To whom should I pray to for money and wealth and how?

[Padmist]

Is there are Boddhisatva that is best to ask for some help in this area? Are there any examples of Buddhist traditions where Buddhists specifically pray for money or wealth? Are there specific prayers I could say to bring more money my way?

[GrapeLover]

The Mahashri sutra (and the names and dharani within) can be recited for wealth: https://www.saraswatipublications.org/p ... hri-sutra/

Here Lama Pema shares the 108 Names of Jambhala which can also be recited for wealth: https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.p ... 73#p443773

In the colophon, Mipham Rinpoche includes wealth as a benefit of reciting this prayer: https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-ma ... cious-ones

For your own prayers, Green Tara or Guru Rinpoche would always be a good call depending on your inclinations

“In this life, if you wish your body to be free from sickness or pain, pray to Guru Rinpoche and you will receive his protection. If you seek for wealth, longevity or wish to clear your obstacles, just by praying, all wishes can be fulfilled. Some people think that to practice Guru Rinpoche for wealth is of no use, but this is not correct. Just by relying upon Guru Rinpoche, all wishes can be achieved.”
Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche

[FiveSkandhas]

There are indeed; for example in Japanese Buddhism, Benzaiten and Kichijoten, among others, are frequently associated with worldly prosperity. I'm not sure who the relevant beings are in Himalayan Buddhism but I believe some exist there too.

However, without being overtly critical of your motives, I am interested in why you would not rather use Buddhism to seek liberation from Samsara for yourself and all sentient beings? Or at least better rebirth, or personal strength in the face of adversity, or merit?

[Budai]

I believe it is certainly very Dharmic to pray for the fair accumulation of wealth of the people who need it. Do you need wealth? Think about that, but also pray for the starving, the poor, the homeless, and the sick to balance out their life in that manner. If you pray for them in such Buddhist methods, you will grow your Bodhicitta!

[Soma999]

There are many sutras and dharanis which be beneficial for what you ask, and you received different suggestions.

It is also extremely beneficial to develop generosity, it could be offering your meals to the Buddhas... offering your time... sharing good energy, rejoicing for yourself and others good fortune and good actions... taking care of others... blessing people, wishing them good...

Without generosity, all the practice you can do will find obstacles. Not because they are not efficient, but because generosity is the cause for receiving.

Also your intention is of utmost importance. Does not wish prosperity for you only, but wish for a rain of good fortune to fall upon all beings, and all good project find ressource to manifest.

Don’t do it for you. Recite for everyone.

If you get prosperity this way there is also a responsability. What will you do with the money ? Money is an energy. Will this energy be beneficial for you and others ?

It is also important to work on your beliefs, your thought... you have to transform yourself.

Reciting dharanis without inquiring, transformation, checking one's intention... may not bring spectacular results. But try and see for yourself.

There are many good books to help you explore the subject. I won’t give them here as they are not « buddhist », i would be moderated. You can find them easily if you do a little search.

[ratna]

The great Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok advised to pray to Kshitigarbha for this purpose:

For goals as lofty as reaching the highest attainment of buddhahood or rebirth in the western pure realm of Sukhavati, or as ordinary as gaining bountiful food and sustenance, good luck, reputation, and the fulfillment of wishes, there is none better than to pray to Kshitigarbha.
Anyone who prays to Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha, will enjoy a long life, good health, wealth, and the fulfillment of their wishes in this life. Even at death they will be reborn in Sukhavati immediately. This is an uncommon occurrence and will happen not only for you but for even those you are connected with. (Source: link).

[Tenma]

There are indeed; for example in Japanese Buddhism, Benzaiten and Kichijoten, among others, are frequently associated with worldly prosperity. I'm not sure who the relevant beings are in Himalayan Buddhism but I believe some exist there too.

However, without being overtly critical of your motives, I am interested in why you would not rather use Buddhism to seek liberation from Samsara for yourself and all sentient beings? Or at least better rebirth, or personal strength in the face of adversity, or merit?

Although the previous Vajrayana forum website no longer exists, I do recall Lama Pema mentioning that Saraswati and Lakshmi don't exactly get along and that there are people who believe that Saraswati is detrimental to wealth (I don't really subscribe to this idea but that's what some people say and for cycles such as the Red Saraswati cycle of Lama Dawa Chodak, in addition to practices for wisdom, there are practices for wealth and counteracting "Saraswati's anti-wealth effects"). As such, I'm not so sure if Benzaiten (who is a Japanese variant of Saraswati) is going to be of help but IDK on how Japanese Buddhist practices regarding her work.

