Miscellaneous Discussions on Buddhism (Part One)
Chapter Four: Good Roots and Merit
I. Different Merits Have Different Uses
What is called merit is obtained by doing things for others and for the community, at the cost of one's own effort. As long as one gives outwardly, one will receive a return. Since it is giving outwardly and benefiting others, it is in itself virtue. In the Buddha-dharma, the two are often linked together, but there is still a difference between worldly merit and the merit of studying and practicing the Buddha-dharma. For example, Lei Feng cultivated merit by doing good deeds for sentient beings, but such merit can only be enjoyed within worldly dharmas. Because he did not plant wholesome karma or karmic conditions in the Buddha-dharma, he still had no connection with the Buddha-dharma; he could not gain benefit in the Buddha-dharma—without seeds there is no harvest.
But a person who studies Buddhism plants merit not only in worldly dharmas but also in the Buddha-dharma: taking refuge in the Three Jewels, making offerings to the Three Jewels, diligently cultivating precepts, meditation, and wisdom—this is both cultivating merit and cultivating virtue. Such merit can be enjoyed not only in worldly dharmas but also in the Buddha-dharma. Merit makes our practice in the Buddha-dharma very rapid, and progress on the path swift. Merit is the foundation for our accomplishment of the Buddha-way; it is provisions for the path, accumulations for the path. Without merit, studying and practicing Buddhism accomplishes nothing. Therefore, when bodhisattvas practice, they cultivate the bodhisattva's six perfections, and the first perfection is generosity to cultivate merit. Before enlightenment one must practice generosity to cultivate merit; after enlightenment one must also practice generosity to cultivate merit; and after entering the first bhūmi, one must still practice generosity to cultivate merit, so that one's progress on the path can continually advance. This shows how important merit is.
II. Generosity Means Abandoning the Mind of Stinginess and Greed
What is called generosity is, most of all, giving away one's own mind of stinginess and greed. With a mind of stinginess and greed, one will surely obtain the retribution of poverty. Who is the poorest? Of course the hungry ghosts are the poorest. The hungry ghost's belly is as big as a drum, yet its throat is as small as the eye of a needle; no food or drink can enter its mouth, and it can only starve. When it is thirsty and sees a river and wants to go drink, because its merit is meager, the river water immediately turns into fire, and it cannot get a drink, only enduring the torment of thirst. With such a retribution of poverty, how could one be a bodhisattva and practice the bodhisattva path?
A bodhisattva is a person of great merit, life after life being a bodhisattva among humans and in the heavens, with very superior retribution. Among humans, being a human king; in the heavens, being a heavenly king, a wheel-turning king, a great ghost king—never falling into the three evil destinies, unless by the power of compassionate vows to deliver sentient beings in the evil destinies. A bodhisattva's retribution is the result of generosity accumulated over lifetimes and kalpas. Thus a mind of stinginess and greed does not accord with the bodhisattva mind; a person with a stingy, greedy mind, or with a heavy mind of stinginess and greed, cannot be a bodhisattva. No matter how one applies effort in Chan investigation, one cannot see the mind and attain enlightenment. So to be a bodhisattva, one must first practice the conduct of generosity, accumulating one's own merit, adorning oneself with the accumulations of merit.
A bodhisattva who has cultivated the conduct of generosity well thinks, in every thought, of benefiting sentient beings, considering the other's perspective, habituated to giving. If on some day he has not given to sentient beings or benefited them, his mind feels uneasy. Even before meeting sentient beings, such a bodhisattva thinks: "What can I bring to them?" Such a bodhisattva is a bodhisattva of great merit, enjoying superior material conditions life after life, always serving as the leader of sentient beings. From this it can be seen that in practice one must not belittle generosity, must not fail to practice generosity; generosity is the most actual practice, called true practice. Those who practice the bodhisattva path should check every day whether they have cultivated the conduct of generosity; in this way, progress on the path will be very rapid.
III. The Retribution of Planting the Seeds of the Buddha-dharma in Sentient Beings
As long as sentient beings plant even a little good root in the Buddha-dharma, it will serve as a seed stored in the mind, never disappearing, until they eventually accomplish the Buddha-way. This bit of seed is like the seed of a very large tree: though the seed is only a tiny granule, once planted it will slowly grow into a towering tree—truly inconceivable.
