A Well-Stored Fund
A person stashes a fund away, deep underground, at the water line: “When a need or duty arises, this will provide for my needs, for my release if I’m denounced by the king, molested by thieves, in case of debt, famine, or accidents.” With aims like this in the world a reserve fund is stashed away.
But no matter how well it’s stored, deep underground, at the water line, it won’t all always serve one’s need. The fund gets shifted from its place, or one’s memory gets confused; or unseen water serpents make off with it, spirits steal it, or hateful heirs run off with it. When one’s merit’s ended, it’s totally destroyed.
But when a man or woman has laid aside a well-stored fund of giving, virtue, restraint, & self-control, with regard to a shrine, the Sangha, a fine individual, guests, mother, father, or elder sibling:
That’s a well-stored fund. It can’t be wrested away. It follows you along. When, having left this world, for wherever you must go, you take it with you.
Nidhi Kanda, The Reserve Fund, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu – Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License https://dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=Khp_8_Nidhi_Kanda