Do you know what these 3 millionaires did?
Wealth is nice. Wealth can be not nice. Wealth can be used to benefit others or it can be used to spoil others. Wealth can help us achieve some good works in this life, but it can also destroy us. Wealth is not the issue, but our state of mind and our attitude. These three people have done something very special with their lives and I am most happy to share with you. May they inspire you to go further in your spiritual practice also.
Tsem Rinpoche
Ajahn Siripanno
The above image of a man begging for alms doesn’t appear to portray the son of a billionaire. But it does.
One of the 3 children to a Malaysian Indian father and Thai mother, in 1971, Ajahn Siripanno was born into a family of wealth and status, and with the world at his feet.
His father, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan is the 2nd richest man in Malaysia, and 129th in the world according to Forbes. With a net worth of US$7.8billion, Ajahn Siripanno being the only son would have been the heir to a fortune made primarily in the telecommunication industry.
Given the best of education, Ajahn Siripanno graduated from university in England – and is known to be proficient in 8 different languages.
As per Thai custom, Ajahn Siripanno took up temporary ordination as a Thai forest monk upon turning 18. Perceiving the 2-week retreat as something fun, he never expected that becoming a fully ordained Theravadan monk would eventually become his life’s calling.
His changed perception towards Buddhism and monkhood was deeply influenced by the teachings and work of renown Theravadan teacher, Ajahn Chah. Surprisingly, Ajahn Siripanno only met this spiritual Guru once!
Many have compared Ajahn Siripanno to Buddha Shakyamuni, a born prince who chose to lead a life of renunciation, in search of enlightenment.
Ajahn Siripanno currently serves as the abbot of Dhao Dham Monastery, located in National Forest Reserve near Thai-Myanmar border.
H.E. Tsem Rinpoche has previously blogged about Ajahn Siripanno. You can read it here and here.
2. Liu Jing Chong
At the age of 38, Liu Jing Chong had everything. Or at least in the worldly sense.
He enjoyed a successful business in the manufacturing and textile industry, lived in a mansion, had a few holiday homes and 7 cars at his disposal.
In 2012, Liu Jing Chong liquidated everything in bustling Guangdong province, and entered a reclusive life on the Zhongnan Mountain in China’s Shaanxi Province.
For the next 2 years, he found himself living in a shed made of straw, sleeping on a bed of bricks and in total isolation. Instead of leading the highflying Managing Director life that he was used to, Liu Jing Chong spent his days meditating, reading, growing his own vegetables and practicing calligraphy.
All that it took for him to create the lifestyle change was one freak car accident. Being limited in his mobility, Liu Jing Chong spent his days reading a book. It so happen that the book was on Buddhism.
As he gradually delved deeper into Buddhist philosophy, so did his perspective on life. When he returned back to work, he came to the realization that wealth and happiness were mutually exclusive. That thought spurred him to take the leap into monkhood.
Whilst living as a hermit in Zhongnan Mountain, Liu Jing Chong met an eminent monk who brought him to Baochan Temple, in Anhui Province. There, he received ordination vows, shaved his head and currently serves as a chef in the temple’s communal kitchen.
If you would like to know more about Zhongnan Mountain, where Liu Jing Chong chose to spend his 2 years instead of within the comforts of his home, continue reading here.
Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi
A self-made multi-millionaire, Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi grew his personal wealth within the plastic manufacturing industry.
Instead of joining his family’s modest business in textile trading, Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi borrowed Rs.30,000 (USD$470) from his father to start his own business.
Although experiencing great hardship at the beginning, Doshi’s determination to succeed paid off. He built the empire to have a net worth of USD$100 million.
Dubbed in Dehli as the “Plastic King”, millions around the world were taken aback when Doshi became ordained as a monk under the Jain tradition earlier this year.
His decision wasn’t made at the spur of the moment. Instead, his attraction towards a life fully devoted towards spirituality came after hearing a series of Jain lectures in 1982.
It was then that he had the burning inner desire to relinquish his multi-millionaire dollar empire, and seek enlightenment through living a life of harmlessness and renunciation.
24 years later, the flame continued burning. However, at 58 years old, Doshi was the head of the family and had 3 children and a wife to consider.