Planting good roots in the Buddha-dharma is the same. The Buddha said in the Lotus Sutra that sentient beings who recite one phrase of "Homage to the Buddha" (Namo Buddha), or even lower their head once, smile once, or press their palms together once, will all together accomplish the Buddha-way. Long ago there was an old man who requested to go forth into monastic life; the arhats did not permit it, saying he had planted no good roots within eighty thousand great kalpas. When Śākyamuni Buddha learned of this, he said: this old man planted good roots more than eighty thousand great kalpas ago, and may go forth to cultivate the path. The arhats' supernatural powers could not observe events prior to eighty thousand great kalpas. At that time the old man was a woodcutter; a tiger chased him, he climbed a tree, and cried out "Namo Buddha." By this good root, today, after eighty thousand great kalpas, he could go forth and cultivate the path. After the old man went forth, he practiced diligently, and before long he realized the fruit of the path.
The Buddha said in the sutras that sentient beings who planted good roots in Śākyamuni Buddha's dharma will, when Maitreya Buddha descends into the world in the future, be born with human bodies, and in Maitreya Buddha's three turnings of the Dharma wheel, all will attain the path. The prerequisite is obtaining a human body; if in the three evil destinies, the opportunity is not great. Therefore, regardless of whether sentient beings have taken refuge in the Three Jewels, as long as they have recited the Buddha's name, sutras, or mantras, nodded to the Buddha, smiled at the Buddha, or saluted with palms together, they have already planted good roots, formed a connection with the Buddha-dharma, and will certainly be delivered in the future.
However, only after taking refuge in the Three Jewels can practice be rapid—especially the true refuge within the mind, not a mere formality. True refuge means, deep in one's heart, taking the Three Jewels as one's reliance, depending on them with deep mind, believing and accepting without doubt. When his faculty of faith has been established and the conduct of faith is complete, he will enter the stage of abiding and practice. True refuge will also receive the greatest blessing power of the Three Jewels and the Dharma protectors, and progress on the path will be very fast.
Among our colleagues and relatives, when we see people with affinities, we should skillfully and expediently plant some good roots for them, planting the seeds of buddhahood. If it is a small child, you can tell him: "Recite the Buddha's name once, and I'll give you a piece of candy"; or tell the child that if he bows to the Buddha, he will receive some kind of reward. In this way children can be guided to plant good roots and seeds in the Buddha-dharma. With adults, when they encounter setbacks and illness, you can speak a little about cause and effect, observing how much the other person can accept—not going too far; going too far is actually not good.
IV. Benefit Others More, Plant More Good Roots and Merit
The Chan master Yongming Yanshou once set himself a daily regimen: perform one good deed each day. His standard for one good deed was rather high, and we cannot achieve it. But in order to accumulate the provisions of merit as quickly as possible, to cultivate the spiritual qualities of a bodhisattva, to early develop the bodhisattva nature, and to see the path sooner, we can set the standard a bit lower: saying one sentence that benefits another, helping someone recognize a correct principle or correct view, resolving another person's doubts and distress—such a good deed is already complete. The seed is planted in the tathāgatagarbha, and when conditions are met, the retribution follows—not necessarily in the next life. The tathāgatagarbhas of two people each make their own records; the two people's mind consciousnesses are different, their manas attachments are different, and the records made also differ. When the mind to benefit others has been brought forth, there is merit in itself—how much more so when one personally acts. Those who wish to be true bodhisattvas should ask themselves every day: Have I benefited others today?
V. How to Check Whether One's Merit Is Complete
To check whether one's merit is complete or not, see whether your practice is smooth and free of obstruction; whether your practice can follow your own wishes, with ample time and environmental conditions; whether the things you want to do are within your control, unrestricted; whether, if you want to keep the precepts, you can keep them perfectly; whether, if you want to be diligent, you can be diligent; whether, if you want to cultivate meditative concentration, there are no obstructive conditions; whether your wisdom is continually growing, and whether the dharma you practice comes easily to hand; whether, when encountering profound dharma, you can endure it, and whether you feel joy and willingness to accord with it.
If the practice of the bodhisattva's six perfections is all smooth and unobstructed, then merit is basically sufficient, and you can turn your energy to other insufficient aspects, bringing all six pāramitās to completeness and perfection. If your faith in the Buddha, in the true tathāgatagarbha dharma, and in the true Saṅgha is not yet complete, with doubts in the mind and inability to be certain, then the conditions of a bodhisattva at the stage of faith are not yet fulfilled; you still need to cultivate faith in the Three Jewels, complete the faculty of faith, give rise to the power of faith, and then transition into the ten stages of abiding to practice the six pāramitās.
VI. Who Gains the Greater Merit?
Śāriputra makes offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha, and Śākyamuni Buddha makes offerings to Śāriputra—who gains the greater merit? Two people each give one yuan to the same person—who gains the greater merit? One person makes offerings of one yuan each to two people—offering to whom brings greater merit? How should these merits be measured? One person makes offerings to the same person with different states of mind—when is the merit gained greatest?
