Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (205)

Buddhist Practitioners Should Diligently Cultivate Merit and Wisdom

The retribution of attaining supreme bodhi is extremely extraordinary. First, the worldly retribution is that one can obtain all kinds of abundance and happiness; those who study the Buddha-dharma and attain the fruits of the Path will not fall into the evil destinies. Second, wherever they are born, they enjoy the retribution of wealth, honor, glory, and splendor. In the past, after Chan masters attained the fruit of the Great Vehicle, when they were reborn in the human world they could all become kings or ministers; the higher the fruit they attained, the higher their status in the heavens and the human world—this is called worldly wealth and happiness.

Those of us who study Buddhism should also cultivate much merit and much wisdom; the blessings from cultivating merit will also bring us wealth and honor in worldly dharma. The Buddha is the "Most Honored One of the Two Fulfillments"—which two fulfillments? The two fulfillments of merit and wisdom. If one has only wisdom but no merit, one cannot attain buddhahood; and without merit, one also cannot attract the respect, reverence, and offerings of all people in the world. Therefore, when we recite sutras, we are cultivating both merit and wisdom; sitting in meditation is also cultivating merit, and prostrating to the Buddha is also cultivating merit. Not to mention the generosity of wealth and the generosity of dharma, which benefit and bring joy to sentient beings—these are even more so the cultivation of merit. Only when both merit and wisdom are fulfilled and complete does one become the Supreme One (anuttara).