Is money evil?

[fruven]

The way money works is like a drug. When you get money, you will crave more. Your desire will continually rise and one day, you will snap. Like a twig. From desire, you get jealousy and from jealousy comes hatred. All this comes from ignorance of this happening. So, in reality, money IS the 3 poisons.

This is from the premise that you have desire, uncontrolled desire. If you don't have that you won't crave money. And if you don't know money can buy material goods and "happiness", you won't crave money. The money is not the cause, it is a condition.

What do you mean by money is the 3 poisons?

[fruven]

Money is not evil.  Having more money is also not evil! What is the motivation of us having money and more money?  If the motivation is to benefit others, then it is alright to have more money.

Many worldly people do not realize the true meaning of happiness.  Instead of developing their inner wealth, they focus solely on developing outer wealth.  Furthermore, due to their ignorance, attachment and aversion, they have created a lot of negative karma in relation to money!

The motivation and reason of acquiring the money is more important. Just collecting money, hoarding it doesn't serve any purposes. It actually create more fear because of losing money you spend so much effort in collecting. Effort is energy spent. Therefore if we spend our energy (effort) on something beginning with good motivation we wouldn't have fear of losing it. If we still have fear then we need to rethink how we are spending our money wisely. It is good sign because we want to maximize what the money can do. Buying things doesn't maximize it. It just increases our enjoyment of our life which has a threshold. When the threshold is reached we won't find much enjoyment even if we increase the money spent. Instead money spend not acquiring things but giving a life to others is more well spend. Giving a life, reducing suffering, bring happiness to others are talking about the same thing -- generosity.

[buddhalovely]

What if we spent as much of our wealth and energy on living beings as we do on guarding and revering gold bars at Fort Knox, gold bars which do nothing, gold bars which don't hear, don't see, don't smell, don't taste and don't speak, and which provide neither food nor clothing nor shelter nor warmth to a single living being!  What if we spent as much of our wealth and energy on living beings and as we do on guarding and revering pieces of paper and coins, as well as numbers in data-bases, which do absolutely nothing, which don't hear, don't see, don't smell, don't taste and don't speak, and which provide neither food nor clothing nor shelter nor warmth to a single living being!

[Positive Change]

Money it seems is, as they say, the root of all evil! There are many ways to look at this. Here are some arguments for and against this phrase Money is the root of all evil:

FOR
The greed caused by pursuit of money is damaging.
Yes, because at its most corrupt, the greed for money does motivate an increasing number of human citizen's to stealing, violence and murder. It can make people embezzle, swindle, go to war and even colonise other countries to control their resources. The need to have the most money and so think the most power is a dark force. Money and wealth have been the most explosive divide in history. Revolutions have generally involved the poor fighting for their rights and a share of the money from the minority rich.
The burning desire from corporations and banking institutions to make more money for themselves and shareholders recently brought the world close to the brink of financial collapse.

There is a point where money changes from being a social value that everyone can have and trade to both self and social interests to an obsession, an obsession that many feel they have to go so far as to even take a human life. Not the big bankers, they do it subtly and when confronted will for the most part admit to their doing's. But to the people down the street, to those many people still clinging to a false mentality that without this "money" They lack the power needed to get what is necessary(Food, water, shelter, ect) But some believe they will not eat, they won't know where they will sleep are how they will feed their family's without this same thing. These are not just problems of the "Super Nations", but a global pandemic that is costing the lives of countless people daily. There are alternatives to money, which need to be at least explored and tried. Trillions are spent for purposes of protecting us from ourself's, how much would it cost to get protection from the protector's?

AGAINST
This is a very sad image that has been painted of the human race. Not all people are money grabbing bankers. in fact the majority of people are good-hearted, who are prepared to give away increasingly small small amounts of spare cash to help charities. They are willing to help.

You can't blame corporations and bankers for doing what they are supposed to - and that is make money and turn a profit. In all exchanges someone is selling a service and someone is buying a service. There is no rule that says you cannot make money from the transaction. What we can do though is to change the environment in which banks operate. For example laws stipulating how much profit can be made, how much of profit needs to go back to society. We can take responibility for our own destinies instead of money leading us by the nose.

As we develop technologically, research and development which leads to breakthroughs in all spheres of society cost money. The companies spending that money should surely be entitled to a return on their investment.

Without an incentive, there may be fall off in development.