When practicing generosity, the more the mind is unconditioned and without seeking, the greater the merit gained. When the Buddha practices generosity, his mind is the most empty, the most without seeking, so the merit gained is greatest. Although Śāriputra gave to the Buddha, the most supreme field of merit, this is still not as great as the merit of an empty mind. All sages and saints differ by means of the unconditioned dharma. The unconditioned realized through the Small Vehicle dharma and the unconditioned realized through the Great Vehicle dharma differ greatly in level. Even among those who have realized the Great Vehicle dharma, with different degrees of wisdom, the levels of the unconditioned also differ. All the marks of difference in the world are differences of mind. As long as you cultivate the mind well, you need not concern yourself with anything else—it comes naturally; the less you want to gain, the more you gain; the more you want to gain, the less you gain.
VII. Practitioners Should Consume Less of Their Merit
A person with true good roots, because his merit is great, in this life has the obscurity of crossing the womb (the veil of forgetting past lives), and unconsciously enjoys his own merit. The Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and protective deities will then prevent him from enjoying his merit: first, for fear he will not enter the Buddha's gate to practice; second, if too much merit is enjoyed, the merit is damaged, and he will be unable to gain benefit in the Buddha-dharma and make great progress.
Therefore, in studying and practicing Buddhism, we must not merely seek pleasure; we must find ways to cultivate more of the provisions of merit and the provisions of precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Only when these provisions are complete can we attain the corresponding fruits of the path and gain true benefit of the dharma. Otherwise, every day is just showing off one's eloquence—like counting food, one is never filled. However good the Buddha-dharma is, it is not yours; even if you were originally a Buddha, you can only remain an ordinary person, with birth-and-death and saṃsāra unending.
Accumulating merit is not easy, for the habitual force of greed and stinginess in the mind is very strong. So in daily life, take care not to consume merit, or to consume as little as possible; and take even more care not to diminish merit. Try to give more to others, and do not let others give to you; be more respectful of others, and do not despise or scorn them; do not always try to get the upper hand; speak more gentle words; and especially do not anger your parents and teachers—be more filial to parents and teachers, and thus merit will come abundantly and quickly. The greatest way to gain merit is making offerings to the Buddha to cultivate merit, so every day we should persist in making offerings to the Buddha, cultivating the dharma, and respecting the Saṅgha.
VIII. The Difference Between Merit-Virtue and Merit
Question: Emperor Wu of Liang built Buddhist temples and made offerings to the monks, yet Patriarch Bodhidharma said there was no merit-virtue—so it was only merit. How can there be merit-virtue?
Answer: Merit-virtue is virtue of the nature—virtuous capacities possessed in the aspect of the mind's nature. For example, subduing afflictions is merit-virtue; cultivating until the mind is untainted is merit-virtue; gaining wisdom is merit-virtue; the advancement of precepts, meditation, and wisdom toward perfection is merit-virtue; or their complete perfection, such that one can personally enjoy their benefit and also enable others to gain benefit—this is merit-virtue. Generally speaking, merit-virtue is not easily lost and is inexhaustible in its benefit, up to buddhahood. Merit, however, is mostly for one's own enjoyment, can be used up, can be destroyed, is not ultimate, and cannot guarantee that one will not use one's merit to commit evil karma and actions. Merit-virtue can make the mind gradually turn toward tranquility, and will also make merit grow. If merit and merit-virtue are gained simultaneously, the merit becomes firm and continually increases.
Even so, one must still cultivate merit; if merit is insufficient, merit-virtue is also hard to manifest—the two complement each other. But the merit cultivated should not be used for enjoyment in worldly dharmas; do not seek the blessings of humans and gods, but dedicate all this merit entirely to the accomplishment of the Buddha-way. To cultivate more merit-virtue, one must diligently cultivate precepts, meditation, and wisdom, extinguish greed, hatred, and delusion, broadly practice the bodhisattva path, receive, hold, read, and recite the Tripitaka and the twelve divisions of scriptures, investigate Chan and practice meditative concentration, jointly apply śamatha and vipaśyanā, equally cultivate samādhi and prajñā, eradicate the view of self, aspire to see the mind and attain realization, advance from bhūmi to bhūmi, and perfectly accomplish the fruit of buddhahood. All of these are merit-virtue, and great merit-virtue at that, up to the perfection of merit-virtue and the attainment of the fruit of buddhahood.
