Generosity (Dãna) Not Only Accumulates Merits to Advance Spiritual Practice But Also Repays the Buddha's Grace

Everyone possesses a heavy burden of ego-attachment. Only through studying the Buddha's teachings and realizing the true nature of reality can this ego-attachment gradually dissolve. In past lives, some studied the Dharma for a long time, while others studied it only briefly, resulting in sentient beings having different spiritual capacities. However, regardless of one's capacity, as long as one enters the Dharma, they are among those who awaken before countless other beings and should feel fortunate. Behind us, there are infinite multitudes of sentient beings who cannot even obtain a human body, let alone have the opportunity to encounter the Dharma; their suffering is boundless and endless. By the time we attain Buddhahood, we may not even know in what form of existence those beings are trapped. Therefore, we who study the Dharma should give rise to compassion, pitying not only ourselves but also all sentient beings. If we can generate the mind to rescue and deliver beings, our own practice will progress very swiftly.

Strive to cultivate as much merit as possible. Only with abundant merit can the path of practice advance and wisdom increase. Many people do not value cultivating merit, causing them to study the Dharma for a long time yet remain shallow in their understanding, with wisdom making no progress whatsoever. The fundamental problem is insufficient merit. Those who actively cultivate merit progress rapidly, and their wisdom increases swiftly. Consider carefully: is it beneficial to oneself to cultivate merit, or is it beneficial not to cultivate merit?

The Buddha is the Honored One with Perfect Merit and Wisdom. Attaining Buddhahood emphasizes only merit and wisdom; these two complement each other, and neither can be lacking. Merit and wisdom are like twin brothers, inseparable. When each person practices to a certain level, if merit becomes insufficient, they often get stuck at a certain point, stagnating or even regressing. This is what I have observed in some practitioners.

The study and practice of the Dharma has stages. Giving that breaks through appearances, giving without abiding in appearances, giving without clinging to the results of giving – these are fundamentally impossible for ordinary beings to accomplish. If one fears clinging to the results of giving, fears giving while attached to appearances, and thus refuses to give, then one will forever remain a meritless ordinary being. Only after realizing the mind and attaining a certain level of fruition can one gradually accomplish signless giving. While in the state of an ordinary being, giving inevitably involves attachment to appearances. But being attached to appearances is not a critical problem; after all, giving can still generate merit. With merit, one can attain the Way – this is the most crucial point.

We who study and practice the Mahayana path cannot be like the arhats, who are concerned only with themselves, attending solely to their own affairs without considering the suffering of sentient beings. The arhats are self-liberators. Although they can liberate themselves from suffering and have the ability to transcend the cycle of rebirth, the Buddha reproached them as "withered sprouts and rotten seeds," fallen into the pit of inaction, unable to grow the roots of the Dharma. If everyone were like the arhats, who would save the sentient beings of this world? We all rely on the Buddhas and bodhisattvas for deliverance. If the arhats do not transmit the Dharma, and the bodhisattvas also do not transmit the Dharma, sentient beings would remain forever trapped in the sea of birth, death, and suffering, with no hope of escape. Every single drop of kindness we receive comes from the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Sentient beings cycling in the Six Realms all depend on the bodhisattvas for rescue. If the bodhisattvas did not transmit the Dharma to deliver people, we would never have had the day we encountered the Dharma. None of us wish for this. Therefore, we should put ourselves in others' shoes, always keeping in mind the suffering of other sentient beings, always seeking ways to help other sentient beings and relieve their distress. Only then do we not waste the care the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have shown us, not waste the encounter with the Dharma that can liberate us, and only then can we repay the kindness of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.