7th April 2020 财神 – The Deity of Wealth

7th April 2020
财神
The Deity of Wealth
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The birthday of the Deity of Wealth [cai shen 财神] is celebrated on the 15th day of the third lunar month, corresponding to the 7th April 2020 in the Gregorian calendar [1]. The Deity of Wealth is considered a mythological figure in Daoism and folklore worship.He has been mainly associated with one historical figure, named Zhao Gong Ming [赵公明], who is mentioned in Tao Hong Jing’s [陶弘景] ‘True Declaration’ [zhen gao 真诰], in Gan Bao’s [干宝] ‘Records of the Search for Spirits’ [sou shen ji 搜神记] and a Daoist text called ‘the Scripture of Tai Shang’s Cavern Abyss Spirit Incantations’ [tai shang dong yuan shen zhou jing太上洞渊神咒经]. The latter states:

又有劉元達、張元伯、趙公明、李公仲、史文業、鍾仕季、少都符，各將五傷鬼精二十五萬人，行瘟疫病。
There are furthermore Liu Yuan Da, Zhang Yuan Bo, Zhao Gong Ming, Li Gong Zhong, Shi Wen Ye, Zhong Shi Ji and Shao Du Fu, each commanding the Five-Harms’ ghosts and supernatural beings [numbering] 250 000, disseminating epidemic illnesses.

People of the past hoped that through their ample veneration, sacrificial worship and reverence they would be able to avert the disaster of plagues and epidemics.
Nowadays the Deity of Wealth is mostly sought out by and very popular amongst people with the request for material wealth and successful entrepreneurial undertakings. Yet, there is more to the notion of ‘Wealth’ than meets the eye. It is, thus, warranted to elaborate briefly on this concepts.
The following is an excerpt from the 4th Barrier of the 49 Barriers of Daoist Cultivation [2], titled ‘the Barrier of Wealth and Profit’ [cai li guan 财利关]. It elucidates the notion of ‘Wealth’, from the standpoint of two aspects, the form and the formless, or external and internal wealth:

外财
External Wealth
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The more possessions you own, the more you will swell up with the feeling of affluence, rank, and honour, and the thicker will be the skin on your face. It is, however, a Daoist requirement that you have no more than two sets of clothing. If you have a third set of clothes, you must give this to someone in need, as you should not be coveting riches. Greed is forbidden both morally and socially, let alone for one aspiring to higher cultivation. Hence the Bible admonishes:

钱在哪里，心在哪里。
Where your money is,
that is where your mind is.

Your life is not truly your own, so you should let go of what needs to be discarded. When the opportunity arises, you must act on it. There should be no sense of what you ‘must’ do, and no exertion of force, since forcing and following the natural course are directly opposed to each other. Just accept any material gain which comes your way, and let it go when you must by having no attachment to it.
When you seek out a place of seclusion in order to cultivate, you will need food to open and pass through this barrier. You will also need a protector, a Daoist friend. Although your needs are few as a Daoist renunciant, you are not wholly free and removed from monetary concerns. You will still need to purchase rice and flour, as your cultivation practice will allow you no time to plant grains yourself. You will also need to procure the utensils of daily life. Lastly, you will have to support the family of your Daoist companion, to save them from worry and help them keep their peace of mind. It is not a question of being greedy for wealth, or whether you should own a large oil mining company. It is about guaranteeing the bare essentials of life. Unlike external alchemy, which requires a great deal of money to purchase ingredients such as gold, with internal alchemy, you only need a simple lifestyle. Everything else that you require is to be found within you. Ask the cultivators in Wu Dang about the truth of the saying:

无财不能养道。
Without money you cannot nourish the Dao.

This understanding of the word ‘money’, or the term ‘wealth’, is strikingly different to its worldly meaning. Without money, there would not be a Tai Shan Temple on White Horse Mountain. It was built solely due to Li Shi Fu’s wish to help more people:

出家人不爱财，多多易善。
Renunciants do not love wealth,
but a great deal of it is used out of kind-heartedness.

内财
Internal Wealth
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The second aspect of this barrier is internal wealth, which is formless. Internal wealth is the cultivation of the Dao and Virtue, which assist in reaching the ultimate goal of ascending to Heaven. Your internal wealth is constituted by the number of meritorious deeds you have accumulated in your life. This is called ‘wealth’ because it repays your debts from previous incarnations and resolves your karmic afflictions. The more you acquire merit, the greater and purer your energy field becomes. Thus, the teachers of the past stated:

法财侣地德慧悟缘。
Methods, Wealth, Companion, Grounds,
Virtue, Wisdom, Awakening and Realization.

Overall the emphasis in this barrier is on ‘internal wealth’. The cultivation of the Dao and Virtue, and of compassion, forgiveness and love – this is the true wealth.

[1] This date will vary from year to year in the Gregorian calendar.
[2] This Barrier Commentary will appear in Purple Cloud Press’ forthcoming publication of 《The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao》[xiu dao si shi jiu guan 修道四十九关] by Xing De/Li Shi Fu, a manual for refining one’s Inner Nature based on Liu Yi Ming’s 50 Barriers. Li Shi Fu is abbot of Five Immortals Temple (www.fiveimmortals.com).