Thirsting After Greed

Thirsting After Greed

After the Marcos family fled Malacañang Palace, Imelda was found to have left behind 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 888 handbags and 1060 pairs of shoes. Okay, maybe she collects stuff, like some people hoard Starwars figurines. Some mitigate her spendthrift habits as a compensation for a childhood of absolute poverty.

But why would a monk have need of 9 credit cards? Of course there are those who live on credit, paying off one credit card bill with another bank’s card. Like a one-man Ponzi scheme, with the scammer and victim being same. Or there are those insecure types, using a wallet full of cards to compensate for poor self esteem. Neither stereotype seems to fit Ming Yi, until recently, the highly paid CEO of Ren Ci Hospital Charity. He disabused public perception that Buddhist monks should be garbed in torn clothes, remain in the temple and not “go anywhere”. Latter kind of explains his choice of hotels like St Regis, The Regent, Four Seasons and Banyan Tree.

When MP Lily Neo prepared for her maiden voyage into politics, she hired an old Honda Accord to drive to the HDB heartlands for the election hustings. One of the rare politicians whose personal wealth has no need of the seduction of the MP allowance, she knew her husband’s sports cars or her own Europe makes would be an insensitive choice of transportation. And her empathy was consistent in her work for her constituents, fighting tooth and nail with Vivian Balakrishnan (”How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”) for $30 extra in welfare support so that they may afford 3 full meals. Humility is from the heart.

Ming Yi’s explanation for his lifestyle, “I think we are living in a modern world,” brings to mind the old quarrel of Ho Ching with then boss and chairman of ST Technologies, Yeo Ning Hong. Latter had taken her to task for paying a million dollar bonus to one of her staff. Subsequently father-in-law castigated Yeo in parliament for being “out of touch with the private sector”, she got her job back, and “ended up in a higher tax bracket.”

Shin Buddhism, or the teachings of Shinran (1173-1262), teaches humility as the most important universal virtue. Many people think that the ultimate goal in Buddhism as well as human life is to become good. But according to Shinran, it is to become humble. Humility is timeless, only greed grows with time.

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