Date: 27 May 2011 Time: 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm Venue: Reclining Buddha Shrine Hall Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple Singapore
Aneka jāti saṃsāraṃ, Sandhāvissaṃ anibbisaṃ, Gahakārakaṃ gavesanto, Dukkhā jāti punappunaṃ. Through many a rebirth I wandered in this samsara (endless cycle of births and deaths), seeking but not finding, the builder of the house. Sorrowful is repeated birth. Dhammapada Verse 153
Synopsis
Buddha once said: “Monks do not fear for meritorious deeds. This is an expression denoting happiness. What is desirable, wished for, dear, and agreeable, That is meritorious deeds.” Merit is a term for wholesome energy that is generated by the human mind. Why do we need this wholesome energy? “Happy are those who make merits in this life And lives to come”, said the Buddha. That being the case, If merits bring blessings, Why do some good people suffer while some wicked prosper? If we are born as human beings because of our previous merits, why do we suffer in this life?
Heaven is open to all who make merits. And it is not reserved only for a particular religion. But merits alone cannot make us enlightened. So why do we need merits then? Not knowing how to make merits for some people generates demerits. What is the most essential factor in making merits? What are the three types of meritorious deeds and ten wholesome actions?
Think not lightly of good, saying, "It will not come to me." Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good
Dhammapada Verse 122
Each and every one of you should have a right understanding on how to make merits because merits are essential on this path to enlightenment. You are all interested in the spiritual life and that is why all of you are here today to dedicate this time for your spiritual development. First of all, you have to understand what it means by the word “merit”? Merit is the term we use to indicate the positive luminous power of the human mind.
Human beings are capable of producing two types of energies. One is dark energy, which always leads to suffering and unhappiness. Dark energy has the negative power of the lower, wretched and miserable realms. Human beings are also capable of producing bright and wholesome energy. Bright energy has the magnetic power of the higher, pleasurable and favourable realms. This can bring a lot of good to your life. Merits are generated by our mind through our wholesome actions. These merits are wholesome kammic energies and are one of the most powerful factors that influence our lives. This is because merits also equate happiness.
Perfect happiness - isn’t this what you all have been looking for? “Cittam punātīti puññam”. Buddha said, “Rejoicing over the good or having done something good and be happy.” “Sukho puññassa uccayo7 ” – “Increasing merit is increasing happiness”. There are two popular terms in Buddhism found in the Pāḷi canon that you always refer to as merits.
One term is known as Puñña Kamma. The other one is known as Kusala Kamma. Both terms are used to indicate merits. But what is the difference? Puñña Kamma simply means wholesome energy generated from wholesome actions, which can bring happiness to this life, the next and so on. It can also bring you good luck, good health and success. Kusala Kamma is known as meritorious deeds and is a little bit more profound. The word ‘kusala’ means skillful actions. Why are meritorious actions known as skillful actions?
This is because meritorious actions can reduce or eradicate from the human mind the three evil roots that make us suffer in this cycle of existence. These are greed, hatred and delusion. Meritorious actions lead to happiness, good luck, good health and success. Well, merits form the base for a happy life, here and now. With the accumulation of merits, the bright, luminous and positive energy created influences the outcome of your lives in various positive ways. Life becomes more pleasurable and favourable. You may have come across virtuous people and people who are full of positive energy, thus finding yourself in happy and favourable environments.
Some call this good luck or good fortune. Different terms, but they all refer to this wholesome kammic energy However, happiness and favourable conditions are impermanent, transient, fleeting. Buddha had very clearly said, “Sabbe sattā marissan ti”. All living beings die. “Maranaṃ tamhi jīvitam.” You and I, we all will die. This life ends with death. “Yathā kammaṃ gamissanti.” But the journey will not stop there. Beyond death, life is possible. That life depends on whether you have created enough dark or bright energy. Beyond death, merits can lead us to be born in a pleasurable and favourable realm. “Puññāni para-lokasmiṃ patiṭṭhā honti pāninam.” - Only merits count in the well-being and happiness of the departed being
While you are living, you have in possession many material things and are always in pursuit of wealth, power and popularity. Yet, on the day you depart this world, nothing matters except kammic energy. Again, friends, why do we need merits? Because heaven is open only to those who do merits. Heaven is open only to those who produce bright energy, not dark energy. Some religions claim they can manipulate heaven. Others claim that only their followers can go to heaven. There are even those that proclaim that only their followers will go to heaven and the rest will end up in hell.