[fruven]

Money it seems is, as they say, the root of all evil! There are many ways to look at this. Here are some arguments for and against this phrase Money is the root of all evil:

FOR
The greed caused by pursuit of money is damaging.
Yes, because at its most corrupt, the greed for money does motivate an increasing number of human citizen's to stealing, violence and murder. It can make people embezzle, swindle, go to war and even colonise other countries to control their resources. The need to have the most money and so think the most power is a dark force. Money and wealth have been the most explosive divide in history. Revolutions have generally involved the poor fighting for their rights and a share of the money from the minority rich.
The burning desire from corporations and banking institutions to make more money for themselves and shareholders recently brought the world close to the brink of financial collapse.

There is a point where money changes from being a social value that everyone can have and trade to both self and social interests to an obsession, an obsession that many feel they have to go so far as to even take a human life. Not the big bankers, they do it subtly and when confronted will for the most part admit to their doing's. But to the people down the street, to those many people still clinging to a false mentality that without this "money" They lack the power needed to get what is necessary(Food, water, shelter, ect) But some believe they will not eat, they won't know where they will sleep are how they will feed their family's without this same thing. These are not just problems of the "Super Nations", but a global pandemic that is costing the lives of countless people daily. There are alternatives to money, which need to be at least explored and tried. Trillions are spent for purposes of protecting us from ourself's, how much would it cost to get protection from the protector's?

AGAINST
This is a very sad image that has been painted of the human race. Not all people are money grabbing bankers. in fact the majority of people are good-hearted, who are prepared to give away increasingly small small amounts of spare cash to help charities. They are willing to help.

You can't blame corporations and bankers for doing what they are supposed to - and that is make money and turn a profit. In all exchanges someone is selling a service and someone is buying a service. There is no rule that says you cannot make money from the transaction. What we can do though is to change the environment in which banks operate. For example laws stipulating how much profit can be made, how much of profit needs to go back to society. We can take responibility for our own destinies instead of money leading us by the nose.

As we develop technologically, research and development which leads to breakthroughs in all spheres of society cost money. The companies spending that money should surely be entitled to a return on their investment.

Without an incentive, there may be fall off in development.

I follow that the financial meltdown is caused by offering subprime mortgage. A house loan is easily offered and approved to those high risk group, those with poor credit rating, who doesn't have a house and they can never get a mortgage because the banks would have rejected their housing application. And this subprime mortgage the loan money came not from bank own cash but a pool funded by investment broker packaging as a sound 'investment' product to public and investment house. Due to complicated nature of the 'investment' it didn't breach any law. The bank themselves also became investor as well. Massive amount of borrower defaulted because they cannot pay their loans and it became a meltdown. Who or what is the cause? Perhaps the investor? Who offer this investment product and application approval are easily given. The borrower? Who borrow more than can chew. And the law? It was not written to cater to this scenario.

On money is evil you have good points. Imagine there is no money. There are goods, and resources. People used barter trade to acquire goods. Would people become less obsessed with collecting goods or hoarding resources? If there are strong desires people would continue collecting and hoarding material stuff. It would be in another form or forms instead of money. Desire and greed is the culprit. People have the wrong idea that more is better, more equates happiness, thinking on the line that more of acquisition instead of more of giving and letting go.

[brian]

Money isn't evil at all, money has no mind. It is our mind that can be evil. If an evil mind got hold of money, then the money will be used for evil actions such as assassination or human trade. if the mind is of a virtue one, then the money that this good person possess will be used on good virtue actions such as donation to the temples or to the poor. So it is very similar to the case of drug, if it is being misused, money can be deemed as a 'harm' to others but if we analyse closely, it is the mind of the owner of the money that is causing the harm not the money. money is just a tool.

[Tenzin Malgyur]

In my opinion, money is not evil. It is what one does with money that makes it evil. In these days and times, it is very obvious we need money for the most basic of things. Money only becomes evil when it is used for the wrong reasons. Just as Brian mentioned, it is all in the mind of the person spending the money, whether the intention is a good or an evil one. In the case of the person having a lot of money already and still craving for more, their state of mind is no different from someone who has no money.

[DSFriend]

The way money works is like a drug. When you get money, you will crave more. Your desire will continually rise and one day, you will snap. Like a twig. From desire, you get jealousy and from jealousy comes hatred. All this comes from ignorance of this happening. So, in reality, money IS the 3 poisons.

