends in themselves. Materialism is perhaps the deepest pit our society has fallen into. One of the most serious obstacles to building a universal civilization with a heart — a compassionate world structure of government, commerce, and culture — is the attitude that the goods of this world are ends in themselves and that in their pursuit people are essentially expendable. Only injustice, economic oppression, and exploitation can result from such a heartless capitalism, or from such an immature understanding of capitalism. This is what prevents the world from making any real progress.

Becoming a spiritually aware person means not accepting this grasping attitude; it means realizing that it is based on ignorance of what will produce the ultimate good for the world. The purpose of life has nothing to do with generating capital or being a cog in the wheel of a global economic system. It is not about using others as a means to produce wealth. It is rather about awareness, about love and compassion, and about union with the Divine. It is about consciousness and the quality of our awareness. If these values were firmly in place in our lives, then globalization with a heart and capitalism with a conscience would inevitably follow.

As a monk in the world, I have only a little money, compared to countless others in our society. Yet the money I earn from teaching, lecturing, and giving retreats is sufficient, because my needs are modest. I live in a small apartment with a reasonable rent. I don’t own a car, and so I use public transportation. Although I do have medical insurance, which I believe is a necessity, I do not have luxuries that others take for granted. Again, I live very simply.

At the same time, I am committed to sharing some of the money I earn. I prefer to use what is left over after my expenses for homeless people I know. For me sharing what I have is a spontaneous process. I don’t have this process organized in a systematic way. I will elaborate more on my relationship with the homeless in the next chapter, and the opportunity they represent for us to grow in compassion and love. Here suffice it to say that usually I am open to giving money away when people ask me or when they present a particular need.

I feel no real attachment to money, property, and possessions. I don’t allow them to rule me or even to preoccupy me in any way. I know the value of a dollar, but I’m not obsessed with this value, because I realize that other factors in my life are far more valuable.

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