This is the 4th of 49 Barriers from ‘The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao” (available here: https://purplecloudinstitute.com/product/the-49-barriers-of-cultivating-the-dao/ ) to be posted online in their entirety. The book also features extensive endnotes as well as hundreds of pages of commentary by Daoist renunciate Li Shifu (abbot of Five Immortals Temple) as well as explanations of key Daoist concept:
(4) 財利關 – Barrier of Wealth and Profit
財有世財與法財之分，世財者，金銀珠玉，法財者，功德精誠，積法財者，重功德而輕金銀，以性命為珠寶，以仁義為金玉，以惜氣養神為貨利，以存誠保真為富有，以清淨無為為家業，雖修行，身未離塵世，不能全廢世財，亦當見利思義隨其自然，受之而禳災扶危，修造宫觀，大興教門，用財得當，當積法財，而不可借神詐財，指佛吞金，肥己養私。
Wealth is divided into the worldly wealth and Dharma wealth. The worldly wealth is gold, silver, pearls and jade, while the Dharma wealth is merit, virtue and absolute sincerity. Those who accumulate Dharma wealth emphasize merits and virtue and belittle gold and silver. They regard one’s inner nature and life-destiny as pearls and jewels, and benevolence and righteousness as gold and jade. Moreover, they regard the cherishing of Qi and the nourishing of spirit as commodities and profit, and the preservation of one’s sincerity and the safeguarding of the truth as the possession of riches. They regard purity, tranquillity and non-action as their family property.
Although one cultivates, as the body has not yet departed from the world of dust, one cannot completely abandon worldly wealth. Furthermore, one ought to comply naturally with [the maxim] ‘on coming across profit – contemplating righteousness’. One ought to receive [a just profit] in order to avert [future] disasters by prayers, to help those in distress, to build palaces and monasteries, [to help] the religious gate to flourish greatly, and one should employ wealth expediently and appropriately. Moreover, one ought to accumulate Dharma wealth. It is not acceptable to make use of spirits to swindle money, to point at the Buddha to swallow gold, or to fatten and selfishly support oneself.
