🌱Day 80: 🌱Why Do Some Become Rich While Others Struggle for Money?: Understanding Kamma Through the Cūḷakammavibhaṅga Sutta | Study Notes from BMV Monday Sutta Study with Bhante Dr. G. Chandima
The Path to Becoming Poor
Pāli (excerpt):
The Path to Becoming Rich
Pāli (excerpt):
Translation:
Dāna vs. Cāga: Two Ways of Giving
The Pāli words dāna and cāga both refer to acts of giving, but they carry distinct nuances.
Dāna simply means "giving"—and while it is meritorious, it does not necessarily imply that the giver has abandoned greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), or delusion (moha). One may give out of duty, expectation, or even subtle attachment.
Cāga, on the other hand, refers to "letting go" or "renunciation" with a heart imbued with generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom. When one gives with cāga, it signifies an intentional act of releasing attachment, with inner freedom and wholesome volition.
Therefore, I encourage you to practice giving not merely in the dāna way, but in the cāga way—where generosity is not just an external act but an inner transformation. That is how your practice of dāna becomes spiritually liberating—because it is done through cāga.
In the Buddha’s ethical framework, kamma—intentional volitional action—not only determines one's realm of rebirth (gati) but also configures one’s material conditions within human existence, including being born wealthy (mahābhogo) or impoverished (appabhogo). This integrates economic reality into the moral architecture of the cosmos. However, the Dhamma does not negate personal effort; through wise decisions and skillful living, individuals can rise out of poverty—as numerous stories in the Tipiṭaka affirm.
🔍 Implication: One’s wealth or poverty is not merely circumstantial—it reflects ethical volition accumulated over time.
2. Giving to the Worthy Yields the Highest Merit (AN 9.20)—But the Heart of Giving Matters More
Giving to samaṇas and brāhmaṇas, who embody restraint, insight, and spiritual practice, aligns with the doctrine of puññakkhetta (field of merit). Such giving yields profound karmic results. However, the Dhamma emphasizes that intent matters more than status—generosity should not be transactional or restricted to the monastic field. One should cultivate the habit of giving freely to any being in need, as universal generosity expresses boundless compassion (mettā).
🔍 Implication: While giving to the virtuous is fruitful, cultivating spontaneous generosity toward all beings is the higher aim.
3. “Not Giving” Is an Intentional Kammic Path
The Buddha describes not giving as a deliberate paṭipadā (path), not mere omission. The phrase “appabhogasaṃvattanikā esā māṇava, paṭipadā” shows that habitual stinginess becomes a morally consequential lifestyle. Just as generosity creates karmic openness, refusal to give generates a tightened karmic field, perpetuating scarcity.
🔍 Implication: Ethical inaction—such as habitual miserliness—has cumulative and rebirth-shaping consequences.
4. Small Gifts Can Have Vast Kammic Effects
The sutta highlights basic offerings—food, clothing, bedding, shelter, even light. These modest gifts, when given with a mind free of greed, hatred, and delusion, become karmically transformative. Importantly, giving should always be done within one’s means: a poor person offering a spoon of rice with joy may generate more merit than a wealthy person giving reluctantly.
🔍 Implication: The merit of generosity lies in intent and authenticity, not quantity or cost.
5. Heaven and Hell Reflect Ethical Continuity
Generosity leads to rebirth in sagga loka (heaven), while stinginess leads to niraya (hell)—unless a human rebirth intervenes. These are not reward/punishment systems but natural consequences of one's ethical momentum. The choice between a heavenly or hellish future begins now—with how we relate to what we own.
🔍 Implication: One’s post-death destination is ethically patterned—generosity shapes not only reputation but rebirth.
6. Even Offering Light Can Illuminate Your Rebirth
Padīpeyyaṃ (lamplight or lighting) is included among the ten requisites. Symbolically, offering light dispels darkness—just as karmically, it brightens the path to a fortunate rebirth. This reminds us to never underestimate small acts done with mindfulness and goodwill.
🔍 Implication: The karmic potency of a gift depends not on its size but on the purity of heart behind it.