Still, FiveSkandhas makes a good point about being critical of your motives, don't let wealth and greed be the reasons for doing these practices, especially when you think "Oh but I am doing it for the sake of all sentient beings" when you really aren't benefiting nor helping anyone with this practice. This is an important emphasis!

[Soma999]

Saraswati is wisdom, Lakshmi is connected with prosperity.

When people follow a path of wisdom, following a Guru, sometime they don’t feel connected anymore to the world, to their work, family... « all for the initiation now ».

It is a duality : you can follow a path of wisdom, and live in the world, have a family if you want to, have prosperity...

A symbolic offering can be done to be protected from this false duality.

The trap is to see you have a choice : either leaving the world and have knowledge, or connect to the world but then you leave true wisdom aside.

You can have both : be in the world but no of the world.

You do not have to live in a cave far away from everything to have realisations.

Any duality between Lakshmi and Saraswati is our own ignorance.

We do not ask protection from the anger or jealousy of a deity (deity have no anger nor jealousy). We ask protection from our ignorance.

[Padmist]

My motivation is getting out of poverty. Like, I'm not homeless or anything but let's just say my current situation prevents me from practicing.

[Queequeg]

NMRK NMRK

Single mindedly pursue wealth. Every waking moment geared to making wealth. You need the kind of faith to walk through fire. Do what needs doing, not that voice looking for comfort. Approach it like it was an austerity. Money to free you so you can practice.

You may have to forget Dharma practice for a while. You might feel you have lost your way at some point. Remember you went that path for dharma and be ready to let it go when the time comes.

I'm not kidding. But keep in mind you will be attempting to change the momentum of your karma. Not easy. Not without obstacles. Not without suffering. Depending on how far off the mark your present momentum is from wealth, it might take a lot.

And don't forget to dedicate that merit, cultivate gratitude and care and equanimity. This path does not seem like it could be wholesome, bit it can be with the right inner attitudes.

[Arnoud]

NMRK NMRK

Single mindedly pursue wealth. Every waking moment geared to making wealth. You need the kind of faith to walk through fire. Do what needs doing, not that voice looking for comfort. Approach it like it was an austerity. Money to free you so you can practice.

You may have to forget Dharma practice for a while. You might feel you have lost your way at some point. Remember you went that path for dharma and be ready to let it go when the time comes.

I'm not kidding. But keep in mind you will be attempting to change the momentum of your karma. Not easy. Not without obstacles. Not without suffering. Depending on how far off the mark your present momentum is from wealth, it might take a lot.

And don't forget to dedicate that merit, cultivate gratitude and care and equanimity. This path does not seem like it could be wholesome, bit it can be with the right inner attitudes.

Good post.

It would be helpful to know a little more about you, such as your age, general location and your work ethic. Some people see ways to make money everywhere and some people won’t be able to make anything even if they trip over it.
And what are you willing to do to make real wealth?
Most people I know who came from nothing and are doing well worked really hard and had some luck. They all say that the harder they worked, the luckier they got.

[Malcolm]

NMRK NMRK

Single mindedly pursue wealth. Every waking moment geared to making wealth. You need the kind of faith to walk through fire. Do what needs doing, not that voice looking for comfort. Approach it like it was an austerity. Money to free you so you can practice.

You may have to forget Dharma practice for a while. You might feel you have lost your way at some point. Remember you went that path for dharma and be ready to let it go when the time comes.

I'm not kidding. But keep in mind you will be attempting to change the momentum of your karma. Not easy. Not without obstacles. Not without suffering. Depending on how far off the mark your present momentum is from wealth, it might take a lot.

And don't forget to dedicate that merit, cultivate gratitude and care and equanimity. This path does not seem like it could be wholesome, bit it can be with the right inner attitudes.

This is the path of ulcers.

[PadmaVonSamba]

In the 1980s I lived on about US $6000 a year. That was apparently below poverty level but I didn’t know it. I walked everywhere I needed to go. I got part-jobs here and there. I bought a little food at the grocery every day (no refrigerator at home). Mostly I had a lot of free time, so I spent a lot of time in dharma study and practice.
I’m not saying everybody can do that (I hate it when people say, “I did it this way, so anybody can!” I know that’s not true). Everybody’s situation is different. But I just wanted to mention that if one can get by on very little, it can also free you up a bit. Lots of Buddhists throughout history lived very frugal lives. I’m not saying to get into some fantasy life pretend begging monk trip. I didn’t do that. But sometimes we don’t need as much stuff as we think we do. There’s a saying, ‘the more stuff you own, the more stuff owns you’. I think that’s true. I also now have a lot of crap taking up room in my house these days!

