How Merit Is Attained

So-called blessings are obtained by acting for others and for the community, achieved through personal sacrifice. As long as one gives outwardly, one will receive in return.

Since the giving is outward, benefiting others, it constitutes virtue. In Buddhism, these two concepts are often linked. However, there is a difference between blessings in worldly affairs and those cultivated through Buddhist practice. For example, Lei Feng cultivated blessings by performing good deeds for sentient beings, but such blessings can only be enjoyed within the realm of worldly affairs. Because he did not plant wholesome karmic seeds or causes related to the Dharma, he remained disconnected from Buddhism and could not derive benefit from it.

In contrast, those who study Buddhism cultivate blessings not only in worldly matters but also in the Dharma. By taking refuge in the Three Jewels, making offerings to them, and diligently cultivating precepts, meditation, and wisdom, they cultivate both blessings and virtue. Such blessings can be enjoyed both in worldly life and in the Dharma.

Blessings and virtues enable our practice of the Dharma to progress very swiftly, rapidly advancing our spiritual path. They form the foundation for attaining Buddhahood, serving as the provisions and resources for the path. Without blessings and virtues, Buddhist study and practice achieve nothing. Therefore, when bodhisattvas practice, they cultivate the six paramitas, the first of which is the practice of giving to cultivate blessings. They must practice giving to cultivate blessings before enlightenment, and they must continue after enlightenment. Even after entering the first bhūmi (ground), they must still practice giving to cultivate blessings so that their spiritual path may continually advance. This demonstrates how crucial blessings and virtues truly are.

The essence of giving is primarily to relinquish one’s own stinginess and greed. Harboring stinginess and greed inevitably leads to the karmic retribution of poverty. Who is the poorest? Of course, it is the hungry ghosts who are the poorest. Hungry ghosts have enormous bellies and throats as small as needle eyes; no food or drink can enter, leaving them perpetually starving. When thirsty, they see a river and wish to drink, but due to their meager blessings, the river instantly turns into fire, preventing them from drinking and forcing them to endure agonizing thirst. With such impoverished retribution, how could one become a bodhisattva and practice the bodhisattva path?

Bodhisattvas are beings of great blessings and virtues, reborn lifetime after lifetime as bodhisattvas among humans and devas, enjoying sublime karmic rewards. Among humans, they become great kings; among devas, they become celestial kings, wheel-turning monarchs, or great ghost kings. They never fall into the three lower realms, unless propelled by compassionate vows to liberate beings in those realms. The karmic rewards of bodhisattvas are the result of lifetimes upon lifetimes of accumulated giving over countless kalpas.

Therefore, a mind of stinginess and greed is incompatible with the bodhisattva mind. Those who harbor stinginess and greed, or whose greed is severe, cannot become bodhisattvas. No matter how diligently they meditate or strive, they will not break through to enlightenment. Thus, to become a bodhisattva, one must first practice giving, accumulate blessings and virtues, and adorn oneself with the provisions of merit.

A bodhisattva who has perfected the practice of giving constantly thinks of benefiting sentient beings, considers others' needs, and is accustomed to generosity. If a day passes without giving to or benefiting sentient beings, their mind feels unsettled. Even before meeting beings, such a bodhisattva wonders, "What can I offer them?" This is the mark of a bodhisattva of great blessings and virtues, who enjoys abundant material resources life after life and always becomes a leader among sentient beings. From this perspective, practitioners must never underestimate giving; they absolutely must not neglect it. Giving is the most practical form of practice, known as true cultivation. Those walking the bodhisattva path should examine themselves daily: "Have I practiced giving today?" By doing so, their spiritual path will advance swiftly.