A few months ago I had a friend tell me about the Vietnamese Dong and how they were planning on changing it's currency value to match America's currency value. She said that if you went to a bank and exchanged $60 for 1mil Vietnamese Dong you would end up with 1mil American dollars. They were writing a new jurisdiction that week to change the value of the Dong to equal the value of the dollar.
I went home and researched it a bit. I was told the Dong was going to revalue when the Iraqi Dinar revalued. There was a ton of sites online talking about the process of how the Dinar was going to raise it's value any day now. I had bought some Dong at the bank and figured it couldn't hurt. If it did not change in value I could just take it back and get my dollars back. But, after reading so much about the Dinar I started to think this may be the real investment. Not many sites even mention the Dong. It is all about the Dinar. I found a reputable source online to purchase Dinar so now I have a little Dinar sitting in a drawer.
This whole investment brought on a big obsession. I would check the webpages every day waiting to see when my investment would come through. I started noticing the guys on these pages would say “today is the day” or “any time now” and then nothing happens. I would get disappointed. Then they say “don't know why it didn't happen, must be a glitch in the system.” Funny, how all these sites saying these things also sell Dinar and if they don't sell Dinar they are making a boat load of money selling ad space. I think my dreams of getting rich easy are probably not gonna happen.
This brings me back to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and having to look with in. I continue to try to find peace by making money. The Four Noble Truths State:
- The First Noble Truth: Dukkha
- Life is full of suffering. Dukkha usually is translated as suffering. In life, we have illness, poverty, disease, old age and death. We cannot keep what we like and can not avoid what we do not like. If this is all we know we suffer.
- The Second Noble Truth: Samudaya
- There is a cause for suffering. The cause of suffering is desire and illusions that are based on ignorance. Because of ignorance wanting something leads clumsy actions, which in turn lead to suffering. Wanting life, wanting death, wanting things, wanting pleasure – all lead to suffering.
- The Third Noble Truth: Nirodha
- There is a state of mind free from suffering. By stopping the cravings, the suffering is stopped.
- The Fourth Noble Truth: Marga
- There is a way to end suffering. To end suffering we must end our cravings. The way to ending cravings is the Eightfold Path.
- So I went back to my origins of spirituality and discovered meditation. Meditation is part of the Eightfold Pathway as well as living a life of compassion. Of course meditating will not solve my need for money but it will solve my craving for lots of money. When I sit and find stillness and empty the mind I find peace once again.
There have been times when I was well off financially but did not have peace. Meditation brought me to peace. This is just another form of suffering through desire. It is now time to get back on my meditation pillow, breath and quiet the mind. Let go of the cravings and fearful thoughts. That is where true riches are found.
Follow me elsewhere!