IX. What Is Withdrawing From and Depositing Into the Tathāgatagarbha Bank?
Practitioners should deposit into the bank of the tathāgatagarbha every day: reciting sutras, the Buddha's name, and mantras is a deposit; cultivating meditative concentration is a deposit; patience under insult is a deposit; contemplating the Buddha-dharma is a deposit; subduing afflictions is a deposit; taking refuge and keeping precepts is a deposit; listening to sutras and hearing the dharma is a deposit; giving wealth is a deposit; benefiting and bringing joy to others is a deposit—all the bodhisattva's six perfections and ten thousand practices are deposits.
Craving enjoyment is a withdrawal; eating, drinking, and amusement are withdrawals; all worldly necessities are withdrawals; earning money and doing business are withdrawals; consuming for oneself is a withdrawal; violating the precepts is a withdrawal; encroaching on others is a withdrawal; arrogance and self-conceit are withdrawals; competing with others for profit is a withdrawal; receiving others' benefits without thinking of repayment is a withdrawal; boasting about oneself is a withdrawal; delighting in others' praise is a withdrawal; receiving others' offerings is a withdrawal; being unfilial to parents and teachers is a withdrawal; all evil actions are withdrawals. In short, self-benefit and selfishness are withdrawals.
The merit cultivated over many lives, spent on being an emperor or general for one lifetime, is entirely consumed; the merit gained from practice, spent on one ascent to heaven to enjoy blessings, is used up without remainder. When depositing, if the heart is unwilling and reluctant, thinking the money has gone into someone else's private pocket and that one has suffered a loss, then after barely managing to make a deposit and cultivate merit, it is all spent within half a lifetime, and one becomes a pauper again, starting over to accumulate merit. Those who truly understand practice make many deposits and few withdrawals—enough money to live on is enough; there is no need to earn too much. However much money you earn, it is withdrawn from your own tathāgatagarbha bank, not obtained from outside; only what is inherently in your destiny can be earned; what is not in your destiny, no matter how hard you strive, is labor without gain. How many talented scholars have been unrecognized, and how many capable and shrewd people have lived their whole lives in destitution, inwardly resentful, lamenting the unfairness of fate. In truth, they did not plant merit in past lives; no matter how talented, it is of no avail.
Planting merit and cherishing merit is what the wise do; craving enjoyment is what fools do. In life, it is enough just to get by; do not compare wealth with others; use money and wealth to benefit others—benefiting others is benefiting oneself. One yuan given away means at least a thousandfold deposit entering one's own tathāgatagarbha bank; giving to the Three Jewels means immeasurably multiplied deposits entering the tathāgatagarbha bank—why not do it? Whether someone is rich is not judged by present worldly enjoyment, but by how much is deposited in the tathāgatagarbha bank. Like someone who lives in a luxury home, drives a fancy car, wears expensive clothes, and lives in dissipation, but whose bank card holds no money—before long he will be impoverished and destitute; such a person is not called rich. Conversely, a great wealthy elder who scrimps on food and clothing and uses all he has to benefit sentient beings, though not displaying wealth, has immeasurable deposits. The wise should reflect: this foul bag of a body—what joy is there in it? All one's actions are for accomplishing the Buddha-way, without self and without selfishness, with ultimate joy as the goal. I exhort all sentient beings to practice the bodhisattva's conduct, with a mind without petty love—great love without self—benefiting sentient beings and soon perfecting the Buddha's wisdom!
X. Manifestations of Insufficient Merit
When a Buddhist practitioner's merit is insufficient, miscellaneous affairs interfere during practice—this is a manifestation of insufficient merit. At such times one should consider cultivating merit; with insufficient merit, practice progresses slowly, with twice the effort for half the result. Surviving in worldly dharmas with insufficient merit, one also accomplishes nothing; studying and practicing Buddhism—this matter of birth and death—is the greatest matter under heaven; without deposits in the tathāgatagarbha bank, practice cannot go smoothly. To accomplish a matter of a certain magnitude, one must have corresponding deposits; with insufficient merit, no wish can be realized. To become a Buddha requires merit as great as a Buddha's; to become an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva requires the merit of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva; to become a first-bhūmi bodhisattva requires the merit of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva; to see the mind and attain enlightenment requires the merit of a bodhisattva at the stages of abiding. Without merit, one cannot move a single step.
With insufficient merit, the power of meditative concentration is very hard to cultivate; as soon as one sits down on this side, some human affair arises to interfere, and one has no choice but to go deal with it; just as one is about to enter meditative concentration, interference appears on that side, and one still has to perceive and handle it. Reflect and examine: in what aspects is each of us continually consuming merit? If you can discern this through introspection, take care not to casually waste your merit, so that progress on the path can advance rapidly. Material life in modern society is so developed—does this indicate that sentient beings today have great merit, while sentient beings in the Buddha's time had little? Worldly people casually cash out the seeds of their merit to use for enjoyment—that is truly lacking in wisdom. Wise people often keep their merit for cultivating the path, not cashing it out into worldly dharmas for enjoyment and display.
