A Commentary on the Diamond Sutra: Merit Beyond Measure, Nineteen

Original text:须菩提。于意云何。若有人满三千大千世界七宝。以用布施。是人以是因缘。得福多不。如是。世尊。此人以是因缘。得福甚多。须菩提。若福德有实。如来不说得福德多。以福德无故。如来说得福德多。

Explanation: Subhūti, what do you think about this matter? If someone takes the seven treasures filling the trichiliocosm and uses them all for giving, through the causes and conditions of such giving, would the merit this person can obtain be abundant? Subhūti replied: It would be very abundant, World-Honored One; because this person takes such giving as cause and condition, the future retribution will be extremely abundant merit. The World-Honored One said to Subhūti: If the merit obtained by sentient beings had true reality, I would not say that the merit he obtains is abundant; because merit has no reality, no substance, no self-nature, therefore I say that the merit this person obtains from giving the seven treasures of the trichiliocosm is very abundant.

Why does the World-Honored One say that merit has no true reality? To borrow the World-Honored One's own language: so-called merit is not merit, therefore it is called merit. Merit belongs to worldly dharmas; it has no self-nature and is merely a name. Let us look at the form in which merit manifests. Giving brings blessings; giving includes the giving of wealth, the giving of Dharma, and the giving of fearlessness. Money and wealth belong to material things, which are material form (rūpa-dharma); the giving of fearlessness belongs to mental dharmas, the spiritual realm of the mind consciousness, and does not go beyond the realms of the six sense objects. When sentient beings give and cultivate blessings, it is the five-aggregate body that gives away the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas that it possesses, for the other's five-aggregate body to enjoy. And the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas belong to worldly dharmas; when one gives worldly dharmas, the retribution will also be a return of worldly dharmas—this is what is called merit.

Now the return of worldly dharmas is nothing more than wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep within the three realms of the world, and the sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. It manifests concretely as fame, power, status, retinue, money, the enjoyment of the physical body, health, longevity, and other such worldly dharmas of merit. With these worldly dharmas, once enjoyed, the merit disappears; enjoying a little, the merit diminishes a little; in the end, when all has been enjoyed, the merit is completely exhausted. Therefore worldly merit has a time when it is used up through enjoyment, and so the merit that sentient beings possess and enjoy is of a nature of arising and ceasing, and thus is not real. What is real can never be exhausted through enjoyment—just like the Buddha's merit, which can never be exhausted, because that is not merely merit within the worldly world.

As for the non-reality of merit among worldly dharmas, viewed from another aspect: all merit is dharma produced by causes and conditions. Giving is the cause for obtaining the fruit of blessings, and within this so-called cause, there is above all the true cause of the tathāgatagarbha present. When giving is made as a cause, the tathāgatagarbha manifests the five-aggregate body to concretely carry out the act of giving, and at the same time the tathāgatagarbha stores the karmic seeds of the giving. Afterwards, the tathāgatagarbha relies on various conditions—for example, for this person to get rich, the conditions for wealth must manifest; to gain power and influence, the conditions for power must manifest; to obtain a retinue, the conditions for a retinue must manifest; to obtain longevity, the conditions for longevity must manifest; to obtain fame, the conditions for fame must manifest. When such conditions are complete and manifest, the tathāgatagarbha outputs the karmic seeds, and this person will obtain the corresponding retribution of merit.

These retributions are also obtained by the five-aggregate body manifested in cooperation with the tathāgatagarbha, and are enjoyed by the five-aggregate body. Every minute link has the assistance of the tathāgatagarbha; all are conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha, and every link is illusory and unreal. So, speaking of the whole, all actions of giving, all processes of obtaining merit—these causes and fruits—are all conjured and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and therefore all are illusory and unreal. It is precisely because of this that the Buddha says that when sentient beings cultivate blessings through giving, the merit obtained is abundant; only illusory dharmas have the notion of quantity, more and less. In the dharma of true reality, there is no number, no more or less, no great or small, no long or short, no square or round... These merits appear on the surface to exist, but this existence is false existence, merely dazzling the eyes; in their essence, they are all the tathāgatagarbha.

Then, as for the merit obtained from the giving of Dharma—does it have reality? Is it of the nature of merit? Can it be exhausted through enjoyment? What merit does the giving of Dharma obtain? The merit obtained from the giving of Dharma includes two aspects: one is obtaining merit among worldly dharmas, obtaining supreme forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and dharmas; the other is obtaining merit of the supramundane dharmas. And the merit of supramundane dharmas will continuously accumulate until buddhahood; this merit will never disappear and can never be exhausted. The giving of Dharma can obtain supramundane wisdom, enabling the realization of the supramundane true-reality dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, whereby wisdom is continuously advanced, ascending from bhūmi to bhūmi, and ultimately one can perfect the fruit of bodhi. Therefore, a great part of the merit obtained from the giving of Dharma possesses the nature of merit and has true reality, far surpassing the giving of the seven treasures of the trichiliocosm.