"How to distinguish between cleverness and wisdom? Wisdom awakens from within on a Sunday afternoon. (20231015)

In India, there was a lady named Rekha, the CEO of a credit company. One day, she encountered a scavenger on the street. He complained, 'If only I had my own cart, I wouldn't have to pay rent every day, and the money I earn wouldn't even buy me a piece of bread.' Rekha, moved by compassion, immediately provided him with a small loan at an extremely low interest rate to buy a cart. Soon, kind-hearted Rekha extended this kind of loan to help thousands of poor people.

But unexpectedly, just half a year later, Rekha faced major troubles. Some people created scams to avoid repayment, while others took the money and disappeared. Rumors spread that Rekha was involved in financial crimes and was fleeing, and therefore, her loans didn't need to be repaid. The poor people used their cleverness and wit, finding various reasons not to repay the loans.

In the end, Rekha was heartbroken, and her credit company declared bankruptcy due to the inability to recover the loans. The poor, having obtained loans without returning them, seemed to have gained an advantage. However, the result was that no one was willing to lend them money anymore. When they urgently needed money, they had to turn to loan sharks, resulting in broken families and ruined lives.

In truth, many poor people are not foolish; they just often misuse their cleverness. The poorer people are, the more they tend to rely on petty cleverness, and the less money they have, the more they try to exploit loopholes in regulations. The smarter a person thinks they are, the more likely they are to fail; being too clever can backfire.

What traps us is not the external circumstances but our own blind and arrogant selves. What truly helps us is the awakened self."