How to Cultivate Merit to Rapidly Advance on the Spiritual Path?

Those who study Buddhism and cultivate the Path should frequently introspect on which aspects they are constantly depleting their merit; after introspecting, they should correct themselves, taking care not to casually squander their merit, in order to advance swiftly in their cultivation of the Path. In modern society, material life is prosperous—does this indicate that sentient beings of today have great merit, while sentient beings at the time of the Buddha had little merit? It is not so at all. The measure of merit does not depend on superficial luxury or its absence; rather, it lies in whether one's energy and merit can be devoted to the cultivation of the Path and to wholesome karma, whether one can continuously unlock the treasure trove of wisdom, and whether one can preserve one's merit within the tathāgatagarbha for use in cultivating the Path in future lives, rather than squandering it in vain on worldly dharmas.

When worldly people lack sufficient merit, they often are born into an age of superficial splendor, easily cashing out their seeds of merit to enjoy worldly pleasures and to display their power and prestige. If a Buddhist practitioner fails to awaken and instead follows worldly indulgences, casually depleting his own merit, engaging in unprofitable worldly affairs, and making no plans for cultivation of the Path, that is a manifestation of lacking wisdom and good roots. Those with good roots and wisdom preserve their merit for cultivating the Path, and do not cash it out as enjoyment and ostentation in worldly dharmas. Many people always take pride in possessing worldly fame, profit, power, and prestige, endlessly haggling over illusory arising-and-ceasing dharmas, not knowing that wealth, honor, glory, and splendor are like flowers in the sky, vanishing before long—even if they exist, they are empty. Worldly people find it hard to realize emptiness and only know existence; hence they harbor the mentality of seizing pleasure in the moment, giving no thought to future lives.