May Jambhala Favor You in the New Year

Earlier this month, Jambhala, the Tibetan Buddhist deity of wealth, adorned a thoughtful article on the nature of giving by Holland Cotter in The New York Times ($).

“Generosity means different things to different people,” writes Cotter. “For some it’s a fixed sum, a payment of moral dues; an act of charity. For others it’s qualified; a negotiated transaction: I will do this for you now if you will do that for me later. For still others it is a frame of mind, an ethical condition, a sustained discipline.”

Jambhala, I gather, is meant to remind us that wealth is good, but only as a means to an end. Prosperity means we worry less about the next mortgage payment. That should free us to concentrate more attention on matters spiritual.

So here's hoping Jambhala brings you a wealthy new year. Just don't mistake him for the guy who said “greed is good.” Cotter warns that Jambhala “is part of an elaborate system of karmic checks and balances in which avarice is inevitably punished, by Jambhala himself in payback mode, and acts of selfless generosity may actually win you the jackpot.”