During his consecration ceremony, Doshi’s MBA-graduate son shared with various news reporters that it took Doshi 3 years to convince the family. They finally agreed and embraced Doshi’s personal life decision.
As perhaps the last celebration of Doshi leaving his life of indulgence behind, he had a lavish three-day diksha (ceremony) which included a 7km procession, featuring chariots, elephants, camel carts and musicians, as well as 1,000 Jain monks.
1,500 servers were appointed to serve food to guests at a venue that was built shaped like a ship. An estimated 150,000 people participated in the event, and 500 hotel rooms were booked to accommodate guests.
On the 31st of May 2015, Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi was ordained as the 108th disciple of Shri Gunratna Surishwarji Maharaj.
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Some people have a very wrong perception to view spiritual practice as a way for losers to run away from problems and responsibility. However, the 3 spiritual practitioners in this article are very successful people in the secular world but they give up the material comfort and live a simple life. They are not losers, they see things beyond material possessions and comfort.
Buddha Shakyamuni was the same, he was born as a prince and he had a very comfortable life but yet, he gave it up. He left his wife and infant child and went to seek the answer to the real meaning of life. It looked like he was very selfish but looked at how much good he had done since the day he gained enlightenment. He also liberated his family from sufferings. He may seem to be irresponsible but in reality, he was very compassionate to sacrifice his comfort so he can liberate everyone in this world.
When we meet people who want to do spiritual practice, we should encourage them and give them support because they have a much bigger aspiration which is more than benefitting themselves or their own family. They aspire to change people’s life. The impact is huge because as more people’s life change for better, the world will become better too.
Very inspiring stories of three millionaires giving up all wealth and status, had everything from cars , houses, business and so forth to live a simple life as monks . They relinquished their multi-millionaire status and seek enlightenment through living simple. Wealth is nothing more or less than a tool to do things with. The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Thank you Rinpoche for this inspiring sharing.
Wealth is a two-edged sword. You can use it to benefit others and yourself or use it to destroy. Having found nothing but emptiness in the pursuit of wealth and a life lived in luxury and self-indulgence, the three rich men in this article have renounced their wealth for the greater benefit of themselves and others .
Ajahn Siripanno was born the only son of a wealthy family and heir to a vast fortune. He had received the best education that money can buy. However, he became deeply moved by the teachings and work of Ajahn Chan , a renowned Theravadan monk and teacher. It influenced deeply his whole perception of life. He decided to become a monk. He is now the abbot of a monastery in the National Forest Reserve of Thailand , near the Thai-Myanmar border.
Liu Jing Chong might have continued a life of indulgence in worldly pleasures if not for a freak accident which rendered him relatively immobile. He had been living a life of wealth and luxury before this – he had a successful business, lived in a mansion and owned a few holiday homes and had several cars at his disposal.But all this changed. Whilst recuperating from the accident, he read a book on Buddhism and delved further into Buddhism. He came to the realisation that wealth and happiness were mutually exclusive. He lived for 2 years ,as a hermit,in the Zhongnan Mountain and appreciated this Zen Buddhist mode of life of simplicity and peace. Thus did he take a leap to become a monk, after liquidating all his assets.
Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi had successfully built up a multi million dollar empire, after much hardship and struggles initially. Thus was the world surprised when he announced his decision to become ordained as a monk of the Jain order.This decision however was not a spur of the moment decision. Doshi’s attraction to a life of spirituality came after his hearing a series of Jain lectures. From his, he developed a burning desire to relinquish his huge business empire lead a life of non-harming and renunciation. However, he waited for 24 years and finally at the age of 58, having gained the family’s consent, he took ordination as a Zain monk.
Wealth can be good or bad depend on how individual defines it.If the wealth is being misused than it might be harmful towards individual. However, if it is being used wisely than it might bring happiness. It is an inspiring article that 3 rich people willing to let go of their wealth to be ordained as monk to benefit others.
Wealth is something that we all dream about in life, but just what can wealth do for you? The first thing that wealth can’t do is, giving you happiness, there were so many cases of famous and rich people who committed suicide, that shows that even if you had billions of dollars at your disposal you wouldn’t necessarily be happy. Wealth can only be used in this world and when you die all the millions of billions of dollars that you worked for won’t be able to follow you into your next life, only your karma and merits will be able to follow you. In short you spent your whole life chasing something that wouldn’t even be able to follow you into your next life. That’s why we must do positive deeds now as they will be the only things that will be able to help us in our next life.
