The Fruits of Veneration — Fortune, Wealth, and Protection
People believe that venerating Tao Wessuwan brings fortune, wealth, and protection. But how do these fruits work, and how should they be rightly understood within the Dhamma? This chapter unfolds the idea of merit-fruit, linking belief to Buddhist reasoning.
We come now to a question that lies in the hearts of many of the faithful.
What good does venerating Tao Wessuwan bring? Why do people believe that he can grant fortune and protect from danger? And, most importantly, how should we understand these fruits so that our understanding is correct and we do not lose our way?
This chapter will lead you to understand the fruits of veneration in a light deeper than "ask and you shall receive" — a light that joins belief together with the principle of reason in Buddhism.
The Two Chief Fruits in Which People Place Their Faith
Belief in the fruits of venerating Tao Wessuwan may be divided into two main dimensions, which accord with the two-sided identity of his that we have told throughout this book.
The first is fortune and wealth — because he is the god of wealth, ever since his time as Kubera. People therefore venerate him to ask for abundance, for advancement in their work, and for success in trade.
The second is protection and defense from danger — because he is the King of Yakshas, holding power over spirits and demons. People therefore venerate him to ask for safety, for deliverance from harm, and for the warding off of evil and inauspicious things.
Did You Know?
Notice that these two dimensions of the fruit cover precisely the most fundamental of human desires: "wealth" and "safety." This is a key reason that Tao Wessuwan is so widely beloved, as we analyzed in chapter 8.
How the Fruit Works — A Deeper Light
This is the most important part of this chapter, and it is what separates correct understanding from blind superstition.
Many understand veneration to mean that one "asks" and the deity "gives," as though it were a transaction. But in the profound understanding that follows the principle of Buddhism, the true fruit works in a far subtler way.
Consider first the matter of wealth. As we told in chapter 4, the riches of Tao Wessuwan in his past lives arose from "giving" with a pure heart. Venerating him to ask for wealth, then, should come together with taking up his example — that is, being a giver, being diligent, and earning one's living by honest means. When we do so, prosperity follows by cause and effect.
The Heart of the Matter
Tao Wessuwan does not "conjure" gold and money for us out of empty air. Rather, venerating him with understanding becomes the inspiration and encouragement for us to labor honestly at our livelihood, to be disciplined, and to be givers — and these are the true "cause" of wealth.
In the same way, with the matter of protection from danger, as we told in chapter 9, non-human beings of ill intent dislike those who keep the precepts. Venerating him together with a firm resolve in morality is therefore the true armor of protection — for the one who keeps the precepts is guarded by the deities and possesses a heart that is at peace and free of suspicion, which is a safety from within, more steadfast than any amulet.
A Belief That Fosters Goodness
Seen in this light, we come to see that the way of venerating Tao Wessuwan is in truth a beautiful skillful means that draws people toward goodness.
The one who venerates him with understanding will be moved to keep the precepts, to earn an honest living, to be a giver, and to be heedful — for he knows that this is what the deity favors, and is the condition for reaching the deity's grace. Belief thus becomes a driving force that makes people better.
A Reflection
This is the beauty of Thai Buddhism, which can blend belief in deities together with the principle of kamma and the doing of good in perfect harmony. Venerating a deity does not contradict the principle of self-reliance, if one understands that the deity is a good friend who fosters our creating of good causes — not one who would bestow the result while we ourselves need do nothing.
When Belief Becomes Blind Superstition
Yet there is a fine line of which the worshipper should be wary.
If we venerate with mistaken understanding — thinking that merely to ask is to receive without having to act, or thinking that we may do evil and then use veneration to wipe it away — that is the blind superstition that leads to heedlessness and to ruin, which is utterly the opposite of the spirit of veneration.
The true fruit, then, is reserved for those who venerate with wisdom, hand in hand with setting to work to create good causes by their own effort.
Before We Go On
We have now understood the fruits of veneration in depth — both in fortune and in protection, and the correct light that follows the principle of the Dhamma. This brings the part on veneration and belief to a complete close.
By this point, we have come to understand Tao Wessuwan in full — his identity, his legend, the cosmos, the suttas, his form, and his veneration. There remains only one final question — what, then, has this deity's path been in our Thai land? How has he stood beside Thai society, from the past down to the present day?
In the final part of this book, we shall return to the Thai land to survey the path of faith that Tao Wessuwan has held in the hearts of the Thai people, in the chapter that follows.