Last Updated on August 23, 2026 by pg@petergamma.org
Buddha lived 2,600 years ago and came from a wealthy background. He wanted to discover the causes of mental suffering and how to eliminate it. And then, upon attaining enlightenment, he found the answer. But what did he do with his brilliant discovery?
Did he take it to the stock market to maximize profit out of it? No, he did quite the opposite.
According to Ajahn Chah, a highly respected Thai Buddhist monk and meditation master, Buddha forbade his students from possessing money:
Ajahn Chah says in the above video, “Some people think that a monk’s life is a lazy, simple life.” And Osho describes meditation as well as a simple phenomenon where one does nothing.
But is meditation really that simple? Matthieu Ricard earned his doctorate in molecular genetics from the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1972, completing his dissertation under the supervision of Nobel laureate François Jacob. Despite this promising scientific background, he gave up his career to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk and moved to the Himalayas.
Did Matthieu Ricard abandon his scientific career to lead a simple and lazy life?
His father, the renowned philosopher Jean-François Revel, considered what he was doing a waste. But this is about values. And people who meditate pursue inner values. The Dalai Lama, himself very wealthy—it is said he possesses $15 million USD, describes himself as a human being, a simple human being.
And he also says he has many rich friends who are very unhappy deeply within:
A rich man can put $1 million on the table and say, “I want to be free from mental suffering.” But where can he buy this?
And did not Ajahn Amaro also struggled with this problem? He was a student of Ajahn Chah, and Ajahn Amaro was forbidden to possess money. But when monks returned from Thailand to London, he faced a dilemma.
Should they go to the train station in London to beg?
In Zurich, that wouldn’t even be possible, as begging is prohibited there. But the problem of these Buddhist monks who came back from Thailand was resolved. People who supported them appeared.
Ajahn Amaro became a teacher and abbot of the Buddhist monastery Amaravati in southeast England. And this despite having no money.
There are wealthy people, for example in Switzerland, who have a problem with people who are supported.
“Vanja Palmers, the Calida millionaire heir, is up on the Rigi and is doing nothing,”
This I once heard from a wealthy Swiss man who was very successful in his professional carrier. He complaind himself about Vanja Palmers:
But the idea that meditators do nothing and are supported is wrong.
Meditation is a very active process. And knowing the causes of mental suffering and how to eliminate it is a valuable knowledge that comes from Buddha, and has been passed down for 2600 years.
Ask a Swiss psychotherapist: “I want to know the causes of my suffering and how I can eliminate it.” Will you get a clear answer from him? And is there a scientifically proven method to do this?
Didn’t Buddha already grapple with these kinds of questions? And did he choose to live without possessions for this very reason? Meditators pursue inner values. And which of those are interested in becoming rich?
Wealthy people who meditate are sometimes attacked, as for instance million heir Vanja Palmers from Switzerland.
Buddha has chosen to live without possession. And his monks had to ask for support. But Buddha’s monks have been supported for 2600 years. And isn’t that because it’s something worth supporting, that people want to know the causes of mental suffering, how to eliminate it, and also how to teach it? Hasn’t the financing of Buddhist monks worked in this way for 2600 years? But which monk can say about himself:
“I am a monk and self-employed”?
Perhaps there are some, but I don’t know one that I could mention.