Buddhism has a different perspective. It does not matter whether you have a religion or not. Regardless of religion, caste, class or denomination, if you make merits and do good deeds, you may be reborn in heaven. So, heaven is opened for all who make merits. However, remember this, merits can carry you to the door of Enlightenment but merits alone cannot bring you Enlightenment. It is the Wisdom that brings Enlightenment. So, merits can carry you to the door of Enlightenment, but Wisdom is the key to Enlightenment.
Friends, why do I say so? Perhaps you have heard many stories about how, in Buddha’s time, hundreds and thousands of people attained Enlightenment. Just by hearing a few words from the Buddha, or few stanzas from his disciples, or having been with the Buddha for a short period of time, these people attained Enlightenment. Among them were Venerable Sariputta, Venerable Moggallana, Venerable Maha Kassapa and so on. These people had made lots of merits and made aspirations to be born when Buddha appeared in the world. So, these worthy, noble monks appeared easily in the time of the Buddha.
As the Buddha laid on his death bed, many monks who were unenlightened were very worried and started crying and weeping. Venerable Ānanda , the faithful attendant of the Buddha, was so worried that he started crying too. And what did the Buddha say? Buddha said, “ Ānanda , do not be worried. Do not cry. Do not think that you are left alone. You have done a lot of merits and you will escape from suffering and be enlightened soon.” So, as long as we are unenlightened and still in this process of moving from one realm to another, it is merits that count toward your well-being and happiness.
Buddha said that this is not the first life you are living and definitely not the last life you are going to have. You have been born millions of times, and you have wandered such a long time in this cycle of existence. Buddha said if someone collects the bones of the single person wandering in this cycle of existence, the pile of bones will be greater than the highest mountain on this earth. You have been wandering for such a long time. So, in this process of wandering from realm to realm, the merits will follow you like your own shadow and ripen in due time.
One day, accompanied by 500 court ladies Princess Sumana went to the Buddha. After paying her respects to Him, she asked. “Venerable Sir, suppose there are two men, one of them cultivated charity and morality, but the other practises morality, but does not practise charity. My question is Venerable Sir, after death, when they appear in heavenly realm, can you see any differences in these two?” And Buddha said; “Yes, the one who practises both charity and morality, that person will exceed the other who practises only morality in divine beauty, divine power, and divine lifespan. And he will live more pleasurably, and have a more favourable life than the other one.”
And she asked the second question: “Venerable Sir, suppose these two now disappear from the divine realm, and reappear in the human realm as human beings. Do you see any differences?” Buddha said; “Yes, still you can see the difference. One who practises charity and morality, this person exceeds the other one in human beauty, human lifespan and human power. And whatever he wishes for, all his wishes will come true.” Then she asked the third question. “Suppose, Venerable Sir, now these two men are to become monks. They renounce all wealth, power and popularity, and they become monks. And when they become monks, their only possessions are three robes and bowl. Venerable, can you still see the differences in these two monks?”
Buddha said; “Yes, you can still see the differences. The man who practises both charity and morality, that monk will receive in abundance; he will always receive enough robes, enough food and enough lodging. Whatever this monk wishes for, he will receive everything he needs.”
Then she asked the fourth and final question: “Now suppose these two monks practise diligently, cultivating diligently, and they both attain Enlightenment (Nibbāna) and become Arahants. My question, Venerable, can you see any difference between these two enlightened Arahants?” Here Buddha said, “In that case, Princess Sumana, there is no difference. Both of them are experiencing the same bliss of Nibbāna. There is no difference in Nibbāna.” So this story, this Dhamma dialogue between the Buddha and Princess Sumana tells and shows us very clearly, that as long as we are moving in the cycle of existence, it is merits that count for the well-being and happiness of the being. Buddha said, “Idha nandati pecca nandati kata puñño ubhayattha nandati ”.
People who do merits, these worthy people are happy in this life, and happy after death. Buddha also said, “Kiccho manussapaṭilābho ” Rare is the life of a human being. You must have done a lot of merits to be born as a human being. Buddha’s advice is for us humans to do more meritorious deeds.