Many people like to take pride in impermanent worldly things, using them as capital for showing off—such as "I am such-and-such a high official," "I have such-and-such status and authority," or "I am so-and-so, immensely wealthy," "I have such-and-such talent," "I have such-and-such exceptional qualities," and so on. These are all illusory worldly dharmas, unreliable, soon perishing; even if possessed, they are empty. Worldly people find it hard to perceive emptiness, knowing only existence.
In the past, Chan patriarchs, wanting to find a disciple to carry on their lineage, would test the disciple's understanding, observing whether he was enlightened and whether he had wisdom. As soon as the disciple opened his mouth to speak, the master would know he was not enlightened, and say: "Your merit is meager; you cannot carry on my lineage." The patriarch's meaning was that an important reason for insufficient wisdom is insufficient merit. When our thinking is disordered and unclear, we should also often look for the causes within ourselves.
XI. Cultivating Merit and the Bodhisattva's Nature
People with the bodhisattva nature achieve realization quickly—this is the result of practice over many lives and kalpas. To practice even more rapidly, we should all make great vows and cultivate the bodhisattva's conduct of self-benefit and benefiting others. The bodhisattva's nature is selfless; selflessness accords with bodhi, and thus bodhi can be quickly realized; having a self is the root of obstruction of the path. If a person's every thought in practice is for personal benefit, without concern for Buddhism and sentient beings, without concern for others, merit is hard to accumulate, wisdom is hard to grow, and practice is very 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 pitiable, and they cannot get onto the right path. Cultivating merit is the starting point of studying Buddhism and the foundation for realizing the Buddha-dharma—extremely important. Yet there are still people unwilling to cultivate merit, thinking that cultivating merit means suffering a loss, not knowing that not cultivating merit is the real great loss.
In cultivating merit through generosity, choosing where to cultivate it is also very important: to harvest grain, you must plant seeds in rice paddies, not plant rice seeds in a vegetable garden. Only by cultivating merit within the Great Vehicle dharma can one realize the Great Vehicle dharma; only by planting seeds in the true Buddha-dharma can one harvest the fruits of both the Great and Small Vehicles. If one specifically wants to cultivate merit, one should cultivate the conduct of generosity, including generosity of wealth, generosity of dharma, and generosity of fearlessness.
Generosity is not limited to making offerings to the Three Jewels; it includes three kinds of giving to sentient beings: generosity of wealth means giving money and goods; generosity of dharma—if one has not personally realized the Buddha-dharma, one can perform indirect dharma giving, which also accumulates merit quickly, enabling more sentient beings to understand the Mahāyāna Buddha-dharma; one's own merit quickly accumulates, correct views are established quickly, and seeing the path comes quickly; generosity of fearlessness means resolving others' distress and worries, leaving them without anxieties. When these three kinds of generosity are practiced to a sufficient degree, merit can accumulate enough to attain realization and seeing the mind and seeing the nature, leaving the stage of the ordinary person.
XII. Bodhisattvas Must Not Casually Enjoy Merit for the Sake of the Path
Bodhisattvas do not casually choose to ascend to the heavens to enjoy blessings, unless it is a skillful means for delivering sentient beings. When bodhisattvas are in the human world, only when needed for delivering sentient beings, or for protecting and upholding the Buddha-dharma, do they manifest bodies of great wealth and honor. Generally, they do not manifest marks of wealth and honor, because blessings are consumed quickly, and progress on the path becomes slow. Enlightened Chan masters of the past could all have become kings, yet few were willing to be kings, fearing that their blessings would be consumed too quickly, which is also unfavorable for cultivating the path—the path would be greatly obstructed. People nowadays, upon becoming a mere section chief, develop heavy arrogance, not knowing that we bodhisattvas are unwilling to be even the lord of the heavens.
A person of true great wealth and honor is one who has countless deposits in the tathāgatagarbha bank and does not casually withdraw them from the tathāgatagarbha for enjoyment—except for giving to the Three Jewels and protecting the Buddha-dharma, which is depositing again into the tathāgatagarbha bank, and deposits with extremely high interest. Those whose tathāgatagarbha holds few or no seeds of wealth are still poor people, especially those without seeds of wholesome karma and seeds of practicing the Buddha-dharma—they are even poorer. Therefore, as long as Buddhist practitioners can get by in life, they should be content and should not try to withdraw all their wealth; if not all is withdrawn, the great majority remains in the tathāgatagarbha, forever one's own, which no one can take away, and the tathāgatagarbha bank never goes bankrupt—the safest bank in the world. Because He is not in the world; if He were in the world, He would surely face the danger of bankruptcy too.
