The Foremost, the Best, the Distinguished, the Supreme, and the Finest Householder

Householder, the one enjoying sensual pleasures who seeks wealth righteously, without violence, and makes himself joyful and pleased, and shares it and does meritorious deeds, and uses that wealth without being tied to it, obsessed with it, and blindly absorbed in it, seeing the danger in it and understanding the escape - he may be praised on four grounds.

The first ground on which he may be praised is that he seeks wealth righteously, without violence.

The second ground on which he may be praised is that he makes himself joyful and pleased.

The third ground on which he may be praised is that he shares the wealth and does meritorious deeds.

The fourth ground on which he may be praised is that he uses that wealth without being tied to it, obsessed with it, and blindly absorbed in it, seeing the danger in it, and understanding the escape.

This person who enjoys sensual pleasures may be praised on these four grounds.

This, Householder, is the foremost, the best, the distinguished, the supreme, and the finest kind of person who enjoys sensual pleasures.

Just as from a cow comes milk, from milk curd, from curd butter, from butter ghee, and from ghee comes cream-of-ghee, which is reckoned the foremost of all these, so too, this kind of person who enjoys sensual pleasures is the foremost, the best, the distinguished, the supreme, and the finest of all those who seek wealth righteously, without violence, and having obtained it, makes himself joyful and pleased; and shares the wealth and does meritorious deeds; and uses that wealth without being tied to it, obsessed with it, and blindly absorbed in it, seeing the danger in it, and understanding the escape.

(Reference: AN 10.91)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares wholesome qualities of a Household Practitioner that are admired and considered to be praiseworthy.

He advises Household Practitioners to use wealth wisely “without being tied to it, obsessed with it, and blindly absorbed in it”. Craving/desire/attachment to wealth can be a significant challenge to overcome on The Path to Enlightenment.

We are often taught that wealth will bring happiness and people are taught to chase after wealth. But, no matter how much wealth one acquires, if there is craving/desire/attachment to wealth, one will never have enough. Oftentimes, human beings accumulate wealth and are blindly tied to it, absorbed with the many pleasures one can acquire through money. A person can also be obsessed with acquiring more and more wealth with the accumulation of wealth supporting the ego finding it challenging to practice generosity.

To experience Enlightenment, a Practitioner would need to “see the danger in it and understand the escape”. If a Practitioner can observe the danger by being obsessed with wealth and material gain, then they can more readily apply effort towards understanding “the escape” from this obsession. Any obsession is a craving/desire/attachment and would inhibit a Practitioner from attaining Enlightenment.

During Gotama Buddha’s lifetime, he did not allow Ordained Practitioners to come in contact with silver or gold, essentially they were unable to acquire any currency or to accumulate wealth in any way. Today, Ordained Practitioners would find it extremely difficult to function in our society without being able to use money for certain aspects of their life. Household Practitioners also require the use of money to conduct our life activities. Due to the pleasures that money can bring, it is important to train the mind to not seek pleasant feelings (happiness, excitement, elation, thrill, exhilaration, euphoria, etc.) through chasing after money, acquiring money, or accumulating money.

Understanding the escape from this craving/desire/attachment is to understand the remedy for craving/desire/attachment as Breathing Mindfulness Meditation, practicing generosity, identifying cravings through analysis of the mind, and a well developed practice of The Eight Fold Path.

The Eight Fold Path is “the escape” from all discontentedness and is the escape from the obsession formed in the mind towards wealth that would only inhibit a Practitioner from experiencing liberation of mind.

Gotama Buddha provides four basic Teachings that a Household Practitioner can apply in their need to acquire wealth and use it for beneficial purposes. And, in doing so, a Household Practitioner practicing in this way could be admired for their dedication to practicing these Teachings in this way.

(1) First, a Household Practitioner would seek wealth through righteous livelihoods that does not cause any harm or is “without violence”. Gotama Buddha’s Teachings on Right Livelihood as part of The Eight Fold Path provide guidance on how to practice Right Livelihood. (See the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1) in Chapter 5 for detailed Teachings on The Eight Fold Path and Right Livelihood)

Practicing Right Livelihood ensures a Practitioner is not causing harm through how they choose to sustain their life and due to not causing harm through your livelihood, no harm will be returned to you based on your livelihood.

(2) Second, a Household Practitioner would apply Right Effort to develop a mind that is “joyful and pleased”. Complaining about life or complaining about others in the world does not create a conducive environment around you where individuals would be interested to participate with you as a personal or professional associate.

An Enlightened being will understand the challenges of life and know of the misery that exists in the world but will see no benefit in constant discussions or random complaining about the negative aspects of life. Instead, an Enlightened being will have concern for the world but train the mind to have a positive outlook on life knowing that all beings attaining Enlightenment is the solution to the individual and world problems we all face.

To accomplish that goal, each individual will need to focus on their own growth and progress towards Enlightenment. Through each individual focusing on training the mind to eliminate the taints/pollution/fetters in the mind, they will experience the transformation from a negative and disgruntled outlook on life to a positive and uplifting demeanor that will only serve to attract people towards you rather than repel them away from you.

Training the mind to be joyful and pleased at all times requires deep inner work that can only be accomplished through your own individual efforts with guidance in these Teachings with a Teacher. With a mind that is joyful and pleased permanently, there are no goals or objectives that are unattainable.

(3) Third, a Household Practitioner can ensure they are not obsessed with wealth, acquiring wealth, and accumulating wealth through giving and sharing in a well developed practice of generosity through meritorious deeds.