He said, “Yathā hi puppharasimha kayrā mālā gune bahū ” Just like a flower garland maker, he collects beautiful flowers one after another and makes a beautiful flower garland. In the same way as those who are worthy, those who are wise, those who achieved this rare form of life, should do beautiful actions and do meritorious deeds one after another.
“Suko puññassa uccayo” Increasing merit is increasing happiness. “Puññam che puriso kayrā kayrāthetam punappunam” Wise people, intelligent people, they do meritorious deeds again and again because they understand the value of their merits. So how do you make merits? It is very simple, yet requires practice. Some people, not knowing how, create de-merits while in the process of creating merits. Sometimes, people come to the temple with good intentions to do good deeds, to help the temple. Eventually when they become the members or part of the committee they forget their primary intention of providing a service and the primary motivation of coming to the temple. Instead, they get caught up with human desire, like greed for power and popularity. Then they end up arguing, quarrelling, and nursing petty personal grudges. Some even give up coming to the temple.
A few may convert to other religions. Without understanding how to make merits, they create a lot of dark energy in the process of making merits.
There is one incident when people came to the temple with purely good intentions but due to a lack of proper understanding, they ended up creating problems and misery. One day, a family called the temple and they said “Venerable Sirs, we want to offer dāna to the monks.” They proceeded to book the date, prepared the food and dishes and came early morning to the temple to make the offering. Another family also brought food without letting monks or anybody else know. Well, it is true that the second family did not follow the protocol. However, the first family who were here early got disappointed, angry, and started arguing with the second family.
Though both groups offered dāna, they created demerits with their miserable feelings and their minds were defiled. Buddha said, “Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā manoseṭṭhā manomayā 12” : Mind is the forerunner of everything, chief of everything. “Manasā ce pasannena bhāsati vā karoti vā” If someone with a compassionate and pure mind do something good or say something, “Tato naṃ sukhamanveti chāyā'va anapāyinī” that person produces bright and luminous energy and it will follow him like “chāyā'va anapāyinī”, his shadow.
So, friends, the mind is the most important factor when making merit. When making merits, all of us need to have pure thoughts. Greed, hatred and delusion and related defilements will make our mind miserable. Fill your mind with the positive qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, good-will, friendship and generosity. All these are roots of merits. Before you do merits, there should be pure and happy thoughts in the mind before the meritorious actions, while doing the meritorious deed, and after the meritorious deed.
One very popular incident happened in the time of Buddha. In the capital city of King Kosala, Savathi, there lived a billionaire named Aputtasasila (from the word Aputta that means no son). This billionaire did not have any children. Thus, he was popularly known as the billionaire who did not have children. Even though he was a billionaire, he was very stingy. He did not eat properly. He did not wear nice clothes. He lived in a palace but slept on the floor. He had nice beds but he did not use it. Well, this billionaire died suddenly and since he had no children, no one inherited his wealth. So, what happened? All his wealth was possessed by the King, by the government. Having done so, the King met the Buddha. He said “Venerable Sir, there was a wonderful man living in this city, he was a billionaire, he died and with nobody to inherit his riches, I am the one who got all the wealth. But Venerable, I am so confused as I do not know why he led such a miserable life even though he had so much wealth.”
The Buddha used his psychic powers to trace back the past lives of this particular person. A long, long time ago, this man was a rich merchant. One day, it happened that a Pacceka Buddha (an enlightened monk or person) visited his house. This rich man asked his servant to give some food to the Pacceka Buddha. The servant was so happy and got the bowl from the Pacceka Buddha to fill it up with lots of delicious food.
This man, seeing his servant giving lots of food to the Pacceka Buddha, defiled his mind by this thought, “Why give so much food to the Pacceka Buddha? It would be wasted on this monk. If I give this food to my servant, at least he works for me.” Because he offered to the Pacceka Buddha, an enlightened one, his meritorious deeds were so great that he possessed a lot of wealth. However, he defiled his mind by unwholesome thoughts and did not enjoy the giving. Thus, even though he received in abundance, he did not have the ability to consume. So, he received in abundance, but he did not enjoy the wealth.
Friends, this is why you have to be careful when doing merits. Be happy before you do something, or before you do any meritorious deed, be happy while you are doing the merits, be happy after you have done the meritorious deed. So in the process of making merits, the mind is very important. Again, friends, there are three faculties where merits can be administered. These three areas are known as mental, verbal and physical faculties. When you do merits, be mindful, be happy, and do not let any evil, unwholesome thoughts arise in the mind. Be mindful when negative thoughts arise, and discard it. Maintain purity of the mind and when you speak. Do not speak rough, harsh or vulgar words but speak pleasant, nice, encouraging words.
