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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 39
OVERCOMING GREED
By Venerable Master Hsing Yun
Greed causes sadness;
Greed causes fear.
If there is no greed,
How can there be sadness and fear?
— Dharmapada
Venerable Master Hsing Yun is a Chinese Greed is a basic disease of all sentient beings. In our realm, the
Buddhist monk, author, philanthropist, desire realm (kāmadhātu), the force and effects of greed can be
and founder of the Fo Guang Shan felt especially strongly. Greed is based on ignorance and cannot
monastic order, which has branches function without it. The fundamental ignorance that enables
throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, greed to function is the belief in a self that exists separately and
and the Americas. Ordained at the age independently from other sentient beings. This belief leads to
of twelve in Jiangsu Province, China, nothing but trouble and it can only lead to trouble. Once we
believe we are separate, we begin to have desires, attachments
Hsing Yun has spent over seventy years
and the false certainty that we can obtain advantages for
as a Buddhist monk promoting what he
ourselves without including the well-being of others.
calls “Humanistic Buddhism”—Buddhism
that meets the needs of people and is Greed springs from ignorance, and as it rears its ugly head, it
integrated into all aspects of daily life. causes more ignorance; the passions of greed and its myriad
attachments always obscure higher awareness and they always
weaken the moral sense. Greed has many names and many masks.
Sometimes we call greed “wanting,” sometimes we call it “love,”
sometimes we call it “needing.”
Greed is one of the six basic defilements mentioned in Buddhist
sutras. The six defilements (kleśa) are: greed, anger, ignorance,
pride, doubt and false views.
The Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra or Discourse on the Stages of Yogic
Practice mentions the ten troubles (anusaya). The ten anusaya
comprise a more detailed analysis of the forces that cause
suffering among sentient beings. The ten anusaya are: greed,
anger, pride, ignorance, doubt, identification with the body,
nihilism or eternalism, disbelief in the laws of karma, self-
righteousness, and excessive asceticism. In Chinese, the ten
