What is Prosperity Mediation
Buddhism itself contains many interesting ideas. Buddhism says that we all have the Buddha Nature and that this Buddha Nature is the key to liberation of mind. (a) However Buddhism itself aims us to think about the next life. (b) Prosperity Meditation is the idea that multiple universes exist for us in the here and now and that these different universes lead to different physical life paths. Multiple Universes Question: Have you ever thought seriously about doing something bad? For example have you ever joined a gang? Have you ever thought seriously having an affair? Under the theory of multiple universes, if you said ‘yes’ to the above then there is a universe where you actually did do these things and where you now have the consequences of doing them. Even if nothing physically comes from this decision to do something bad, if you did do it or almost did it and nothing physically came from it then your guides and angels may have had to work very hard in order to keep your life from going off track. For me personally, this was true. I took great pride in the messed up things I did as a teenager and in college and the miraculous turn of events that happened which kept my life from going very wrong. Then later in life I realized that if my angels and guides did not have to work so hard keeping my life on track then perhaps they would have had energy free to help me advance in business or make money or have a much better life. In other words, if I had never came anywhere near doing bad things then there would have been more Spiritual Power for me to advance in life. Multiple Universes not only applies to ‘being bad’, it also applies to split decisins. Question: Will you be a rich and famous movie star? Will you be able to hold a job and be prosperous or do you require billions of dollars to be happy? The honest desire to be a movie star can be a source of encouragement and can also create multiple universes. In on one hand you are trying to be a movie star and on the other hand you are studying accounting, these two do not support each other. The more energy you apply to trying to be a movie star, the more erratic your life as an accountant is going to be. The First Step in Prosperity Meditation is consistency of desire. Do you want to be a movie star or do you want to have a life as an upper middle class accountant? If you really want the wealth and status of a movie star, how can your energy as applied to this goal benefit your life as an accountant? Lama, Dalai; Chodron, Thubten. Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature (The Library of Wisdom and Compassion Book 3) (p. 14). Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition. Lama, Dalai; Chodron, Thubten. Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature (The Library of Wisdom and Compassion Book 3) (p. 14). Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition. Prosperity Meditation is about increasing abundance in there here and now. At the same time, it is about accepting the idea that life is never perfect. Buddhism has some very interesting things to say. However, Buddhism itself can lead to aiming us towards some eternal goal which only occurs in another world after death. The concepts of Buddhism, while they have truth in the eternal dimensions, these concepts can be used to increase the emotional and physical prosperity of life here and now. The solution is to take Buddhism in “grains of salt”. That is to say, study a little Buddhism but stop once the practice becomes so extreme that we find our efforts are being aimed at another dimension. Prosperity Meditation has a little Buddhism within it, but the goal is here and now. The goal is to physically improve life and at the same time to embrace the idea that life is never perfect.
Random Chance – Why do bad things happen
Bible Verse Numbers 26:55-57New International Reader’s Version55 “Be sure that you cast lots when you give out the land. What each family receives will be based on the number of men listed in its tribe. 56 Cast lots when you give out each share. Cast lots for the larger and smaller families alike.” 57 Here are the names of the Levites. They are listed by their families.The Gershonite family came from Gershon.The Kohathite family came from Kohath.The Merarite family came from Merari. Practical Question In this Bible Verse, it says that the Jews drew lots to determine how property would be split. Imagine that you happened to get a ‘crappy deal’. Imagine that everybody drew lots and you got property which was not very good while another family drew lots for property that was much better. In such a situation, the person would be very tempted to blame God for the distribution of property, afterall God controls how the lots are cast. At the absolute highest theological level there might be truth to this. However the truth is more complex than “He deserves it.” Buddhism speaks of us “being tested by the Bodhisattvas” and of bad things happening in life while that is occurring. In Buddhism, the reason for being in a poor situation is that a person could be a great spiritual master could be being given one final test before being ready to reach Enlightenment. In Christianity, Jesus was asked why a man was born blind. ‘Was it his sin or the sin of his parents’. Jesus said, it was neigher, it was simply the will of God. Buddhist Commentary For me, the Buddhist view holds the highest Spiritual Wisdom on this topic. The Buddha told a story of a man who was shot by an arrow. He refused to get treatment until he understood what type of arrow shot him and what type of poison was used. The Spiritual Message behind this story is that if you are in a bad situation due to poverty or due to being born into a disadvantaged family or situation, spending you effort wondering about God and why ‘God did this to you’ is mostly wasted energy. The greatest Spiritual Path is instead to recognize that many people are in very bad situations and look for ways that you can improve your situation and give love to others. Christian Commentary A child once asked, ‘Why do bad things happen?’ The mother replied, ‘Because this is earth and not heaven’. While this answer is simple at first, the wisdom is that in this realm of suffering there is chaos and injustice. While Spiritual teachings discuss types of Karma (or Ancesteral Curses as spoken of by the Bible), the overall understanding is that this realm of existence has injustice and sometimes people are born into bad situations. There may be ways to make life physically better, to enjoy life through the chaos, but in the end we do exist in a world where inperfection exists. Like the Buddha story about the man show by the arrow the highest Spiritual Wisdom is to learn to love God and not blame God. Buddhist Commentary Question: Buddhism speaks of many different types of karma. For example, Buddhism speaks of group karma, of generational karma. I have heard it said that living in a foreign country for as little as 6 months or more can change a person’s karma. If a person is experiencing bad luck or unfortunate circumstances, are there explanations within Buddhism which make the issue less personal other than saying that the person did something wrong in a past life. Answer: Buddhism offers several nuanced perspectives on karma that move beyond the overly simplistic “you did something wrong in a past life” explanation for current difficulties. These broader understandings can indeed make challenging circumstances feel less personally condemning: Collective and Interconnected Karma Buddhist thought recognizes that we’re embedded in webs of collective karma – family karma, community karma, and societal karma. Your difficulties might stem from being part of larger karmic patterns rather than solely from your individual past actions. This includes generational karma, where unresolved patterns from ancestors influence present circumstances. Environmental and Geographic Karma The idea about living abroad relates to the Buddhist understanding that different places have different karmic “fields” or energetic qualities. Moving to a new location can shift your karmic circumstances because you’re entering different collective patterns and environmental influences. This isn’t about personal fault but about karmic geography. Ripening Conditions Buddhism teaches that karmic seeds need specific conditions to ripen. Sometimes you might experience the results of collective karma simply because conditions are right, not because you personally created all the causes. You might be experiencing something that’s more about timing and circumstances than individual wrongdoing. Purification and Learning Many Buddhist teachers frame difficulties as opportunities for purification – burning off old karma regardless of its origin – or as lessons the soul needs for growth. This reframes suffering as potentially beneficial rather than purely punitive. Interdependence The doctrine of interdependence suggests that all phenomena arise from multiple causes and conditions. Your current situation likely results from countless interconnected factors, many beyond your personal karmic history. These perspectives offer a more compassionate and less self-blaming approach to understanding life’s challenges while maintaining the Buddhist framework of karma and causation. Jewish and Christian Commentary Question: In the Bible, numbers 26:55-57 God asks the jews to cast lots to determine who gets property. It seems that if God controls everything then God would control who got what property. What is Jewish and Christian commentary on this verse. Do the early Christian church fathers say anything on this? Jewish and Christian Commentary Both Jewish and Christian commentators have addressed this apparent paradox extensively: Jewish CommentaryTraditional Jewish commentary (as reflected in sources like Rashi) explains that “the lot, he says, was by the Holy Ghost” – meaning that while lots were cast, the outcome was directly controlled by divine providence.
Prosperity Meditation
About Prosperity Meditation For example, imagine that you were in sync with a movie star right now. Imagine that you were in sync with Brad Pit or with Britney Spears. Imagine you woke up tomorrow and you actually physically were tied to their emotions, tied to their feelings, to their level of happiness. You had their life, you felt as they felt. The emotions that went through their body were your emotions. When they got a big new deal and were excited about it, you felt the emotions of excitement. When they had troubles with a partner or a family member and felt down about those troubles, you felt down as well. You did not have the physical things they had in their life, you did not have a new car or a jet airplane but your emotions were in perfect sync with theirs. This idea actually exists in physics. Eignstein called this ‘spooky action at a distance’. This happens when two particles were once the same particle and are now separated. If one particle is drawn left then the other particle suddenly goes left. Imagine that when Brad Pit was happy, you were happy regardless of what physical things were happening in your life. You could be at a grocery store or you could be doing your homework or at work. Yet when Brad Pit was excited because of the movie he was in, you felt the same emotions exactly. Now the trick is, what if you decided to start “leveraging” these emotions to improve your life? For example, imagine that every day you are in a slump and feel hopeless. You goto work as a grocery store clerk and then go home, talk to friends who complain about life, and then watch tv. Suppose that as a result of being psychically linked to one person such as Brad Pit or Briteny Spears, every time they felt a rush of positive emotions, such as the desire to go talk to an agent, you decided to “harness” this emotion. You knew that the emotion was not coming from you, you knew that the emotions you were feeling was coming from them. You knew that you were feeling Brad Pit’s emotions. Yet you very much wanted to get out of you slump. You wanted to physically improve your own life and get out of the slums that you were in. So every time Brad Pit spoke to a booking agent you felt Brad Pit’s positive emotional rush and because you wanted to get out of the physical slum you were in, you intentionally used this emotional rush to do something beneficial for yourself. At first your efforts might be sloppy. For example, Brad Pit might be studying for a new movie script he was going to be in. As a result he might feel curious emotions of wanting to study. As a result you might decide to use these emotions to goto the store and buy a book on business success. Your first purchase might be a total waste of time. If you did something like this every time Brad Pit felt the emotion of studying for a character, you might gradually start learning some useful