Likewise, your physical actions should also be very carefully managed. When you do meritorious deed, you have to do it in a calm, serene and peaceful manner. With mindful mental, verbal and physical actions, you will be able to properly make merits.
Furthermore, there are three other factors that you have to be very mindful and aware of. These are known as Motivation, Intention and Consequences of actions. All the meritorious actions are motivated by good thoughts in the mind. When you make merits, look into your own mind. Ask yourself, “Am I motivated by good-will, friendship, generosity, compassion, or am I motivated by some other ulterior motives.” You also have to ask yourself, “When I make these merits, what is my intention?”
All meritorious deeds have the intention of bringing happiness for yourself and for others. If your intent behind the deed is to bring happiness to yourself and not to others, or vice versa, it cannot be a “pure” meritorious deed. Lastly, you have to be mindful of the consequences of that meritorious action. This understanding is very important. Friends, there are three meritorious deeds. They are popularly known as Dāna, Sīla and Bhāvanā. Dāna is a Pāḷi term and means charity and giving away.
So, Dāna should always be practised with right understanding, wisdom, compassion and good-will. Unfortunately, some people give away out of anger, out of want for fame, for popularity, social obligations or out of fear. Dāna is also a way to practise detachment. You can share your material wealth such as food, clothes, money or property. As I am giving this talk, I am performing Dhamma-Dāna. So you can share your knowledge as a teacher who teaches out of goodwill, without a price. You can even give away your organs or donate blood. All these are forms of Dāna. Be happy before giving, while giving and after giving.
Second meritorious deed is known as Sīla. Sīla is upholding righteous principles and keeping to the precepts. If someone lives the righteous way of life and keeps to the five precepts, that person produces lots of merits. Here, friends, not only do you refrain from evil actions of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech and drinking alcohol, you also have to cultivate opposite qualities. For example, the First Precept is “Refrain from Killing”. Though refraining from killing itself is a good action, but that alone is not enough. Not only do you refrain from killing, injuring, torturing other living beings, you are also compassionate to all living beings, with so much love towards them. With the Second Precept being “Refrain from taking what is not given”, beyond a life of honesty, refraining from stealing is not enough. You have to cultivate the opposite good quality – living a life of honesty. With honest thought, you do not have mind of a thief. You do not become stingy, but you become generous. In the same manner, the other precepts are to be understood and practised while cultivating the opposite qualities. On one hand, we need to refrain, on the other hand, you have to cultivate good qualities. Then this is what we call Sīla – virtuous quality.
Thirdly, Bhāvanā is mental cultivation – meditation. In meditation, you always cultivate your mind. There are various meditation techniques that cultivate the mind. Earlier, before we started our Dhamma sharing, we practised mettā. So we cultivate mettā in our mind. This is one way. Other than these three meritorious deeds in Buddhist tradition, there are another seven types of meritorious deeds.
These are simply expansions from the three basic meritorious deeds of Dāna, Sīla and Bhāvanā. The seven meritorious deeds plus these three that I have just mentioned are known as Dasa Puñña. I will mention these other seven deeds briefly. The fourth one is Reverence. Paying respect is a meritorious deed. You come to the temple and pay respect to the Buddha. When you do that, pleasant thoughts arise in your mind. There is no hatred, ill-will, jealousy or anger but lots of good thoughts in your mind. You pay respects to the monks and have lots of reverence, which is a positive quality. Just as you respect the Buddha and the monks, you respect your father, mother and teacher.
Another meritorious deed is Service. Providing a service for a good cause. In this temple, I have seen many people who come to clean the Bodhi Tree area, wash and prepare the oil-lamps for others who offer lights to the Buddha. Every Sunday and Friday, you have Dhamma friends who come here to prepare the seats and clean the shrine for you all. We do not pay people in this temple and those who come here do it with good intentions and make merits at the same time. These should happen not only within the temple but anywhere. You happen to see an old person who cannot stand up on his own, you hurry over to help him. If you do it with good intentions, that is your merit. Some people misunderstand that we need to come to the temple to do merits. That is a misunderstanding. Merits can be done everywhere and anywhere.
