A merchant once hoarded gold, stacking it high in his vault, locking it away where no hands but his own could touch it. He counted his coins each night, whispering to them as if they were old friends.
One day, a beggar came to his door. “Spare a single coin,” the beggar asked, “so that I may eat.”
The merchant scoffed. “Earn your own gold,” he said, slamming the door.
But that night, when the merchant went to count his wealth, he found his vault empty. In its place was a single scale, balanced between two weights.
He ran to the wise man of the village and cried, “Who has taken my gold?”
The wise man studied the scale and said, “Gold is like the wind—try to grasp too much, and it slips through your fingers. You hoarded what should have flowed through many hands. Now it has returned to the world.”
The merchant fell to his knees, for he had spent his life weighing riches that could never truly be held.
Wealth is not measured by what you keep, but by what you give. Hold too tightly, and you will be left grasping only air.
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Christianity – Jesus and the Money Changers (Matthew 21:12-13, John 2:13-16)
Jesus entered the great temple and found the money changers seated at their tables, exchanging coins, selling doves, and turning the house of worship into a market.
He overturned their tables, scattering silver and gold across the floor.
“Is it not written,” He cried, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!”
The merchants protested, saying, “We are only doing what is necessary.”
But Jesus looked upon them and said, “You serve silver, but silver will not save you. You weigh coins but forget to weigh mercy. The temple is not a place for profit—it is a place for the soul.”
And so the money changers fled, for their business had been built on greed, and greed has no place where truth dwells.
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Judaism – The Fool’s Full Pockets (Ecclesiastes 5:10, Proverbs 11:28)
A man with a full purse came before the Rabbi and said, “Rabbi, I am blessed! I have gained great wealth and now I lack for nothing.”
The Rabbi took the man’s purse and emptied it onto the table. Then he picked up a small coin and held it to the man’s eye.
“What do you see?” the Rabbi asked.
“Only the coin,” the man replied.
The Rabbi smiled. “That is the danger of wealth. A single coin held too close can blind a man to the world. But in its proper place, it can build and sustain many.”
The man, realizing his blindness, gave half his fortune away. And for the first time, he saw clearly.
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
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Buddhism – The Emperor’s Empty Hands (Dhammapada 204, Jataka Tales)
An emperor who had conquered many lands lay on his deathbed, surrounded by gold, jewels, and treasures from across the world.
“Have I not won the earth itself?” he asked his advisor.
The advisor looked upon the emperor’s frail hands and said, “Then take your gold with you into death.”
The emperor tried to grasp the riches beside him, but his fingers, weak and trembling, could hold nothing.
With his last breath, he whispered, “I have won the world, but lost myself.”
And the advisor, now the new ruler, decreed: “True wealth is not in what we own, but in the peace we carry within.”
Airel 
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