Sources
We may feel that our material success, failure or contentment are solely related to our training, efforts and opportunities or pure luck. Yet there are other, invisible factors at work, and it is not just economic factors or our background that creates our prosperity. Those with little apparent talent or skill may have great wealth, while others with admirable qualities remain destitute. Though the forces of wealth, longevity and richness are essentially limitless, our own obstacles may block our ability to access these resources. In the final analysis, true richness stems from an increase in the energetic forces and powers that bring spiritual, psychological and material enrichment and a clearing of factors that block our access to the limitless richness of our spiritual self.
Rituals of Drawing In
The ancient techniques of enrichment start by taking us out of our mundane awareness and limited circumstances, and placing us in the primordial purity of the spiritual dimension. From this sacred identity, the practitioner can draw upon or "hook in" enriching energies from the farthest reaches of the universe. We invoke fulfilment from all the exalted, enlightened sources, but also from worldly repositories of wealth. Traditionally this involves the Wealth-Holders of the three worlds: above, upon and below the earth. Each of these realms is a vast repository that becomes, as the sacred texts describe, a virtual "rainfall of wishes and needs." At the same time, we can make ourselves a suitable vessel for these incoming blessings through our heartfelt devotion, compassion and feelings of generosity and giving. Wealth rituals change our internal energies so that we can be an "antenna" for all the resources that we require to fulfil our mundane and spiritual goals. A consecrated "wealth vase," containing semi-precious stones and consecrated substances can amplify this process, as explained in the following pages.
Requesting Wealth
Is it right to ask for so much, and to use spiritual techniques to attain these ends? Yes, as long as we keep in mind, the "two aims." Firstly, for ourselves, we want the environment and opportunities to further our deepest spiritual goals. Secondly, enrichment gives us the capability to benefit others by giving the necessities and essentials of life, as well as providing spiritual opportunities and knowledge. Such a mind of generosity—called Bodhicitta in the Tibetan tradition—can be expressed in limitless ways, and is the real source of our wealth, now and in future lives. Through this approach, we can achieve genuine contentment, instead of feelings of either lack or grasping.