The next is Sharing of Merits. You cannot share merits if you do not have compassion, goodwill and generosity. You cannot share the merits with hatred, ill-will, anger or any other evil type of thoughts. When you share merits, that action itself is motivated by good thoughts in the mind and that is a meritorious deed.
The seventh one is Rejoicing over the Merits. For example, you happen to come to the temple and see lots of devotees come together to make offerings and practise meditation. You feel so happy and you rejoice. You go somewhere and see some people doing a good deed, you feel so happy and you rejoice. This is also merit, even though you are not the one who makes the merit.
Eight – Preaching the Dhamma. Teaching the Dhamma is also a meritorious deed. So today, I am producing a lot of merits here. When I teach the Dhamma, I cannot have any evil thoughts in my mind. When I teach the Dhamma and share the teachings of Buddha with all of you, I have compassion, good-will and friendship.
Nine – Listening to the Dhamma. When you listen to the Dhamma, again you cannot have any evil thoughts. Your thoughts are purified. The mind is calm, serene and peaceful. You are listening to the words of the Buddha. You are making merits.
Ten – Diṭṭhijju-Kamma. Straightening the views of the mind, views of oneself. When you listen to the Dhamma and analyse the Dhamma, you straighten your views of life. This is Sammā Diṭṭhi – Right Understanding that comes from Dhamma understanding. So, these are the 10 meritorious deeds.
Well, before I end this session, some people ask, “Venerable, if you are born as a human being because of great merits, why do we suffer so much in life?” Here, you have to have the Right Understanding. It is true that you are born as a human being because of your previous merits but this does not mean that you have only merits. Your life has a lot of dark energy too. In the many lives within this cycle of existence, we have produced both dark and bright energies. There is not a single one of us on earth who creates only bright energy. In these many lives, we have done a lot of evil and unwholesome actions, producing a lot of dark energy. This dark energy follows us and time to time, they come and give due results. But as long as meritorious powers are in effect, the dark energy cannot give the due result.
But nothing is permanent. That is why, friends, even though we are born as human beings because of our meritorious power, we still have our dark energy with us and thus suffering ensues.
And some people asked this question, “Venerable, is merit a blessing in life? Why do some good people who make merits suffer in life? While some wicked people prosper?” In fact, this question was asked of the Buddha. Buddha said, ‘Natthi pāpam kataṃ kammaṃ sajju khīramva muccati” - Milk does not become curd (traditional yoghurt) at once. So, friends, it is not possible that you plant the seed today and you find the fruit tomorrow. All our good and bad actions will give us results when the time is right, when the fruit ripens.
Even though some people who do good and produce merit now, they might still have miserable lives because they are reaping the results of their evil past actions. When this miserable energy is over, the good positive energy will arise. In the same light, those who do wicked, evil and unwholesome actions prosper in their lives now because of their previous wholesome kamma. Their negative kamma from their current deeds will catch up with them in time.
Summary
So friends, merits are very important in our life as they are a form of energy which can go beyond death and will bring happiness in this life and lives to come. Merits will open the door to heaven and carry us to the door of Enlightenment. Only humans have the favourable conditions necessary to generate enough merits to subsequently become a Buddha. By birth, we are lucky, meritorious, not unlucky, not a sinner.
By birth, each and every one of us is very lucky. Merit is a form of energy. This whole universe should be understood as an energy form. This energy can go beyond death. Being human is also a form of energy. We are our own creation I trust that you now understand why we need to do merit. And very importantly, you all understand how to make merits. When you make merit, your mind is very important.
Be happy before giving, while giving and after giving. Be mindful of your words, thoughts and actions. It is important to be clear of the motivation, intention and consequences of your actions. Also, recall that there are ten types of meritorious deeds, which can be done anytime and anywhere.
Gahakāraka diṭṭho'si, Puna gehaṃ na kāhasi, Sabbā te phāsukā bhaggā, Gahakauṭaṃ visaṅkhitaṃ, Visaṅkhāra gataṃ cittaṃ, Taṇhānaṃ khayamajjhagā. O house builder! You are seen. You shall build no house again. All your rafters are broken. Your ridge-pole is shattered. My mind has attained the unconditioned. Achieved is the end of craving. Dhammapada Verse 154
Selected Dhamma Talks in 2011 by Venerable K. Rathanasara Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple 30C, St. Michael Road Singapore 328002