Buddhist practice in daily life

How to use Buddhist practice to deal with financial stress

Those of you who are reading this should first stop for a second, be thankful and grateful that you are still alive, still breathing and still healthy.

I would like to share these words with you, mainly because many students have recently told me about the various difficulties they have encountered on a daily basis. These difficulties are mostly related to finance and business affairs.

A friend from China, who works in the tourism industry, told me that he had lost a lot of money due to the pandemic situation and that his life was over. Some students working in the hospitality industry, factories, real estate and film production also told me that they are losing a lot of money. Due to these financial assets losses and the crisis, they and their families are under tremendous stress.

It is true that many people who run their own businesses and a are  self-employed person have lost money because of the pandemic. I can understand that it is not so easy to accept the loss of one’s hard-earned assets. However, it has happened and there is nothing we can do to make the catastrophe go away or to escape it. We can only resist and become stronger in the face of the situation.

Therefore, as practitioners, in the act of confronting impermanence, we must remain rational and overcome difficulties with gratitude, self-confidence and compassion.

Maintain rationality in the face of impermanence

I know that the last thing most affected people want to hear at this time is “what has been lost is just money”. For those living in society, wealth is more than money. It determines the standard of living of oneself and one’s family, as well as one’s personal status both in the context of the family and in society. It also brings a certain sense of security. Aaron Bruhn, professor at the Australian National University, mentions that the emotional and physical reactions to a major financial loss are similar to mourning the loss of a loved one.

Everything in the world is impermanent

There will always be ups and downs in life. Success and failure are temporary states. One thing you must bear in mind is that life and death are impermanent, as is the accumulation and dissipation of wealth. A major financial loss does not mean that you will be depressed for the rest of your life. No matter how serious the situation, you need to control your emotions, calm down and try to get out of the stress as soon as possible. You will only be able to deal with problems rationally and solve them when you are calm.

It is important not to allow yourself to be trapped in a state of fear and inactivity for too long, much less to act rashly or to make any important decisions about finances, business and family relationships in haste. Competent legal and/or financial advisors can be found to address financial readjustment needs. Seek out trusted professionals to consult on ways to recover financially and get back on track.

If what is needed is an emotional adjustment, then several initiatives can be taken. It helps to release stress to discuss worry and grief with a family member, close friend or professional. You can relax and express your innermost thoughts frankly, which will help to reduce psychological difficulties.

Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, has studied cases of people who have suffered severe trauma. In his research he learned that the vast majority of people who have suffered trauma in a car accident or war, after a certain period of time are able to successfully return to their previous state of happiness.

Follow-up reports in later years showed even more surprising data, as many people who had suffered trauma were happier then than before the traumatic event.

Living with gratitude and renewed happiness

If you get used to receiving, you forget to be grateful. A person who focuses on what he or she has lost and does not think about what he or she has can never be truly happy. You must always remember that you are still alive, that your family is healthy and that you are not infected by Covid or any other disease. You must not allow yourself to feel that you are the most unfortunate victim of this disaster. The real victims are those who have lost their lives, those for whom there is no tomorrow. The tomorrow their families will face will never be the same.

You should be grateful that you still have the chance to start again, to wake up tomorrow to a new day. You can enjoy the joy of having a safe and healthy family. You, yourselves are able to choose how you want to live.

Do not cling so much to what you have lost, nor to what you have gained; sooner or later we will all have to part with our gains and losses. If you judge, if you value life according to: whether you are worthy or not because of the wealth you have, or because of the opinion of others; then you will not have a lasting sense of security, nor of happiness. This will affect you because you associate security and happiness with the outside world. However, the outer world, whether it will be family, wealth, perception of others… is constantly changing. If you remain in the ebb and flow of the changes in the outside world, your mind will remain unstable.

The world is unpredictable and the happiness gained from the outer world is unstable. The sooner you free yourself from this dependence on the outer world, the better it will be for you. By practising consciously, improving your spirituality and knowing the truth of life, you will find a sense of security and happiness that comes from within.

Believe in yourself and keep growing

If you observe how a pearl is produced, you will see that pearls are formed through persistence and irritation. When a grain of sand enters a shell, the soft tissues are stimulated producing minerals that wrap the grain in layers, eventually evolving into the most beautiful treasure in the world.

Losing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars is a great loss. On the other hand, you have the ability to gain much wealth and access to it. You have a different perspective and vision when it comes to acquiring wealth. Experience and wisdom are the most valuable resources, it just depends on how you view them and how you use them.

The financial loss you are experiencing now may be the opportunity you need to learn, to progress and perhaps this is the new opportunity for you to truly flourish. This new opportunity is not only about wealth, but also about your personal growth, your relationships with family and friends and your spiritual strength, to name just a few collateral benefits.

If you are a lively survivor, your own strengths will help you thrive in the grieving process following the loss. After facing a major disaster, you will move quickly to execute an effective plan of action to restore you and your business to health.

I hope that regardless of the situation you find yourself in, all experiences in life show you that there are no failures on the road to development, only lessons worth learning. Any limitation begins with yourself. You can create a world as big as you will, as big as the world within you.

Putting aside the ego and having compassion for others

I recently heard a popular phrase on the internet: “Hell is other people”. I don’t know the story behind this phrase, but applying it I prefer to think of it as “hell is ego-clinging”. If one is trapped in one’s own negative emotions and worries, one will be trapped in the suffering that ego-clinging and samsara produce. Compassion is the opportunity to free oneself and all beings from the suffering of samsara.

To date, thousands of people have been infected with the new coronavirus, of which thousands of families have lost loved ones. Now many people are suffering and need our help. We can help them materially and/or spiritually.

The Avatamsaka Sūtra says: “If he (the Bodhisattva) makes living beings happy, he is making all the Thus Come Ones (Buddhas) happy.”

By giving kindness and warmth to others you will make yourselves happy. When one finds oneself in a difficult situation, one has several options. One is to remain stuck in misery and complain every day about how you have been wronged by others. Or perhaps to become completely frustrated and give up on yourself. Another option is to look at people who are more unfortunate than you and try to experience their pain.

As a practitioner, you must rise up strongly to comfort your loved ones and do what you can to help those who are even less fortunate. Practice the development of bodhicitta, loving-kindness and compassion and try to use this opportunity to accumulate merit and dedicate it to all sentient beings. Do all this so that you can deeply appreciate the true meaning of life. If you do so, then naturally you will not be so easily defeated by the winds and waves of impermanence.