XIII. Generosity Is Also Repaying the Buddha's Kindness
Everyone's grasping at self is very heavy; only through studying Buddhism and recognizing the true nature of the world can the grasping at self slowly dissolve. In past lives, some people studied Buddhism for a long time and some for a short time, making sentient beings' capacities different. Yet whatever one's capacity, upon entering the Buddha-dharma, one is a person awakened before other sentient beings and should feel fortunate. Behind us are countless, countless more sentient beings who cannot even obtain a human body, let alone have the opportunity to encounter the Buddha-dharma—their suffering is boundless and endless. By the time we become Buddhas, we will not even know what mode of existence they are in. Therefore we who study Buddhism should give rise to compassion—not only pitying ourselves but also pitying sentient beings. If we can bring forth the mind to save and deliver sentient beings, our own practice will become very fast.
Cultivate as much merit as possible; only with abundant merit can the path progress and wisdom grow. Many people do not value cultivating merit, so that after studying Buddhism for a long time, their understanding of the Buddha-dharma remains shallow and their wisdom gains not the slightest advancement—the fundamental problem is insufficient merit. Those who actively cultivate merit progress quickly, and their wisdom advances quickly. Whether cultivating merit or not cultivating merit is more beneficial to oneself—please reflect on this carefully.
The Buddha is the doubly honored one, perfect in merit and wisdom; in attaining buddhahood, only merit and wisdom are emphasized—the two complement each other, and neither can be lacking. Merit and wisdom are twin brothers, inseparable. When each person cultivates to a certain point and merit runs short, he is often stuck at a certain place and stagnates; some even regress. This is what I have observed from some Buddhist practitioners.
The study and realization of the Buddha-dharma has its sequence: giving while breaking through marks, giving without abiding in marks, not grasping at the retribution of giving—ordinary people simply cannot do these. If, fearing attachment to the retribution of giving, fearing giving with attachment to marks, one refuses to give, then one will forever remain a meritless ordinary person. Only after seeing the mind and cultivating to a certain fruit can one gradually accomplish giving without marks. At the stage of an ordinary person, giving certainly involves attachment to marks. But attachment to marks does not matter; giving after all gains merit, and with merit one can attain the path—this is what is most important.
In studying the Mahāyāna dharma, we cannot be like the arhats, each looking after himself, caring only for himself and ignoring the suffering of sentient beings. The arhats are all self-liberators. Although they can end their own suffering and have the ability to escape saṃsāra, they were rebuked by the Buddha as scorched sprouts and rotten seeds, fallen into the pit of the unconditioned, unable to grow the roots and sprouts of the Buddha-dharma. If everyone were like the arhats, who would rescue the sentient beings of this world? We all rely on the Buddhas and bodhisattvas for rescue and deliverance; if the arhats do not transmit the dharma, and the bodhisattvas likewise do not transmit the dharma, sentient beings will remain forever in the ocean of suffering of birth and death, without a time of escape.
Even the kindness of a drop of water that we receive is given by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Sentient beings transmigrating through the six destinies all rely on bodhisattvas for rescue; if bodhisattvas do not transmit the dharma to deliver people, we would never have the day of encountering the Buddha-dharma. None of us wishes this to be so, so we should put ourselves in others' place, always keeping in mind the suffering of other sentient beings, always finding ways to help other sentient beings and relieve their distress. Only then do we not waste the care the Buddhas and bodhisattvas have given us, not waste our encounter with the Buddha-dharma that can save us, and only then can we repay the kindness of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
XIV. Releasing Captive Animals Cannot Replace Purifying Karma and Cultivating Merit
After releasing captive animals, can the matter of birth-and-death transmigration be changed? After slandering the Three Jewels, one must fall into hell at death—can releasing animals avoid the retribution of hell? Owing someone ten thousand yuan, after releasing animals, is the debt cancelled? After releasing animals, can one attain realization and see the mind and see the nature, and can one be reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī)? For beings killed in past and present lives, are the grudges resolved?
One wholesome action cannot substitute for all wholesome actions, much less for pure conduct. Only pure conduct can make the mind pure, thereby eliminating the defiled mind and transforming defiled karma seeds, so that retribution can truly change. Not seeking anything is pure conduct; being without greed, without hatred, and without delusion is pure conduct; being free of ignorance is pure conduct. Of course, after releasing animals and doing good, one forms wholesome affinities with sentient beings and merit increases, which can support the advancement of precepts, meditation, and wisdom; the mind gains purity, which helps in attaining realization and seeing the mind. With merit increased, evil karma may for a time not manifest; creditors and debtors from past grudges, out of admiration for one's virtue, no longer press for repayment of debts and no longer obstruct, and studying the dharma and cultivating the path then goes smoothly.
