Giving is the Cause, While Having Wealth and Fortune is the Effect
The Magical 20% of Salary
People who live in the world need money. But where does the money come from? I used to think that we must work hard or have good luck or be clever enough to catch the opportunity to start a business are the reasons of earning fortunes. Once I listened to Master Hong Sheng’s lecture, he said if one person could donate 10% of his salary, he wouldn’t have to worry about his life, and if he could donate 20%, he would be richer and richer. I was so surprised to hear that and was totally fascinated by it.
I had worked for 20 years, almost each salary of my jobs was more than NT$40,000. However, I was ashamed to say my savings seldom exceeded NT$100,000. One reason was that I must give NT$20,000 to my family every month. (Only in recent years I gave less to them.) The other reason was that as long as I had more money, it would disappear. One fortune-teller had told me that I could earn money but I couldn’t save money. Either I or my family and friends would spend it. Actually it was true. When I had some savings, I wanted to travel abroad or buy something expensive, or one friend came to borrow money unexpectedly.
I really wanted to get away from this not-many-saving situation. So I made a decision that if I found a new job, I must donate 20% of my salary. I would spend one year in verifying whether Master Hong Sheng’s theory was true. The judgement criterion was my savings exceeding NT$100,000. At that time, I was waiting for being employed and my savings was going to run out.
I still remember I was a little bit reluctant to donate 20% of the first month’s salary from the new job when I just got it. It was almost one week later that I donated it. Unexpectedly, the next day my boss told me that I did a good job in the period of probation so that I could get the formal salary from the second month but not after three months’ probation. With my calculation, the unexpected extra income was just the 20% money that had been donated, which increased my confidence to Master's saying; therefore, I had never hesitated to donate the money from then on.
Another peculiar thing was that my shopping desire almost dropped to minimum needs. I hadn’t bought new clothes for one year and my expense in every week was always less than NT$1,000. Sometimes when I wanted to buy something I would think donating the money was better. Once the audio equipment of my computer was about to be broken, the past me would have been very happy and considering which new type of computer I could buy. But I didn’t want to buy a new one then. I prayed for its well-functioning and always played the original sound of Master Hong Sheng for it. Now, it still works well.
The donating experiment only came to the eighth month while my savings rose to more than NT$100,000 from almost zero, proving that what Master Hong Sheng said was true. Moreover, there was always some unexpected windfall. For example, when I didn’t have enough money to join in the family oversea trip (because I just began to work and hoped to spend my money on donation), my younger brother who had never invited me to dinner surprisingly offered the travelling expenses for me. That was amazing!
Master Hong Sheng said the wealth comes from giving wealth, including internal and external wealth (Giving internal wealth means helping others by our labour and giving external wealth means giving money and materials). People would get more wealth if they didn’t expect anything in return. My savings grew only by donating money with expecting more money in return. If I gave internal wealth at the same time and didn’t ask for return, wouldn’t I make more money?
Master Hong Sheng said that the purpose of giving was to get rid of greed. By continuously giving, our greed would be reduced, which I had directly experienced. Before I spent money selfishly for I thought my earning was never enough. Now I would like to donate all my wealth if needed. “All forms are seen as unreal.” Let alone the wealth that we can’t take with us after we are dead. Everything in the universe follows the law of nature. I firmly believe that wealth comes from giving wealth. Besides that, health comes from giving fearlessness; wisdom comes from telling Dharma. I feel so happy that I can hear the Dharma. I would like to give my deepest gratitude towards Master Hong Sheng.
Written by Lirong
神奇的20%薪水
活在人世間總是需要錢，但是錢從哪裡來呢？以前總以為要努力工作，要聰明抓住創業機會，或是要運氣很好，才能賺錢。有一次聽 弘聖師父上人的講座，他說一個人如果能捐10%的薪水，這輩子就不愁吃穿，如果捐20%，就會越來越有錢。這個說法嚇了我一跳，而且完全把我迷住了。
說來慚愧，末學出社會已二十年，每份工作的薪水幾乎都超過四萬，自認不笨又努力，但是存款很難得超過十萬。一則是因為每個月就必須給家裡兩萬元（這幾年才減少一些），二則是因為只要有一點錢，就會莫名其妙地消失。算命的曾經說我「有財無庫」，不是自己花掉，就是家人、朋友會來花用。事實上的確是如此，稍微有一點積蓄，我就想出國旅遊或買昂貴的物品，也曾經遇到朋友突然來借錢。
這種不缺吃穿但始終沒什麼存款的狀況，我很想擺脫，於是內心下了一個決定：如果找到新工作，一定要捐20%出去，用一年的時間實驗 師父的說法是不是真的，判斷標準是存款有沒有高過十萬。那時候正在待業中，存款即將用完。
還記得領到新工作的第一個月薪水時，其實心裡有點捨不得，所以隔了快一周才真的把20%捐出去。沒想到，隔天老闆就跟我說，試用期表現的不錯，第二個月起會給我正式薪水，不用等三個月期滿。仔細一算，意外增加的收入居然正好等於捐出去的20%，立刻賺回來了。這件事讓我信心大增，之後捐20%就再也沒有猶豫過。
另一件神奇的事情是，我的購物欲望減少到幾乎沒有，已經一年沒有買新衣服，每周花費常常不到一千元。偶爾動念想買什麼，就會同時想到這筆錢拿去捐不是很好嗎？然後就忍住了。家裡的電腦喇叭一度快壞掉，如果是以前，我一定很開心地開始研究要敗家哪個新機種，現在卻超不想買新的，在心裡拜託它好好活著，並常放元和妙音給它聽，結果到現在還頭好壯壯。
新工作捐20%的實驗才進行到第八個月，存款金額就從幾乎是零，變成超過十萬了，師父的話果然是真的！而且常出現意外之財喔！例如家族的海外旅行，我原本因為剛上班又要捐款，沒錢不想去，而從來沒請我吃過一頓飯的弟弟，居然主動幫我付旅費，真是太神奇了。
弘聖師父上人說，世間的財富資糧來自於內財布施與外財布施，若內心不求回饋，會賺得更多。我只是做外財布施，而且還帶著有所求的心，存款就不減反增了，如果也做內財布施，而且不求回報，那不就賺更多了嗎？
師父還說布施是為了斷貪，做著做著，貪念會變少。這個我也有親身體會。以前因為手頭長期不寬裕，支出運用比較自私，現在卻漸漸覺得，若世間有需求，我的財富全捐出去也沒什麼關係，「凡所有相皆是虛妄」，何況是死不帶去的錢財。宇宙中，一切都有自然法則。除了財富來自財布施，我也堅信，健康來自無畏布施，智慧來自法布施。能聽聞正法，很幸福，感恩 師父。
末學 儷容 敬上
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