business knowledge. When Brad Pit felt like running, you might decided to “harness” this emotion and go running yourself. While harnessing these positive emotions in this way would not give you the life of a movie star, in time your new actions would start breaking you free of the physical slum you were in. On the flip side of this ‘psychic connection’, every time Brad Pit got into an argument with somebody important to him, he would feel negative emotions. When he did, you would also feel negative emotions. If you knew that this psychic connection was occurring, when you did feel negative emotions, you might decided to ignore them. You would know that they were not fundamentally coming from you or from anything that was happening in your life. If the negative emotions were intense enough that other people would notice, you might decide to withdraw from situations if you were able to feel these emotions coming. Because these emotions were not ‘about’ you or anything in your life, it would be better not to allow them to influence your life. While the above story is fantasy, is make believe, the truth is that because all people are connected, many of the emotions we feel actually do come from other people and not from ourselves. According to Buddhism, our mind is a radio receiver that is receiving emotions from outside ourselves. We are receiving thoughts, feelings, emotions, and even attitudes from other people in our lives, and even from people we don’t know. There is a famous story told about Ghandhi. One day Ghandhi was filled with murderous rage. He wanted to kill the people around him. Then he realized that the food in the prison he was being held in was being cooked by a murderer. The thoughts and feelings of the person cooking his food was being temporarily transferred to him. Once he realized this, he was able to detach from the emotional feelings he was feeling. The foundation of Prosperity Meditation is the understanding that many of the things we are feeling do not come from us, instead many of our emotions come directly from the world around us. Just like we can catch COVID or catch a contagious disease, we also ‘catch’ emotions. This applies to attitudes and beliefs as well. If we hang around negative people, we can catch negative attitudes from them. Because our attitudes determine our actions and because the combination of our attitudes and our actions greatly influence how people treat us and influence what our future is, then it becomes extremely important to meditate on prosperity in such a way that we are linked to those people and events which tend to radiate realistically positive thoughts.
Sheep and Goats
Bible Verse The Sheep and the Goats 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Bible Gateway – Matthew 25 NIV Christian Commentary – Early Christianity for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; – Matthew 25:35 Then, in order that you may see in another way also the justice of the sentence, he first praises those who have done right: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food,” and all that follows. Note that the judgment is in effect made by their fellow servants. This has happened before, when the virgins are judged by the virgins and in the case of the drunken and gluttonous servant who was judged by the faithful servant. It happened once again in the case of the man who buried his talent, [who was judged] by the actions of those who produced more. … This is said to bring them to the point of answering, “When did we see you hungry?” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily – John Chrysostom, Year 407 AD Catena Bible .com Buddhist Commentary (Buddhist thoughts which mirror or reflect idea of text) The parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46 emphasizes how our treatment of others, especially the vulnerable, determines our ultimate destiny. Several Buddhist concepts offer meaningful parallels to this teaching: Karma and Moral Consequences The most direct parallel is indeed karma – the law of cause and effect where our actions toward others create consequences that follow us. In Buddhism, compassionate actions (kusala karma) lead to favorable rebirths and spiritual progress, while harmful actions (akusala karma) lead to suffering. Like the parable’s judgment based on how we treated “the least of these,” Buddhist karma emphasizes that our fate is determined by our moral choices in relating to others. The Bodhisattva Ideal In Mahayana Buddhism, the bodhisattva vow embodies a similar ethic – the commitment to work for the liberation of all beings before seeking one’s own enlightenment. This mirrors Jesus’s teaching about serving others as serving him. The bodhisattva actively seeks opportunities to help those who are suffering, hungry, imprisoned, or in need. Compassion (Karuna) as Spiritual Practice Buddhist compassion isn’t just an emotion but a cultivated practice essential for spiritual development. The Dalai Lama often teaches that genuine happiness comes from serving others’ welfare. This aligns with the parable’s message that our spiritual destiny is inseparable from how we respond to others’ needs. Interdependence and Unity The Buddhist teaching of pratityasamutpada (dependent origination) reveals that all beings are interconnected. When we help others, we help ourselves; when we harm others, we harm ourselves. This echoes the parable’s radical claim that serving the needy is serving the divine. The Six Realms and Moral Rebirth Buddhist cosmology describes six realms of existence where beings are reborn based on their karma. Acts of generosity and compassion lead to favorable rebirths, while selfishness and cruelty lead to lower realms of suffering – a cosmic sorting similar to the separation of sheep and goats. Both traditions ultimately teach that our treatment of others – especially those who are vulnerable or suffering – is the true measure of our spiritual development and determines our ultimate destiny. Words of the Buddha 233 “Having directed speech and mind rightly, Doing no evil deeds with the body, Dwelling at home with ample food and drink, Faithful, gentle, generous, amiable: When one stands on these four things, Standing firmly on the Dhamma, One need not fear the other world.”134 Bodhi, Bhikkhu. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya (The Teachings of the Buddha) . Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition. Buddhist Commentary The teachings of