'Vanity' means 'emptiness'. It is: 'a want of substance to satisfy desire'; 'uncertainty, fruitless desire or endeavour'; 'labour that produces no good'; 'empty pleasure'; 'vain pursuit'; 'idle show'; 'arrogance'; 'empty pride'; 'worthless or futile'; 'excessive pride in, or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements'.
The 10 'vanities' that Solomon warns against in the Book of Ecclesiastes are as follows:
[1] Exclusively selfish living (Ecc 4:7-8).
[2] Empty dedication to pleasure (Ecc 2:1 and Ecc 7:6).
[3] Obsessively coveting what you do not have (Ecc 6:9).
[4] The obsession with becoming famous (Ecc 9:15).
[5] Labour and work that is exclusively focused on self, and not God or others (Ecc 1:3).
[6] Unhealthy ambition (Ecc 4:4).
[7] An obsessive, self-centred drive to prepare for the future without relying on God (Ecc 2:26).
[8] Obsessively hoarding money in a miserly fashion (Ecc 5:10).
[9] Worldly wisdom (Ecc 2:13).
[10] A blind, arrogant optimism that doesn't depend on God (Ecc 11:8).
All of these ten things are 'vain' if you do not have salvation - i.e. a relationship with God through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Without God in your life, everything is 'negative' and vain (Job 7:6 and Eph 2:12).
Due to the fact that [a] 'life without God' is vain, [b] 'substance is of more worth than spin', and [c] what's on the inside is more important that what is on the outside (that includes financial wealth) - the book of Ecclesiastes concludes that:
[1] The day of death is (spiritually speaking) greater than the day of birth (Ecc 7:1).
[2] A living dog is better than a dead lion (Ecc 9:4).
