Why is it said that sitting in meditation for a single moment surpasses building seven-jeweled stupas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges?

The saying "If a person sits quietly for a single ksana, it surpasses building seven-jeweled stupas as numerous as the Ganges' sands" holds a certain truth. Why is this so? Because building seven-jeweled stupas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges is merely the generosity of material wealth (dāna). Although one can gain immeasurable merit, beyond description, it is only the giver personally who gains that merit, involving no other sentient beings, and moreover, that merit will eventually be exhausted. Furthermore, this is mere mundane merit, containing no wisdom or power of merit (puṇya-bala); it cannot eradicate ignorance and afflictions, and thus cannot bring liberation or great liberation. Power of merit is the accomplishment of wisdom, which can eradicate ignorance and afflictions, bringing liberation and great liberation. Only when both merit and wisdom are perfectly accomplished can one achieve omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā); lacking either one, one cannot become a Buddha.

Meditative concentration is the most effective path for cultivating the body and mind. Sitting quietly in itself can not only generate the merit of meditative concentration, but also brings the benefit of power of merit. Not only does the practitioner personally receive this benefit, but it can also influence the other people around; all those contacted and connected will receive the benefit of this power of merit. This is because between sentient beings there is a certain magnetic-field effect of body and mind, capable of mutual permeation and influence, like the relationship between cold water and hot water: the final result is that the cold and hot water blend together, the heat of the hot water permeating into the cold water, warming it, and even melting hard ice. A person with meditative concentration and cultivation is like the hot water, while a person without meditative concentration or cultivation, or one whose cultivation is very shallow, is like the cold water and hard ice. As a result, the power of merit of the person with meditative concentration is imperceptibly transmitted to those without it, so that those without meditative concentration or cultivation can also feel physical and mental joy, with afflictions lessened and the mind softened, and can even eliminate karmic obstructions and distress.

Of course, when the heat of the hot water is transmitted to the cold water and hard ice, the heat will be somewhat dissipated and it will grow colder. The practitioner with meditative concentration will feel physically and mentally weary, afflictions may increase, and illness and suffering may also increase. In this way, the power of one's cultivation is weakened, and one must pay a greater price to maintain the original state of body and mind, or else deepen one's meditative concentration and cultivation further. Therefore, practitioners must choose their place of practice well and choose well the people they associate with, staying far away from places heavy with karmic obstruction; ideally, if one can avoid crowds altogether, that is best. Everyone needs good spiritual friends; if there are none, one can only remain alone.

However, this does not mean that by leaving the crowd, sentient beings are no longer influenced by one's power of merit—the influence remains. It is only that previously the power of merit was transmitted to the very few people nearby; once these people are no longer around as obstructions, one's magnetic field and energy will be transmitted even farther, and more people will benefit. There is no need to let a few people block the sunlight and warmth needed by the many. A person with extremely great cultivation power can influence the surrounding hundred li, thousand li, ten thousand li; can influence a city, a province, a nation, and can even influence the entire globe and the whole Buddhist world, bearing on the rise and fall, the survival or extinction, of Buddhism. In a group, whether large or small, as long as such a person is present, the group will be harmonious and flourishing; once such a person is gone from the group, the karmic obstructions can no longer be suppressed, conflicts and disputes appear frequently, and the group will gradually decline.

Sitting quietly for a single ksana stills conflicts, disputes, and scattered thoughts; body and mind both settle into stillness, purifying one's own magnetic field and that of one's surroundings. Humans, animals, birds in flight, ghosts, and spirits will all feel a moment of harmony and peace, and in an instant the burning vexation is stilled. Such merit and power of merit are beyond description; building seven-jeweled stupas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges cannot compare with it. Especially in the present Dharma-ending age, when sentient beings universally have blazing afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, with karmic obstructions flowing constantly and disasters arising everywhere amid compounded suffering, if one can still one's afflictions for a single ksana, the power of merit is beyond description. Of course, this refers to correct meditative concentration (samyak-samādhi); wrong concentration only has a negative influence, because when the mind is deviant, the mind's influence is also imperceptibly very great.