Enjoying pleasure is depleting one's merit

Buddhist practitioners should frequently reflect on themselves to see in which aspects they are constantly depleting their merit. Once they have discerned this, they should correct it, being careful not to lightly squander their merit, in order to advance swiftly on the path of practice. Modern society has a highly developed material life—does this indicate that sentient beings today have great merit, while sentient beings at the time of the Buddha had little merit? Not at all. The measure of merit does not depend on superficial extravagance; it lies in whether one can devote one's energy and merit to the path of practice and to wholesome karma, whether one can continuously unlock the treasure trove of wisdom, and whether one can retain one's merit within the tathāgatagarbha for future cultivation of the Way, rather than squandering it in vain on worldly dharmas. When people lack merit, they often are born into an age of vanity and superficial splendor, easily cashing in their seeds of merit to enjoy worldly pleasures and to display their power and prestige. If a Buddhist practitioner fails to awaken and instead follows worldly enjoyments, casually consuming his own merit, engaging in useless worldly affairs, and making no plans for the path of practice, that is a manifestation of lacking wisdom and good roots. Those with good roots and wisdom retain their merit for cultivating the Way, rather than cashing it in for the enjoyment and ostentation of worldly dharmas. Many people always take pride in possessing worldly fame, profit, power, and prestige, endlessly haggling over illusory conditioned dharmas that arise and cease, not knowing that wealth, honor, glory, and splendor are like flowers in the sky, soon to perish; even if they exist, they are empty. People of the world find it hard to realize emptiness and only know existence; hence they harbor the mentality of seizing pleasure in the moment, giving no thought to future lives.