[Queequeg]

This is the path of ulcers.

I didn't say it was easy. You're right its quite miserable. I got a taste of that pursuit and dropped out. Watched my friends get ulcers. Comfortable enough is good enough for me.

It would be helpful to know a little more about you, such as your age, general location and your work ethic. Some people see ways to make money everywhere and some people won’t be able to make anything even if they trip over it.
And what are you willing to do to make real wealth?
Most people I know who came from nothing and are doing well worked really hard and had some luck. They all say that the harder they worked, the luckier they got.

Before I go on, check out this page. It might help to frame the question raised in this thread.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/aut ... el294.html

I'm going to elaborate on my answer above and then some to answer your questions. Take into account, my advice is coming from a relative position of privilege, but its advice that I would give to any striving person in my society. My experience is going from 1980s lower middle class (we never starved, but we also never had anything nice) to comfortable professional middle class. My friends and acquaintances, many of whom have had more or less similar trajectories in life, come from working class on up to professional class backgrounds. My advice will apply to most people in these categories. I'm not going to talk about .5% wealth. Much of that is aristocratic wealth - the old fashioned way to be wealthy. The rest is catching historical shifts in society. Bill Gates was at the ground floor of the digital revolution. If he were a little older or younger, he wouldn't be what he has become. Same for all the tech titans. A lot of their success is circumstantial. Its not really worth thinking about as a path worth following. I'm also not addressing a background of abject deprivation.

So, I think this goes without saying, the first requisite is that you live in a place where there is economic opportunity to advance out of a hand to mouth life. If your society is not set up to enable this, then no matter how hard you work, it will be futile. So let's refer to this complex system of rules, laws, norms, resources, etc., as the environment. You need to be in a conducive environment.

Second, its you. Intelligence, perceptivity, receptivity, habits, focus, goals, drives, temperament, resilience, social refinement, education, training, etc., The factors that make you you are positive but also can be negative. These factors include limitations, internal (bad habits, bad temperament, etc.) and externally imposed limitations (racism, classism, misogyny, caste, corruption, etc. - I'm not going to pose these kinds of disadvantages as injustice because what I'm counseling is not about justice; its more immediate. These are your disadvantages. Accept them, own them, and overcome them as best you can as one must with any handicap.) This we'll call the self.

We have little immediate control of the environment, and that means fairness is often not in the equation. Get over it.

What we have more control over (not complete, not even close) is the self. This means, its up to us to acquire useful skills and gain experience and keep our eyes open for and seek out opportunities. Most paths to a financially comfortable life are not trailblazing. Its boring. At times its miserable. Its acquiring skills and certifications, learning on the job, finding mentors, navigating professional social circles, apprenticeships, etc. Its a slog. Sometimes it involves doing menial crap and grunt work. These are the dues you must pay.

To find and take advantage of opportunities presented by the environment, the self must be prepared for them. So, prepare the self. Be prepared for years of sacrifice and patience. Be keen about opportunities. Most are not grand slams. Forget the lottery mindset. Most opportunities are just incremental, but accumulated over time, add up to great significance. When well played, they tend to have an exponential effect over the term of decades.

All that said, take into account that the climb is often generational. There often has to be a legacy of values and work ethic that guides generation to generation. Be realistic about where you are in the climb. You may not ever achieve enough leisure to pursue Dharma freely. Maybe, you will have to get by with enough, but maybe you can make those circumstances for others. That itself is tremendous merit making.

And how does dharma practice work in this? The steps to building a reasonably comfortable financial life are very similar to building a strong dharma practice. Keep in mind, Buddhism has historically been a middle class, merchant/artisan, religion. Some people argue that its something bourgeois minded people take on to fit their desires; I would rather argue that it promotes the kinds of internal values that are conducive to those kinds of paths. Anyway, when financial pursuits are framed within Dharma, I think livelihood becomes a merit generating practice. Recall, right livelihood is one of the spokes of the 8 fold path. In my experience, people have had excellent results with chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Talk to the Nichiren forum folks about that. The way it works is that the practice can be applied to focus the mind on developing your professional skills and experience. Its an excellent foundation from which to conduct yourself. There are no hangups around it about applying it to pursue financial benefits. It has the natural good effects of focusing the mind, discipline, and that intangible quality that Dharma practice brings that is beyond the grasp of the conceptualizing mind.

