Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (230)

How Is Merit Consumed and Depleted?

Cultivating merit is never easy in the first place. If one's merit is all used on oneself, it dwindles less and less. If one further takes possession of others' property or steals others' property, one's merit will have to be repaid at a cost of a thousand times or countless times over—the merit will be consumed by that many multiples. Thinking about it, it is truly not worth it. If one is reborn in the heavenly realm and becomes a heavenly lord once, the merit accumulated over many lifetimes may well be reduced to zero; if one is reborn among humans as a high official or minister, the merit is also mostly consumed. While enjoying blessings, merit is depleted extremely fast—each time one receives a prostration or bow, one's "savings" decrease by a great deal; having servants attend to one's laundry and cooking reduces one's merit; or if someone shouts "Long live!" to you, that little bit of accumulated merit is gone. Merit is depleted and exhausted just like this, bit by bit. Buddhist practitioners must understand the principle of accumulating and cultivating merit, and give more consideration to their Path-work and to attaining buddhahood.