The merit of generosity is immeasurable and great

Some people say: since all dharmas in the world are illusory false appearances, all unborn, then there is no need for us to strive to do anything anymore—whatever we do is meaningless. Is this way of speaking correct?

This way of speaking is of course incorrect. Only by relying on false appearances can one cultivate and attain accomplishment; before accomplishment is achieved, one must strive very hard to cultivate upon false appearances. All the wholesome deeds done on the path of learning Buddhism are for the sake of realizing the Path, for realizing the unborn, for realizing the signless and the true reality. Only after realization does one truly know the unborn, and only then can one attain liberation and become a Buddha. The conditioned is for the sake of the unconditioned. Therefore, before one has the ability to be unconditioned, all meaningful conditioned deeds that should be done must be striven for diligently. Whatever one does is done for oneself, all brings benefit to oneself—it is oneself harvesting the fruit of the unconditioned. On the surface it may seem that one has benefited others, that others have received one's help, that one has protected and supported the Three Jewels and benefited the Three Jewels and sentient beings, but in fact it is oneself who has obtained the greatest benefit. If the Three Jewels do not receive benefit, if sentient beings do not receive benefit, then everything one has done has no benefit and is all useless effort. The so-called benefit can only appear on the basis of having benefited the Three Jewels and sentient beings; if others have not received benefit, one will not gain blessings, merit, or wisdom.

For example, giving in generosity (dāna) to sentient beings brings a return of a thousandfold or more; but if the other party does not accept it, there is not even a singlefold return. The other party has not benefited, so there is no return at all. It is like giving ten thousand yuan to empty space—empty space receives nothing and gains nothing, which is the same as having lost ten thousand yuan oneself. What return is there for losing money? One gets not a single cent of return, let alone a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold return. It is like giving ten thousand yuan to the great ocean—the great ocean receives nothing and gains nothing, and moreover the ten thousand yuan would be destroyed, so one has simply wasted ten thousand yuan for nothing; deliberately destroying printed banknotes even carries a fault. It is like giving ten thousand yuan to a great fire—the fire burns it up; such giving not only brings no benefit but also carries a fault.

Some people never forget their own acts of giving, always feeling that they have bestowed grace upon others, but in fact it is precisely the other party who has bestowed grace upon them. If others were not willing to accept one's generous giving, by what right would one obtain a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold return? By what right would one accumulate, bit by bit, so many provisions of merit for seeing the Path? In order to let sentient beings accumulate more merit, when the Buddha was about to enter parinirvāṇa, he specially asked several arhat disciples to remain in the world with their manifested forms, accepting offerings from sentient beings and providing sentient beings with opportunities to cultivate great merit. Those arhats actually did not wish to receive offerings from others: first, they found it troublesome; second, it consumes their own merit. But as disciples of the Buddha, first they had to respect the Buddha's arrangement, and second they had to benefit sentient beings. That is why they did not enter nirvāṇa without remainder but remained in the world.

Some people practice the giving of Dharma by posting messages to guide those with affinity into proper study and cultivation. They feel as if they were doing work for the master, as if it were others who gained the benefit while they themselves expended time and energy, feeling that they have suffered a loss. They do not understand what the result of their giving of Dharma will be, how supreme it is, and how great the benefit they will finally obtain—perhaps it cannot even be counted or calculated. It is precisely because of these merits and this merit that one has done that one can swiftly accomplish the Buddha-way in the process of study and cultivation in this life and future lives, sparing oneself the suffering of birth-and-death and saṃsāra for countless kalpas. This retribution cannot be exchanged for treasures as numerous as empty space; the retribution obtained cannot be fully described. Meanwhile, those who receive the benefit of one's giving of Dharma are far inferior to oneself in merit, virtue, and wisdom. The greater the benefit the Three Jewels and sentient beings receive from one's giving, the greater one's merit and virtue will be, and in the future one's wisdom will be the highest. As long as one's vision is not short-sighted, one should make truthful observation and contemplation, considering one's own future and greatest benefit.

The merit of a bodhisattva is ten thousandfold, hundred-millionfold, immeasurably-fold greater than that of an arhat, because bodhisattvas are together with sentient beings life after life; in every gesture and movement they benefit sentient beings, and at the same time they obtain thousands, millions, and immeasurable times more merit and virtue. Therefore bodhisattvas are wealthy elders whose riches and nobility no one in the world can compare with. When merit and wisdom are perfectly and completely fulfilled, one will accomplish the Path through the eight signs of manifestation and become the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the World-Honored One.