If this is the case, then temples and ordained people shouldn't be receiving any money. It's hard to avoid doing any without money involved. To build a temple, to get food, supplies etc for the sangha all requires money. Therefore money is not the problem but rather the reason to get the money makes the world of difference.

[Aurore]

The way money works is like a drug. When you get money, you will crave more. Your desire will continually rise and one day, you will snap. Like a twig. From desire, you get jealousy and from jealousy comes hatred. All this comes from ignorance of this happening. So, in reality, money IS the 3 poisons.

If you consider money as one of the 3 poisons, then I suppose it's considered evil? What if money is capable of making us do good?

Money is an object. The object itself cannot do harm or good. What the object represents which can drive someone to do evil is what makes it evil. Almost any object is capable of making us do evil or good. From a kitchen knife to a computer or even a pillow to suffocate someone. Even drugs were developed and used as medication to help relieve pain and cure sicknesses but misused by people. Money is just an object which are able to give us more reasons to do evil.

[hope rainbow]

Money pays for education
Money can buy food
Money pays for a roof over our heads
Money pays for medical treatments
Money pays for warm clothing so I can go through winter
Money pays for my travel to see my parents
Money pays for my phone bill so I can comfort my friends
Money pays for roads, public garbage collection, lights in the streets, administration, public transport, police, justice court, etc...

Is there any evil in that?

[apprenticehealer]

In this day and age, money is necessary . We no longer have barter trade and money (in whatever currency ) is necessary to live on and to survive. It provides the food on the table, roof over our heads, education , medical and the list goes on and on....

However, when money is obtained through greed, through harming others, through illegal means, when money is used for self indulgence, for control of other people, for purchasing branded luxury goods , for status, even hoarding , then it becomes a situation that money is the master and the person is the slave to it!
The money becomes the all consuming factor and there are many many people who cannot place a definite amount when they have enough money. I feel these people live in constant fear of loosing their money.

On the hand , there are also many many people , including some very wealthy ones, who happily give, donate, contribute and sponsor towards charitable organisations , be it religious or community services.
These funds benefit millions of people, and a lot of the people (those who had benefitted from these kind contributions ) have on their own, helped other less fortunate people.

It depends on a person's perspective and motivation on how to utilize the money. When we die, we cannot bring a single cent with us BUT we take with us every bit of karma with us - every singular action, speech and thought that we had in our lifetime.

Money is evil if we allow ourselves to be enslaved by it. Giving happily and unconditionally makes one the wealthiest man on earth - the joy that we receive from giving is priceless !!!
 

[Dondrup Shugden]

My ex-boss told me that he does not love money but the power that comes with money. But he used his money in a negative way, forcing suppliers to go against policies and procedures by withholding payments, not keeping to his side of the deal. 

Well, karma worked its way and suppliers ended up not wanting his business deals and one creditor took him to court for non-payment.

Money in itself is not evil ... it is the ways how we use it that creates the evil that it is associated with.


The wisdom of this comment is profound.  Money can be liked for many reasons but for the purposes of bullying, cheating and robbing and many more nasty actions, then the wish to have it is evil.

However to wish to have money and go all out to earn it and with it to do good like contributing to improvement of society then the wish for money is not bad.

Well there is always a thin line between all desires may the motivation be good or bad it will lead to attachments and that in all Dharma texts will say it is not a good thing to habituate.

Life is a paradox.

[Joo Won]

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

I believe in the process of getting money which involve bad motivation, greediness and attachment; and  places money above all - relationship, love and kindness that he/she causes pain to oneself and others. Money is merely money, is by the way how a person getting money and using the money that make money looks "evil", money is "innocent". 

[angelica]

Money is not evil. Something that has no life and no mind cannot be evil. We the human is the one evil. Our motivation and our action will be the determining factor whether we are evil or not.

If we set a good motivation to gain more money to benefit others, then this is something good and not evil. We should not have a lot of attachment towards this worldly assets, we can never bring to the next life and it will not stay with us.

[fruven]

The way money works is like a drug. When you get money, you will crave more. Your desire will continually rise and one day, you will snap. Like a twig. From desire, you get jealousy and from jealousy comes hatred. All this comes from ignorance of this happening. So, in reality, money IS the 3 poisons.

Is it true? So all people who work and earn salaries are addicted?