A poor woman sincerely offered to the living Buddha  the only piece of cloth she and her husband shared  to cover themselves and. After that,   she was born into a wealthy family with a piece of silk  on her body for 91 eons. But why couldn’t  she be liberated from the circle of life and death  until Sakyamuni Buddha came  to this world ? Through this story, Master Qing Hai explained to  us about the trap of giving and reminded us that we should directly advise people  the  way to  liberation instead of teaching them the hinayana  practice of giving. Everything is created by  the mind. If we do not have the wish for enlightenment and think towards liberation, it would be no use no matter what we  practice, , we will only be bound and moving around within the Three Worlds. So the most important thing is not the material aspects  but to give people  the dharma and right concepts so that they can  be forever liberated.

      Can poverty be sold? In order to comfort a desperate old woman, a wise monk taught her a method of selling poverty. By practicing this method for less than one day, she became a heavenly king in Trayastrmsa-Deva after she died and led her 500 relatives  to beg  the monk to teach them the Pure Eye method. The monk said: possessions, good-looks, talents, status, and worldly happiness, etc.  are all ephemeral ; it is not beneficial for us to get lost in  them , it means that evil path has already beginning to tempt  us. We can enjoy those things  only  for a while, and then we will be dragged by our karma to sufferings  for a long time. Therefore, we’d better  keep away from  these worldly desires .