The Importance of Cultivating Merit

Those with the disposition of a bodhisattva achieve realization quickly; this is the result of cultivation over many lifetimes. In order to cultivate more rapidly, we should all make great vows and practice the bodhisattva conduct of benefiting both self and others. The disposition of a bodhisattva is selfless; when selflessness accords with bodhi, one can quickly realize bodhi. Having a self is the root that obstructs the Path. If a person cultivates with every thought solely for personal benefit, caring neither for Buddhism and sentient beings nor for others, it is very difficult for merit to accumulate and for wisdom to grow, and their cultivation will be extremely slow. Some people, when urged to cultivate merit, simply refuse. As a result, after studying for a long time and expending much energy, their views remain pitifully inadequate, and they cannot get onto the right path. Cultivating merit is the starting point of learning Buddhism and the foundation for realizing the Buddha's Dharma—it is extremely important. Yet there are still those unwilling to cultivate merit, thinking they would suffer a loss by doing so, not knowing that it is by not cultivating merit that one suffers a great loss.

In cultivating merit through generosity, choosing where to cultivate it is also very important. If you want to harvest grain, you must plant seeds in a rice paddy, not rice seeds in a vegetable garden. Only by cultivating merit within the Mahāyāna Dharma can one realize the Mahāyāna Dharma; only by planting seeds in the true Buddha-Dharma can one harvest the fruits of both the greater and lesser vehicles. If one wishes to cultivate merit specifically, one should practice the conduct of generosity (dāna), including the generosity of wealth, the generosity of Dharma, and the generosity of fearlessness.

Generosity is not limited to making offerings to the Three Jewels; it includes the three kinds of giving to sentient beings: the generosity of wealth means giving money and material goods; the generosity of Dharma—if one has not yet realized the Buddha-Dharma oneself, one can perform indirect Dharma giving, which also accumulates merit quickly, enabling more sentient beings to understand the Mahāyāna Dharma; one's own merit will quickly gather, right views will be established quickly, and seeing the Path will come quickly; the generosity of fearlessness means resolving others' suffering and worries, freeing them from any lingering anxieties. When these three kinds of giving are practiced to a sufficient degree, one's merit will accumulate enough to attain realization of the fruits and to awaken to the true mind and see one's nature, thereby leaving behind the stage of an ordinary being.