7. Material Wealth Reflects Inner Habits of the Heart
Rebirth as mahābhogo is not merely economic—it is an outer expression of past mental and moral expansiveness. If one continues to give while being wealthy, wealth becomes dhammic capital—fuel for further merit. If not, it becomes a source of bondage.
🔍 Implication: True wealth flows from the heart's capacity to give, not the vault’s capacity to store.
8. Poverty is Not a Curse—It can be an Ethical Outcome
The sutta refrains from moral judgment. Poverty is not a punishment but the logical result of past withholding. However, the Dhamma also teaches ways to change this karmic trajectory, such as through the Sigalovāda Sutta, Pattakamma Sutta, and mindful financial ethics.
🔍 Implication: Poverty calls for compassion and also kammic accountability—it can be reversed through right action.
9. The Ten Requisites Are a Model for Holistic Giving
The ten requisites—food, drink, clothing, transport, garlands, perfumes, ointments, bedding, shelter, and lighting—constitute a complete framework for supporting bodily and spiritual needs. These are not random—they mirror the Buddha’s recognition of human dignity and monastic necessity.
🔍 Implication: Practicing generosity through these ten forms cultivates a lifestyle of mindful giving in everyday life.
10. Wealth Can Be a Vehicle for Liberation
The Buddha does not reject wealth—he redefines it. Wealth that arises through righteous means and is used for the good of others becomes meritorious capital. What matters is how wealth is earned and how it is spent.
🔍 Implication: Right livelihood and right giving transform wealth into a path of liberation—not bondage.
11. Kamma Tracks Intention, Not Social Identity
The Buddha emphasizes volitional ethics over birth. One's future rebirth depends on past actions, not on caste, race, or intellect. The opportunity for a better life—materially and spiritually—is open to all who cultivate generosity.
🔍 Implication: Spiritual destiny is democratized—accessible through intentional goodness, not privilege.
12. Buddhist Economics Is Causally Precise
The sutta presents an unambiguous moral calculus: generosity leads to wealth; stinginess leads to poverty. These are not vague spiritual ideals, but karmic equations observable in the arc of multiple lives.
🔍 Implication: Economic justice and spiritual ethics intersect—cause and effect govern both domains.
13. Volition (Cetanā) is the Core of Kammic Giving
The Abhidhamma affirms that cetanā is kamma. It is not the object but the intention that makes an act morally potent. A gift made with loving-kindness, even if small, generates more puñña than a massive donation rooted in ego or pride.
🔍 Implication: Pure volition gives small acts great weight; impure volition drains even grand acts of meaning.
14. Dāna Sustains Both Saṅgha and Saṃsāra
Giving supports the spiritual path of others—particularly the monastic community—and concurrently shapes the saṃsāric journey of the giver. The result is a reciprocal karmic ecosystem: mutual support, mutual merit.
🔍 Implication: Generosity is not charity—it is the energetic infrastructure of spiritual communities and personal rebirth.
15. Dāna is the First Step Toward Nibbāna
Generosity, when done with wisdom and detachment, becomes the foundation for spiritual progress—progressing naturally to sīla (virtue) and bhāvanā (meditation). It is the first perfection (pāramī) for a reason.
🔍 Implication: The road to liberation begins with open palms—a mind that can give is a mind that can let go.
a). The Miser Suciloma (SN 19.8)
Sūciloma was a wealthy man in Sāvatthī who hoarded his riches and gave nothing to monks, beggars, or even his own family. He hid his treasure underground and refused to share. When he died, he was reborn in a miserable realm. Later, as a ghost (peta), he was seen wandering with a needle stuck through his body—symbolizing his unwillingness to give even a needle.
Moral: Even minor acts of miserliness can lead to great suffering if rooted in deep greed and lack of compassion.
b) The Story of Banker Maccharikosiya (Dhammapada Verse 49)
Arahant Mahā Moggallāna then brought the couple—miraculously—to the Buddha and the Saṅgha at Jetavana. After making their offering, both Kosiya and his wife listened to the Dhamma and attained sotāpatti (stream-entry).
Moral: Even the stingy can transform when they let go. Acts of true giving open the door to spiritual awakening.
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