XV. The Cultivation and Realization of the Buddha-dharma Requires Immense Good Roots and Merit
The Buddha-dharma is hard to realize and hard to cultivate, requiring sentient beings to practice for three great immeasurable kalpas. If the Buddha-dharma were easy to understand, easy to cultivate, and easy to realize, sentient beings would not need to practice for three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas to perfectly accomplish the Buddha-way; if the Buddha-dharma were easy to understand, the Buddha would not have emphasized that sentient beings need a considerable degree of good roots, merit, and precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Some people have read the Tripitaka and the twelve divisions of scriptures five times without touching the edge of the Buddha-dharma, and the shadow of enlightenment is far from sight. Sentient beings have been deluded and inverted for immeasurable kalpas, immersed in illusory worldly dharmas; it is truly not easy for them to understand the profound Buddha-dharma.
The Buddha taught the dharma for forty-nine years, yet at his parinirvāṇa there were still countless sentient beings with only half-knowledge of the Buddha-dharma, some not even that. It was because Ānanda saw the foolishness of sentient beings, so hard to deliver, and their misinterpretation of the Buddha-dharma, that he had to leave the Sahā world himself a hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa; originally, relying on the power of meditative concentration and merit, he could have remained in the world for a very, very long time, teaching sentient beings in place of the Buddha. After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, an old monk taught a young monk to recite the dharma of the path of liberation as "water-old-crane"; Ānanda asked him to correct it, but the old monk refused, saying instead that Ānanda had become senile and could not remember the dharma the Buddha taught. Thereupon Ānanda, saddened and distressed, left the Sahā world.
Repeatedly we emphasize that everyone should cultivate more merit and cultivate more good roots and merit, yet few people are willing to cultivate merit and develop good roots and merit. So not understanding the Buddha-dharma is only too normal—the Buddha-dharma is not something that meritless people unwilling to cultivate merit can easily understand and realize. Realizing the Buddha-dharma requires great merit; only with great merit can there be great wisdom. Small faculties and small wisdom truly do not accord with the profound Buddha-dharma. Even accomplishments in worldly dharmas require merit—how much more so the great matter of birth and death that transcends the world, how much more so the great matter of liberating oneself from immeasurable kalpas of afflictions, and how much more so the supremely great, inconceivable matter of accomplishing the Buddha-way. Those whose minds hold only themselves, who think only of self-benefit—how could they accord with the great dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, which is of the nature of selflessness?
XVI. How to Make Offerings to the Three Jewels?
The merit of making offerings to the Three Jewels is the greatest. In making offerings to the Buddha, first, one should sincerely offer vegetarian food to the Buddha every day—do not treat it as a symbolic offering, but offer it as to the true Buddha. The merit gained this way is as great as the merit of making offerings to a Nirmāṇakāya Buddha. As long as it is vegetarian food, raw or cooked, including vegetables, grains, and oils, it can all be offered to the Buddha.
The second kind of offering to the Buddha is the recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti). Recollecting the Buddha's immeasurable merit-virtue is not only recollecting the immeasurable merit-virtue of the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha; most importantly it is recollecting the Dharmakāya Buddha, recollecting the self-nature Buddha. Everyone has the self-nature Buddha; recollecting an external Buddha is never as good as recollecting the self-nature Buddha; seeking an external Buddha is not as good as seeking one's own Buddha—He can provide you with everything. Taking refuge in an external Buddha is not as good as taking refuge in the self-nature Buddha; the self-nature Buddha can lead you out of saṃsāra to the other shore of nirvāṇa.
As long as every day you inquire into the nature of suchness, study His merits, understand Him, seek Him, and investigate Him, this is all recollection of the Buddha, and in the end you can accomplish the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha, seeing the mind and seeing the nature. No offering surpasses this; among all methods of recollecting the Buddha, none is more supreme than this. Recollect the Buddha and become a Buddha—only by recollecting the Dharmakāya can one become a Buddha; by recollecting only an external Buddha, one cannot become a Buddha. Offering to the dharma means studying and reciting the Buddha's scriptures every day, contemplating the meaning of the sutras, seeking the true meaning, and acting according to the World-Honored One's teachings. Among all offerings, the offering of dharma is supreme. Offering to the Saṅgha: "saṅgha" means harmony; toward the Saṅgha Jewel's bodily, verbal, and mental actions one should be pure, make the four kinds of offerings reasonably and according to the dharma, follow the monks' correct and dharma-accordant teachings, not violate the reasonable teachings of the ordained masters, maintain the harmony of the Saṅgha, and support the Saṅgha in propagating the true dharma for the benefit of all the world.
