Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life

by William Green

There’s a Buddhist quality to this habit of seeing reality as it is, without aversion or self-delusion. One of the greatest texts of Buddhism is the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s discourse on mindfulness as a means to nirvana. He explains that the path to awakening requires us to become “ever mindful” of whatever presents itself to us—to observe with detachment as all things (including our thoughts, feelings, and sensory perceptions) arise and pass away. Freedom comes from “clearly knowing” that everything is ephemeral and training ourselves to stop grasping at what is inherently unstable. The Buddha repeats the same refrain thirteen times: “And one abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world.” This idea of nonattachment can sound cold or unnatural. But a recognition of impermanence has its benefits. For one, it’s not just the good stuff (our youthful beauty, our loved ones, economic booms, and bull markets) that will fade away. The bad stuff (emotional and physical pain, lousy political leaders, recessions, and pandemics) will also pass. Given that everything changes, we shouldn’t get too carried away when times are good or too despondent when they’re bad. A sense of impermanence can also inspire us to value and nurture our relationships (since we don’t know how long any of us will be here) and to live more fully now. In his book The Science of Enlightenment, Shinzen Young writes of learning to experience the world with “radical fullness” by focusing on e...