The Profound Meaning of Consciousness-Only in the Diamond Sutra (111)

The Unreality of Merits in Mundane Dharma: From another perspective, all merits are phenomena arising from causes and conditions. Giving is the cause for attaining the fruit of merit, and within this so-called cause, there primarily exists the true cause of Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature). When giving acts as the cause, Tathāgatagarbha manifests the five aggregates (skandhas) to concretely carry out the act of giving, while simultaneously storing the karmic seeds of the giving. Afterwards, Tathāgatagarbha again relies on various conditions—such as the conditions for wealth manifesting for one to gain riches, conditions for authority manifesting for one to gain power, conditions for companions manifesting for one to gain followers, conditions for longevity manifesting for one to gain long life, conditions for reputation manifesting for one to gain fame. When these conditions are fully present and manifest, Tathāgatagarbha outputs the karmic seeds, and this person will accordingly receive the karmic fruition of merit.

These karmic rewards are also obtained through Tathāgatagarbha cooperating with the manifested five aggregates, and it is the five aggregates that experience and enjoy them. Every minute aspect involves the assistance of Tathāgatagarbha; all are illusory manifestations conjured by Tathāgatagarbha. Every single link is false and unreal. Therefore, in general, all the actions of giving, the entire process of attaining merit, these causes and effects, are all conjured and manifested by Tathāgatagarbha. Consequently, they are entirely illusory and unreal. It is precisely because of this that the Buddha says when sentient beings cultivate merit through giving, the merit they gain seems to have the concept of more or less quantity precisely because it is illusory dharma. In the Dharma of True Reality, there is no quantity, no more or less, no big or small, no long or short, no square or round... These merits appear to exist on the surface; their existence is merely provisional, dazzling the eyes. In essence, they are all Tathāgatagarbha.

As for the merit gained from Dharma giving (teaching the Dharma), is it real? Is it the nature of merit? Can it be exhausted? What merit does Dharma giving yield? The merit obtained from Dharma giving encompasses two aspects: one is gaining merit within the mundane dharma, obtaining superior forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects (the six sense objects); the other is gaining merit of the supramundane dharma. The merit of the supramundane dharma accumulates continuously until Buddhahood is attained; it never disappears and can never be exhausted. Dharma giving enables one to attain supramundane wisdom, realize the supramundane Dharma of the true reality of Tathāgatagarbha, thereby causing wisdom to increase ceaselessly, advancing stage by stage (bhūmi), ultimately enabling the perfection of the Bodhi fruit (enlightenment). Therefore, a significant portion of the merit obtained from Dharma giving possesses the nature of merit, has reality, and is far more supreme than giving the seven treasures of a three-thousandfold world-system.