God of Wealth

[nirmal]

If the God of Wealth could make us rich, we might find ourselves sitting in front of our altars most of the time.However the God of Wealth gives us spiritual food as in the prayer:
"May all our spiritual needs be helped by the God of Wealth"
I do not really know much about the God of Wealth but he is quite popular among the Chinese Buddhist in this part of the world.
Kindly share.

[plwk]

Selamat sejahtera nirmal...

What 'God of Wealth' are you referring to?

From my experience...

The day I took refuge and 5 precepts under one Ch'an lineage Chief Abbess and later, the Grandmaster of that lineage itself up until today, I have never propitiated any 'Chai Shen' or 'God of Wealth' for any spiritual or material need nor was I taught to do so other than reliance on the Triple Gem and my own efforts...

Probably are you referring to certain Chinese Buddhists who also do a side practice making offerings to samsaric beings for spiritual/wealth/material blessings or those who attend the Arya Dzambala pujas in Tibetan Buddhist centres, although the latter is actually not a samsaric being and oft His practice has been misunderstood by many as merely being propitiated and reduced to obtaining material wealth and stuff? And when I participated in the Yellow Dzambala pujas in one centre, I have always been taught the proper Dharmic perspective and motivation when performing it...and I recall that part of that puja had this reflection from 'Atisha's Heart Advice' where he states that if one is a sincere Dharma practitioner, food and resources will naturally come into one's hands...so why would I need any 'God of Wealth'?

In fact if I may say so, if one is a sincere Dharma practitioner, perhaps even these beings may be attracted by the Buddha Dharma that one practices as they may also like to practice and take refuge in the Triple Gem...without any need for us to rely/call upon them?

Maha Mangala Sutta

[nirmal]

Selamat sejahtera nirmal...

What 'God of Wealth' are you referring to?

From my experience...

The day I took refuge and 5 precepts under one Ch'an lineage Chief Abbess and later, the Grandmaster of that lineage itself up until today, I have never propitiated any 'Chai Shen' or 'God of Wealth' for any spiritual or material need nor was I taught to do so other than reliance on the Triple Gem and my own efforts...

Probably are you referring to certain Chinese Buddhists who also do a side practice making offerings to samsaric beings for spiritual/wealth/material blessings or those who attend the Arya Dzambala pujas in Tibetan Buddhist centres, although the latter is actually not a samsaric being and oft His practice has been misunderstood by many as merely being propitiated and reduced to obtaining material wealth and stuff? And when I participated in the Yellow Dzambala pujas in one centre, I have always been taught the proper Dharmic perspective and motivation when performing it...and I recall that part of that puja had this reflection from 'Atisha's Heart Advice' where he states that if one is a sincere Dharma practitioner, food and resources will naturally come into one's hands...so why would I need any 'God of Wealth'?

In fact if I may say so, if one is a sincere Dharma practitioner, perhaps even these beings may be attracted by the Buddha Dharma that one practices as they may also like to practice and take refuge in the Triple Gem...without any need for us to rely/call upon them?

Maha Mangala Sutta

Salam bahagia plwk'
I recite this Tibetan prayer before meditation.
"May all my Samadhi be helped by Adi-Buddha(Kuntuzangpo) and his Dakinis, all my spiritual needs be helped by the God of Wealth(Zambhla) and all my Holy Karmas be helped by Damchan-Dogelegpa just as he helped our great Guru Padma Sambhava"



Tibetan Wealth Buddhas
Legends of the Jhambala go back to the time of Shakyamuni Buddha

The story goes that Lama Atisha, a very revered high lama of the Gelugpa tradition, was walking in Bodhgaya when he encountered an old man dying of starvation. Moved by the old man’s suffering, Lama Atisha immediately cut his flesh to offer the old man. “How can I eat a monk’s flesh?” the old man shakes his head. Lama Atisha lay down, feeling sad and helpless when a white light suddenly appears before him. It is the Thousand-Armed Chenrezig, the Buddha of compassion who says to Atisha, “I will manifest as Jambhala, the Buddha of wealth to help suffering beings. I shall alleviate their poverty so they will not be distracted from practising the good heart.’

Jhambala (also spelt Dzambhala) is thus believed to be an emanation of Chenrezig, the Compassionate Buddha, manifesting as the wealth-giving Buddha. The Indian origin of the story of Jambhala is different and is reflected in the appearance of this deity. Over time there evolved not one but five wealth Jambhalas, each with his own mantra and practice to help eliminate poverty and create financial stability.

Of the five, I am familiar only with the practices of the White Jambhala and the Yellow Jambhala, both of whose practices I received through the great kindness of my precious guru. I have also been extremely fortunate indeed to receive the initiation to the White Jambala practice from Rinpoche.

Yellow Jambhala sits on a lotus, sun and moon disk. He holds a mongoose in his left hand and from its mouth spews forth precious jewels.

White Jambhala sits on a snow lion, although some artists depict him sitting on a dragon and in his left hand there is also a mongoose that spits out precious diamonds and ornaments.

The other three Jambhalas are Black Jambhala who is depicted standing with a wrathful expression and surrounded by a ring of fire; Green Jambhala who is usually shown in tight embrace with his consort; and Red Jambhala who is shown with the head of an elephant. Some say that Red Jambala is indeed the Hindu God of Wealth, the popular Lord Ganesh. All five Jambalas carry the jewel-spouting mongoose in their left hand. It is this mongoose that causes wealth to flow into your home when you do the Jambhala practice with an altruistic motivation.

As everyone knows, when one is rich, it is easier to be unselfish and to develop an attitude of generosity. So the purpose of practising Jambhala is to eliminate the insecurity of worrying about money so that one is not distracted by poverty and lack of funds. The best way to request help from the Jambhalas is by making continuous water offerings to them. If possible, do also try to simultaneously recite the appropriate mantras, and then the practice will be extremely powerful.

Someone once explained to me that when Devadatta, the jealous cousin of Shakyamuni Buddha threw rocks at the Buddha, the Jambhalas were around and the rocks hit White and Yellow Jambhalas on their heads and hit Black Jambhala on the stomach. This is why White and Yellow Jambhalas feel bliss when water offering is poured on their heads. This eases their pain. For the same reason for Black Jambhala, water should be poured onto his stomach.

One way to invite Jambhala into your home is to look for a small image of White Jambhala and place under falling water in a six-level waterfall. Place this in the SW sector of your living room. If you do this on the first day of the New Year, you will be activating the most auspicious sector of that day.
http://www.wofs.com/index.php?option... ... s...wealth." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

[Mr. G]

The Sakyas place a high regard on White Mahakala practices that came from the Shangpa Kagyu's. There are some wonderful readings on White Mahakala found in the book Like An Illusion: Lives of the Shangpa Kagyu Masters.

[nirmal]

The Sakyas place a high regard on White Mahakala practices that came from the Shangpa Kagyu's. There are some wonderful readings on White Mahakala found in the book Like An Illusion: Lives of the Shangpa Kagyu Masters.

Great,thanks Mr Gordo.

[nirmal]

I finally put to good use an old fish aquarium. I placed my Yellow Zambhala under a six-fall waterfall which I created inside the aquarium with water coming down from the overhead filter.The Yellow Zambhala was hurt on the head when Buddha's zealous cousin threw three stones at him.One stone hit the Yellow Zambhala on his head. To ease his pain, water has to be poured over his head.