A person who gains conventional knowledge after great effort may claim with pride, "I have great knowledge and wisdom!" Many people who work for charity also become proud, and picture themselves as great benefactors to mankind. They are like the person who goes into a restaurant and buys drinks and dinner for everyone, leaves a big tip, then gets up and swaggers out the door as everyone in attendance stands, saying, "Thank you! Thank you!"

In China, Taiwan, Japan and other Oriental countries, there are people who give large donations to public or religious projects, but with one condition: that their names and deeds be engraved on plaques and made visible to all. If their pictures are placed beside their names, all the better. Fo-kuang Shan (Buddhist Radiance Mountain) Monastery in Taiwan is a vast temple with many buildings. The abbot of the temple understands human psychology well. For years, people donated money to the temple, and the abbot placed their names on plaques on the many walls of the temple, but he left vacant two noticeable spots on either side of the main gate. People would constantly ask how much they would need to donate in order to have their names placed in those spots. Finally, someone approached the abbot and said, "Look, I'm rich. How about letting me have one side of the gate? I don't even need the whole side. Just put my name on top, and there'll still be room for other names below mine. If you do that, I'll give you lots of money for the temple." The spots have now been filled. The abbot feels that these people normally would not have donated money for a religious cause. They were willing to part with their money only in exchange for having their names and deeds made visible to the public.