It is through a regular practice of generosity, giving with your own hand, that the mind is trained to “let go” of wealth and not hold it tightly allowing the mind to maintain its obsession through craving/desire/attachment. An Enlightened being is able to be wealthy as there is no harm in being wealthy. It is when the mind is obsessed with accumulation of wealth and fulfilling selfish desires that will inhibit a Practitioner from attaining Enlightenment.

A Practitioner should consider how to acquire life sustaining resources (food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical care) through a righteous or proper livelihood that provides benefit to the world rather than pursuing wealth just for the sake of pursuing wealth. A wealthy individual who is deeply practicing these Teachings can be of much benefit to humanity through finding ways to share their wealth in beneficial projects and programs where they do not seek gain, but instead, are only interested in helping others.

Once a righteous livelihood is well established that is creating wealth, a loving, kind, and compassionate Practitioner can choose to then find ways to benefit others through the wealth they acquire rather than only fulfilling selfish desires. Based on a Practitioner’s own personal goals and ambitions to help others through a well developed practice of generosity, they can assist countless beings in uplifting their life.

(4) Fourth, a Household Practitioner who is well established experiencing successful wealth generation can easily become tied, obsessed, or blindly absorbed into continuous accumulation of wealth rather than staying focused on developing their life practice towards liberation of mind from craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality).

A wise Practitioner will see the danger in allowing the mind to become obsessed with wealth forming craving/desire/attachment knowing this will only cause the mind discontentedness. They will need to deeply learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings to understand the escape, and implement the solutions provided through Gotama Buddha’s Teachings.

A Household Practitioner can find “the middle way” of acquiring wealth but also find creative ways to share their wealth ensuring the mind does not hold on with craving/desire/attachment causing discontentedness of mind.

Lastly, The Buddha compares the finest or foremost Household Practitioners to the refinement of cow’s milk, something that his Students would be very familiar with during their lifetime. He explains “just as from a cow comes milk, from milk curd, from curd butter, from butter ghee, and from ghee comes cream-of-ghee” that the “foremost, the best, the distinguished, the supreme, and the finest of all those” Household Practitioners come from those “who seek wealth righteously, without violence, and having obtained it, makes himself joyful and pleased; and shares the wealth and does meritorious deeds; and uses that wealth without being tied to it, obsessed with it, and blindly absorbed in it, seeing the danger in it, and understanding the escape”.

Additional Thoughts:

While there are many different levels of income across all populations of people, anyone who is experiencing moderate to high levels of wealth can consider themselves fortunate for the decisions they have made that led to increased amounts of wealth. While all beings are experiencing the results of their own decisions in all parts of life, a conscious Practitioner who has discovered methods of accumulating income beyond basic necessities might consider using their time, effort, energy, resources, and knowledge to help those who are less fortunate.

Many people across the world are affected by deep generational poverty. Many people do not have the luxury to learn and practice these Teachings nor invest in life improving skills to elevate their life. In some cases, there are people who only have the ability to focus on acquiring their next meal which may or may not come to be. It is extremely difficult for one who is only capable of focusing on acquiring their next meal to invest in life improving skills that could elevate their life to better results including learning these Teachings. One of the biggest myths in our society is that people in poverty are lazy or lacking education. In many cases, they are only lacking opportunity and relationships with people who can create those opportunities.

As a global society, we can find ways to encourage, motivate, and support individuals who are less fortunate to help them elevate their life to overcoming generational poverty. We can find ways to share our time, effort, energy, resources, and knowledge so that people are secure in their basic life sustaining resources to provide them needed support while they work towards developing their life practice and life skills to eliminate generational poverty.

This would involve kind, caring, and compassionate individuals to be creative in exploring opportunities to share their time, effort, energy, resources, and knowledge with others without any interest in their own gain, but instead, decide to help others because it is the right thing to do to provide improved opportunities for others.

There are many people who quietly find ways to help others in the world without a need for acknowledgement or publicity. There are many people who provide support and donations in creative ways to help large numbers of people who are less fortunate. As you learn and practice these Teachings as an independent life practice, a Practitioner cannot help but observe how these Teachings significantly improve one’s life and there are many beings in the world who do not have the luxury of time to sit and read a book such as this. Instead, they are busy figuring out how to acquire their next meal or drink of water to sustain them over the next few days which may be the only food and water they have eaten for an extended period of time.

As we look for ways to practice generosity, while we need to support the continued sharing of these Teachings in the world, we also need to find ways to support less fortunate beings providing basic necessities to sustain life to afford the opportunity for them to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings.

A global humanity that is well liberated and awakened to Enlightenment will ensure the safety, security, and peace of all living beings. A global humanity that is well liberated and awakened to Enlightenment will ensure that poverty is eradicated through uplifting all members of society by providing opportunities for all individuals to succeed in life. This would require those who are more fortunate to initiate efforts that support and encourage others in life without any regard for their own personal gain.

Through eliminating one’s own selfish desires to accumulate wealth for the sake of accumulating wealth, we can put those resources to use providing opportunities for all beings.

Having generated wealth, an individual can use their knowledge and wealth to provide learning opportunities for massive numbers of people who can be uplifted through gaining opportunities to succeed in life. This would require those who are more fortunate to set aside any interest in personal gain and instead, focus on practicing loving-kindness, compassion, and generosity with only one singular goal - helping humanity.