Giving up our attachments isn’t easy, but somehow these 3 rich people managed to. It really shows that if you put your mind into it you can achieve your goals and break free of any obstacles blocking your way.
These 3 men are truly inspiring, their actions and choices proved that having tons of money is not the key, obviously they weren’t “happy” with their samsaric lives and therefore they have decided to give up everything and become ordained.
A lot of us have been working our whole lives to earn more money because with money we can do a lot of things and then we can be happy. But what people don’t realise is that how long does that happiness last? One hour, two hours, a day or two? Nothing is permanent, be it money or feelings, these 3 gentlemen have taught us some great lessons through their actions.
Yes it’s not easy to let go of our attachments, but if we keep telling ourselves that it’s hard, there’s no way we can improve. Nothing is easy in life, we will never know if we don’t take the first step.
Of these three men, the ones who were self-made and gave it all up, impress me more. Why? Because not only are they giving up their wealth, but they’re also indirectly saying that the effort they put into accumulating money is useless because it will ultimately lead them to nowhere. It takes a brave person to admit that what you spent a large portion of your life doing was a waste of time and you made a mistake.
Despite their wealth, all of them realised that money isn’t everything. You might say, “Well of course they can say that. Everything will be fine if they decide monasticism isn’t for them. They can go back to a life of luxury. I can’t do that. If I become a monk and decide later it’s not for me, I’m stuck and I have to start all over again.”
But you have to examine, what led a successful mind to first decide to give it all up? What led a successful mind to examine and conclude that it is WORTH giving it all up for life as a monastic?
People who make their own money think in a different way. They examine situations differently, see opportunities where others do not, and know how to exploit such situations to their advantage. So if they examine the life of a monastic in this way, and then gone and become ordained, then they’ve seen an opportunity that’s too good to not exploit.
And if they can let it all go, how come we struggle to let go of what little we have? Successful people can see the benefit of giving up millions to become paupers…are we really sure that we, the average Joes with the average thinking, don’t want to imitate them? 😉
These three men has the life which is full of wealth, fame and luxury which is considered the “perfect” life for most people in this time. However, three of them had renounced their wealth and luxuries and instead they chose to live a life of an ordained person and simplicity. This is definitely a food for thought.
These three men are perfect examples of how wealth does not equivalent to happiness. If having wealth is equivalent to happiness, why aren’t these men satisfied and be happy with their life? This shows that there are more to life than just being wealthy.
Chris
Having wealth and witnessing the suffering it can cause if not used with kindness and wisdom can sometimes be a daunting realization. However, if we let go of the attachment and fear of losing wealth, then we begin to learn to use wealth to help us become better people. This is when we free ourselves from the chains of materialism.
I salute these great men who saw through the deception of materialism and took the step of courage to take on the ultimate challenge to be in pursuit of freedom and happiness.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this beautiful post.
Wealth can be positive or can be negative depending on motivation of accummulation and usage. This article shows us that physical wealth can never fulfill our need/happiness, unless we put them to good use (benefit others). If we examine our mind, no matter what stage of wealth we have, we will find something missing. Until we discover and practise spirituality, we will never be able fill in this hole. Thanks Rinpoche.
Wealth is by nature not a vice and to be wealthy is not a sin. It is what is the state of mind and what to do with wealth is the most important factor as so clearly explained by Rinpoche.
Wealth and financial resources are a great means to be used to have the Dharma spread in 10 directions to benefit sentient beings.
Such a wonderful way to generate wealth to benefit others and not spoil a few unfortunate beings.
It is always inspiring to see how the wealthy perceived Buddhism and monkshood after deep realisation of life.
Leading high flying life only to renounce and live a life of seclusion or meditation will have many reeling in those thoughts, but not for the 3 of them. Truly inspirational.
Family support is also important if the family is so used to having the member around, as in Bhanwarlal Raghunath Doshi case. It takes tremendous efforts and courage to convince his family to allow him to be ordained.
Very good read. There are definitely more stories and cases where the rich and wealthy leaves their “good” life for better life 🙂