Volume 70. December 12, 2025
You better watch out. You better not cry.
You better not pout. I’m telling you why.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
Santa Claus might be coming to town for some people, but not for the vast majority of the U.S. population.
Federal Reserve data (2024) indicates that enormous financial wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of people.
In fact, the top 1% hold around 30% of all U.S. household wealth, while the top 10% control even more, nearing 85%.
It’s stunning, astonishing really, that such a small segment of the population controls nearly all the wealth of our nation.
One danger of this financial inequality is political. The aristocracy has leveraged its immense wealth into political power. The super rich are the de facto rulers of our country — a death knell for democracy.
The real danger of being massively wealthy, however, is spiritual. You become selfish, greedy and attached. And, as the Buddha points out in his Second Truth, attachment causes suffering.
Perhaps a story might illustrate.
Once upon a time, the emperor of China revered a Buddhist priest. The emperor thought so highly of him that he ceded to the priest great wealth and unprecedented power.
The priest became full of himself, puffed up with pride at his prestige. He no longer bothered upholding Buddhist precepts.
When the priest died, he was reborn as a large ox, tearfully pulling carts through the mud, drooling gobs of slobber from his mouth.
When his master spotted him, he rebuked his student for receiving this karmic retribution. The master scolded him, saying, “Look at you! How shameful! You went from wise to foolish overnight. Frittering away your virtue like that! Indulging in selfish fantasies! What were you thinking! Do you still wish to deny the karmic law of moral causality?”
The ox bellowed dolefully. The End
My friends, American aristocrats may have their wealth, but we have our benevolence. They may have their exalted ranks, but we have our integrity.
Philosophers down the ages, from Plato to Aristotle to Kant and Confucius, disagree on metaphysics, epistemology and politics, but — incredibly — they all agree on one thing: morality.
They all agree that virtuous behavior is the only road to happiness.
Virtue is its own reward. Be good for goodness sake.
Comport yourself as if you are in daily attendance on the Buddha.
Accumulate merit and the whole world will hold you in respect.
Why do this? Because …
He’s making a list. He’s checking it twice.
He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
The Buddha Times 