So me:

Age: Middle
Location: New York
Work Ethic: Sometimes (I buckle down when I need to. Otherwise, I enjoy my slack, which I fill with my family life, Dharma practice and study, and hobbies)

Both my mother and father financially had nothing to start with. They both had traumatic child hoods of different sorts. But, the things they had to give us was a sense of propriety and expectation that you make your own way in this world, and the belief that education is critically important to this. My mother especially saw war take away everything; education, she said, and experiences, cannot be taken away. My siblings and I have a resilient toughness. I guess they call it grit. You make sacrifices and muscle through the hard times. We all have advanced degrees, some of us multiple advanced degrees, from parents that barely went beyond high school.

I personally have not taken advantage of every opportunity for financial advancement. As I suggested above, a path to much greater wealth was open to me, and many of my friends have gone that path, but I didn't want to give my life to just making money. That just looks boring. I have enough, but more important to me is leisure to practice Dharma. I always thought, if I am lucky enough to have a moment to reflect on my deathbed, will I regret not making more money or will I regret not having pursued Dharma enough? For me, and I think a lot of us who congregate around this virtual water cooler, Dharma is more important. So, I guess, what I'm getting at, keep your Dharma priorities at the front of all of your deliberations about how to proceed.

[pemachophel]

OP,

If possible, find a Lama who can do divination for you to find out A) the (proximate) cause of your poverty and B) the best way to remedy it. In Tibetan Buddhism there are so many practices for increasing cha yang or wealth energy. While all are effective, picking the karmically correct one can make a huge difference, i.e., quicker, easier, better results. Some respondents have already mentioned some of the possible practices, but doing the practice that is right for you is a key to success.

Lama Jigme Rinpoche at Padma Rigdzin Ling in Las Vegas, NV does divinations on request (https://padmarigdzinling.org). So does Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron at Saraswati Bhawan (https://www.saraswatipublications.org). Or try Lama Zopa at Kopan Monastery, KTD (https://kopanmonastery.com/306-prayers- ... ion-or-mo2).

Good luck & best wishes.

[Padmist]

OP,

If possible, find a Lama who can do divination for you to find out A) the (proximate) cause of your poverty and B) the best way to remedy it. In Tibetan Buddhism there are so many practices for increasing cha yang or wealth energy. While all are effective, picking the karmically correct one can make a huge difference, i.e., quicker, easier, better results. Some respondents have already mentioned some of the possible practices, but doing the practice that is right for you is a key to success.

Lama Jigme Rinpoche at Padma Rigdzin Ling in Las Vegas, NV does divinations on request (https://padmarigdzinling.org). So does Khandro Kunzang Dechen Chodron at Saraswati Bhawan (https://www.saraswatipublications.org). Or try Lama Zopa at Kopan Monastery, KTD (https://kopanmonastery.com/306-prayers- ... ion-or-mo2).

Good luck & best wishes.

Wow. I did not expect that. Do you think divinations can be done via zoom and do you know any other place where I could read more about divination?

[pemachophel]

Contact the Lamas I've provided links for and ask Them how They do divinations remotely.

[PeterC]

...my current situation prevents me from practicing.

LPC's suggestion of getting a divination done is a good one. Get a recommendation for a practice, and do that as much as possible with the goal of removing obstacles to, and accumulating material conditions that support practice. Motivation for these things is very important. Getting a divination for your specific situation is always better than randomly choosing a practice.

[Padmist]

Contact the Lamas I've provided links for and ask Them how They do divinations remotely.

Thanks. Is Puja, divinitation?

[pemachophel]

No, puja means a ceremony. Divination means to reveal something not otherwise known. Sometimes puja is used in divination, sometimes not. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are many different forms of divination. Mala, dice, and mirror divinations are some of the most common. Some people are born with a karmic proclivity or talent for divination. However, in Tibetan Buddhism, such a proclivity is developed and augmented by doing certain practices. For instance, in Ju Mipham's Manjushri dice divination, one needs to say at least one million A-ra-pa-sa-na-di's. that's just the ante.