Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (229)

How can we make our blessings and merit complete?

If we want to compare with one another, we should not compare who enjoys more wealth; rather, we should compare who has the largest deposit in the bank of the tathāgatagarbha. Whoever has the largest deposit in the bank of the tathāgatagarbha is the wealthiest, and such a person will attain buddhahood first. Even if we currently do not have much wealth to enjoy, if the deposits in our tathāgatagarbha are very abundant, then we are people of great wealth and nobility; whether one is wealthy or not depends on one's deposits, not entirely on one's cash. Therefore, we should enjoy as little as possible, so that our deposits grow ever more abundant, or we should take these deposits out to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, cultivating merit and storing merit anew.

Take one dollar out of the tathāgatagarbha deposits to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, and the rate of return is over a thousandfold, or even immeasurably manyfold. If you give one dollar in generosity (dāna) to a person without cultivation, the return is one thousand dollars—a thousandfold rate of return; if you give it to a person with cultivation, the return becomes a hundred-thousandfold, a millionfold, or immeasurably manyfold, all returned to the bank of the tathāgatagarbha. Once we understand this principle, we will know how to cultivate merit. If one dollar is spent on oneself, the deposit in the bank decreases by one dollar; if it is spent on others, the bank gains another deposit of one thousand, two thousand, a hundred thousand, a million, or immeasurable tens of thousands. Those who know how to cultivate merit should enjoy as little as possible—the more one enjoys, the fewer one's blessings become. Instead, let others enjoy, and benefit and bring joy to others more; your return will be tens of millions of times over, immeasurably manyfold. When your blessings are sufficient, when the deposits in the bank are sufficient, and when the causes and conditions are complete, we will attain realization and enter the first bhūmi, the second bhūmi, the tenth bhūmi, up until buddhahood.