how to Create Success and Wealth

Anyone can create success and wealth for themselves very simply. it's just a matter of going about it in the right way. In many ways our attitude to money comes from our background and how we were brought up to view it.

Many people have the view that the pursuit of money is somehow a bad thing, particularly here in Britain, where 'old money' is valued and 'self-made' wealth is seen as brash or trashy. Some people take the view that spirituality and money cannot go together, and that to be enlightened one must first give up money and worldly goods. It's no wonder then that most of us have such an ambivalent attitude towards the stuff, and hence there's never enough of it to make ends meet.

 We're giving out mixed messages, on the one hand we need money to live and to enjoy life.  That is a fact.  Our entire world is built on the exchange of goods for money - no money = no goods, so we really do need a steady supply and plenty of it.  However, we then feel really guilty for wanting it.  How many times have I heard someone say that they shouldn't complain really, that they've got all the best things in life.  And thats' fantastic, but it doesn't pay the mortgage.

This basically Christian dichotomy is not the only viewpoint (Mark Knowles has some interesting comments on Christian points of view. Buddhism sees money and spirituality as all part of the same thing. The material, physchological and spiritual worlds are all one and you need good amounts of all of them to function well. Therefore in Buddhist terms it's really OK to go all out to make money and to be successful, in fact, it's important to do so.

Many thousands of Buddhists chant a simple phrase twice a day to ask for things which they need in their life such as: a new car, fantastically performing Hubs, a new job, girlfriend, boyfriend, the latest Prada Shoes - whatever is important to that person.

Now would probably be a really good time to read my other two hubs on Buddhism, just to get some background information before learning more about making success and wealth really easily, then come back here.  Read this one first.  Then this one.

So, now you've read the other two, you know where I'm coming from with this. You can have money and success, in fact, it's good for you. There's nothing to stop you from starting right now. You could begin chanting the simple phrase today and see what happens over the next few weeks, then maybe you'd like to learn more from a few books, or the Soka Gakkai organisation.

The way Buddhism looks at money is through your current life-state (the ten worlds) and value creation.

Value creation is a good place to start. It's a way of looking at what you have at the moment and evaluating what it's doing for you, and you can apply it to just about everything, from a pair of shoes to a job.

2eusday published a great hub recently about her 50th article and about what she was getting out of writing here at Hubpages, but we could just have easily used value creation to explore this.

Value creation divides everything into three aspects, BEAUTY, GAIN and GOOD, so if you wish to create more wealth, look at where you are now and the job you are doing through these three aspects:

Beauty: does what you're doing now have beauty, not just aesthetic loveliness, but do you enjoy it? For example, I thoroughly enjoy writing here on Hubpages, because I get to choose my own subjects, research them and share them, so yes, for me writing on Hubpages has beauty.

Gain: is what you get from whatever it is you are assessing. It doesn't only mean in monetary terms, but also in pleasure received or other more spiritual rewards. For example, I earn money through Hubpages, so yes, I have monetary gain, but also gain from being part of a community of writers who encourage and help each other.

Good: does what you are doing provide good for others. This could be any type of good. Taking the example of Hubpages again, I like to think my articles are useful to people, or that they enjoy reading them, or that they find a few bits and pieces funny.

For me, writing on Hubpages fulfils all three aspects of value creation really well.

Anyone can apply these criteria to their lives to work out what it is they would like to do, then chant their little socks off to find a way to achieve it.

 If you've read my article on The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin you will know about the ten worlds which inhabit our life-state from moment to moment:

Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity, Heaven, Learning, Realisation, Bodhisatva and Buddhahood.

looking at money in the terms of our current life-state might tell us why we never seem to have as much of the stuff as we would like.

Hell state - this is fairly easy. In monetary terms it would simply mean that there's not enough to go round, maybe you're on the verge of being bankrupt, the bailiffs at the door. That would seem pretty hellish to me.

Hunger - this would relate to the eternal questing for money whether it was needed or not; it's the type of hunger for money that is never satisfied.

Animality - would be foolishness with money, squandering what you have - the easy come easy go attitude.

Anger - using money as an ego prop, to keep score, keeping up with the Joneses, as a way of competing.

Humanity - using money sensibly, making budgets, saving a bit, getting your head down and working for it. The downside may be that we can become completely tight with our money, or unable to enjoy ourselves when we ought to.

Heaven - the elation we feel when we get a little money for our hard work, or a win, or an unexpected bonus. however the elation doesn't last so we keep seeking more elation.

Learning - is easy, someone studying economics or accountancy is learning about money.

Realisation - would be observing it's effects in your own life, or observing how the economy works in society.

Bodhisatva - would be where a person uses money to help others, whether it's a tithe to the church or a charity gift, or having the millions to set up a charitable organisation.

Buddhahood - would be developing the wisdom, courage and compassion to not be blown along by the six lower worlds and to creat maximum value for yourself and others in any given situation.

 Examining the state of your success and wealth through the criteria of value creation and the ten worlds helps you work out where you are now and where you want to get to in terms of success.  Be specific and critical in your own evaluation, so that you have a clear goal.

You can work it all out without chanting, but if you want to give the whole buddhist thing a go and evaluate that as well, then chant the simple phrase, whilst focussing on what you've learned from your evaluation.

What's the phrase?

 Nam myo ho renge kyo