XVII. The Merit of Offering to the Three Jewels Is Immeasurable and Boundless
In the monastic precepts there is the rule of "one sitting, one meal": when eating, once the rice has been served, one must sit and eat until finished, and upon finishing, rise and leave. If in the middle one stands up to get more rice, or walks around and comes back to eat more, it is not allowed—one may not go for second or third helpings; once the body stands up, it signifies that the meal is finished. In the Buddha's time, monastics ate one meal a day at midday, because alms-begging was very time-consuming, and one meal a day saved much time for practice. If one begged for food two or three times a day, not only would it waste a great deal of time, but one would also be ridiculed by worldly people and heretics, who would say the monastics spend all day begging and eating, gluttonous and without practice. Third, eating too much keeps the stomach and intestines constantly churning and digesting, the mind is not tranquil, which affects practice; eating much also consumes one's own merit, and the path cannot be cultivated upward. Considering these several factors, the Saṅgha established the precept of one meal a day at midday.
When monastics beg for alms, it is also so that sentient beings have a field of merit to plant, providing sentient beings the opportunity to cultivate merit and the opportunity for liberation. The more sentient beings give, the greater their merit, the more opportunities for liberation, and the greater the likelihood of liberation. Monastics begging for alms does not make sentient beings poor; quite the contrary, sentient beings become ever wealthier. Nor is it the case that because monastics beg once a day, Buddhism gradually perishes. The perishing of Buddhism has many factors, mainly that sentient beings' good roots and merit have become ever fewer; sentient beings lack the fortune to encounter the Buddha-dharma and attain liberation, and with Māra Pāpīyas's destruction of Buddhism, Buddhism inevitably declines day by day and finally perishes. When sentient beings give to monastics, the Buddha's rules do not permit refusal, so that sentient beings may plant merit and gain merit; otherwise sentient beings, without fortune, will forever drift through the six destinies, poor and suffering. That one has a field of merit to plant is itself something for which one should thank the Buddha and the monks, thank the Three Jewels—otherwise when would one attain liberation?
The Buddha said in the sutras that the merit-virtue of making offerings to the Buddha is immeasurable and boundless. Especially the first meal after the Buddha's attainment of the way and the last meal before his parinirvāṇa—if one has the opportunity to make these offerings, that person can become a Buddha most quickly, surpassing all others. The first meal after the Buddha's attainment of the way was the sheep's milk offered by a shepherdess; the last meal before the Buddha's parinirvāṇa was offered by the blacksmith Cunda. At that time an extremely large number of people begged the World-Honored One to let them offer the Buddha his last meal, but the Buddha did not permit any of them; only when the blacksmith Cunda made his request did the Buddha nod and agree. Then the Buddha gave the prediction that the blacksmith would become a Buddha—this was because in a past life the Buddha had promised Cunda that he would offer the Buddha his last meal of food and drink at the time of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa. This shows that having the karmic opportunity to make offerings to the Buddha and the Three Jewels brings merit beyond measure.
XVIII. Among the Bodhisattva's Six Perfections, What Dharma Is the Vanguard?
Among the six perfections, prajñā is the guide, the root, the center; generosity is the vanguard, and merit is the foundation. For any dharma, worldly or transcendent, without merit nothing can be accomplished. Generosity cultivates merit; only with merit can one well keep the precepts, cultivate meditative concentration, and cultivate patience under insult; only then can contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) succeed, and only then can one see the mind and see the nature. Merit is the foundation, keeping precepts is the supporting condition, and meditative concentration is the prerequisite. Contemplative practice is the primary practice; only through contemplative practice can prajñā wisdom be obtained. Without merit, if you want to keep the precepts, there will be those who break your precepts; keeping precepts is always beset with obstructions and cannot be perfected. With merit complete, practice is without obstruction. Merit and virtue are always linked: not acting for oneself is virtue; not seeking the pleasures of worldly dharmas is virtue; benefiting sentient beings is virtue—and where there is virtue, there is merit.
The Buddha taught the six perfections, with the first being generosity to cultivate merit; if this is not complete, prajñā wisdom cannot be obtained. If prajñā wisdom came first, then we would not need to practice—what use would contemplation be? One must understand the concept of the six perfections and the content of practice, frequently observe which of them one has accomplished and what is still incomplete, and find ways to perfect the conditions of the six perfections.
