MJ05 - 38 Blessings - Our Previous Good Deeds (06 Of 39)

Buddhist dharma talks about Blessing number five of the Mangala Sutta, on how to cultivate wholesome karma in life and the likely outcomes in our future. It is the sixth part of a series of thirty-nine sequential teachings from the mundane to the transcendental pathway of practice.

Transcript

Last time you saw me,

We looked at the blessing number four,

Buddhist Feng Shui.

With the Dhamma talk today,

We will continue our series on Enlightened Living with blessing number five,

Having done good deeds in our past.

I should point out from the start that this blessing of the Enlightened Living series is almost identical to the fourth lecture of the Buddhist Concept series,

Which I've already given as B04,

Doing good that does you good.

But as today's lecture is supposed to delve deeper into the Buddhist roots of the knowledge,

I have added in a few additional details in the form of definitions,

Examples of fruits of merit on the level of the mind,

Personality,

Lifestyle and society,

And also the likely outcomes in life of having accrued or having failed to accrue merit in one's past.

The reason why I refer to deeds not just as good but meritorious is because they are well known to be things for generating something really important in our lives,

Which is like a positive energy.

The word merit is a traditional translation of the Pali word punya.

The word merit in English can sometimes be confusing because it makes us think of being honoured or praised or approved by another person.

However,

All that is intended by the word merit in this case is that it is deserved.

It occurs spontaneously without needing a third party to award it to us.

A general definition of merit is the result of doing a good deed.

Some things in our life which we think are under our control or are down to our choices,

While other things in our life seem to be beyond our control.

So if we're confronted by an unavoidable disaster,

We are reliant on factors which are beyond what we can see with the naked eye.

If we fall ill,

We have to trust the doctor is going to help us,

But even the doctor cannot help in every case.

There is always something else hidden away behind the scenes which is helping in the background.

And even in the same situation,

For people who have got more of this special merit energy in their lives,

Trouble seems to pass them by,

Leaving them unscathed.

Whereas for other people,

Lacking such merit,

The trouble may be very serious for them.

So this special thing called merit is important.

It may not be in the forefront of our seven habits for highly effective people,

But it's certainly important for happiness beyond the normal material definitions.

To really understand the nature of the positive energy we call merit,

We need to backtrack and look at what we understand by the mind.

What Buddhists refer to as the mind in technical parlance as citta or vinyana,

Is considered to be the awareness or attention rather than the brain or nervous system,

With an appearance rather like a will-o'-the-wisp,

But one that normally inhabits the space inside a person's body.

In its natural state,

It takes the form of a clear sphere of diamond brightness.

However,

When polluted by defilements,

It is reduced to dullness and weakened potential.

When merit arises in the mind,

It lights up the mind for a while.

All dynamic things in the world have fuel upon which they feed,

And the mind too must have a food on which it can feed in order to fuel its efficient activity.

Buddhists believe this energy is positive karma,

Which is known in a technical sense as merit.

Merit arises spontaneously for those who do good deeds,

Without needing a third party to award it,

Like a stone thrown up in the air knows it must fall back to earth.

Between the good deed and the returning result of the good karma,

There needs to be a potential energy storable in the mind,

Which communicates the potency of an act of karma from one place in time to another.

This link in the causal chain is referred to as merit.

If you were an advanced meditator,

You'd be able to use your meditation to see what merit is actually like.

However,

The most that the normal meditator can see of merit is like its shadow.

We see its effects only in the way that we can deduce that it must be present.

In this sense,

Merit can be compared to electricity.

Normally,

We cannot see electricity,

Only the effects it causes,

Such as heat from an iron or a bar fire,

An electric shock if we touch a live wire,

Light from a light bulb,

Coolness from a fridge,

Or movement from an electric motor.

We are happy to make use of electricity without ever having seen it.

And in the same way,

Mostly we have to be content with accruing merit without seeing it for ourselves.

Like electricity,

Merit cannot be observed with the naked eye.

Nevertheless,

When we perform a meritorious deed,

The mind is left with a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside.

Because most people have never seen merit directly,

They have their doubts whether doing good deeds actually creates merit or not.

However,

Those with more experience in meditation who have seen the real nature of the merit for themselves will appreciate the merit as clearly as others might see raindrops falling in a summer shower.

So having looked at the word merit,

While we are in the process of defining our terms,

We should also pause to consider the meaning of the expression in the past,

Contained in the title of this blessing,

Having accumulated merit in the past.

In this case,

The word past may apply to anything in your personal history,

Whether it means yesterday or many years ago.

We can divide our past into two broad periods.

Our recent past might refer to the time from our birth right up to yesterday.

Merits in our recent past would include good things we've done in our childhood,

Such as maybe helping our parents around the house or charitable deeds done as an adult.

Our distant past might refer to all of our experiences up to the time when we entered the womb for our most recent lifetime,

And would refer to the merits we have accrued in our previous lifetimes,

Whether it be the last lifetime or 100 lifetimes ago.

Merit has some special characteristics.

It is distilled in the mind of a person who does a good deed rather than accruing to those around them.

And this happens as soon as that good deed is completed.

Once in the mind,

The merit will remain there even beyond the grave until it's all used up.

Merit in the mind has the effect of improving the quality of the mind and life,

Gradually accumulating according to a scriptural metaphor at Dhammapada verse 122 of raindrops that can eventually fill a very large container.

With the words,

One should not think lightly of doing good.

Imagining a little will not affect me,

Just as a water jar is filled up with falling drops of rain.

So also the wise one is filled up with merit by accumulating it little by little.

Merit is constantly used up by just going through life.

And so if not replenished,

It can run out.

The amount of merit accrued by a deed like karma in general depends not just on the extent of the deed,

But also on a strength of intention,

Amount of effort,

And amount of gratitude of the producing action.

This means paradoxically,

If we think we are getting more merit,

Then it will actually increase the amount of merit.

Merit has the effect for the doer of attracting favorable circumstances on four levels,

The mind,

The personality,

The lifestyle,

And society.

The effects become apparent first on the level of the mind,

A warm fuzzy feeling on the inside,

And thereafter gradually filtered through onto the other levels,

Eventually reaching out to the social level.

Merit can be categorized according to how long it persists,

Giving us the dichotomy of mundane merit,

Or loki-apunyā,

And transcendental merit,

Or lo-kuttarat-punyā.

Mundane merit is the merit that people are generally familiar with,

That is to say,

For people for whose mind is not completely pure at the time that they do the good deed,

This mundane merit can run out.

When the merit is all used up,

It will no longer give its benefits,

Just like a tank full of petrol that has a limited range.

Transcendental merit,

By contrast,

Is the merit that arises in the pure mind,

The merit which is steadfast and will never diminish or be exhausted,

Such as,

For example,

The merit of attaining stream-entry,

Where there is no falling back from certain levels of purity of mind that are able to uproot defilements permanently from the mind.

Science would attribute differences between newborn children to heredity.

The scientific explanation works well for some physical attributes,

But finds it difficult to explain features like intelligence or lack of it.

Buddhists,

By contrast,

Believe that differences are attributable to their past merit.

Buddhists consider this historical store of merit or old merit like a down payment brought into the present life and to which new merit is added by intentional wholesome acts from birth onwards.

There's an interesting allusion to old merit in the scriptural account of an old man called Mikara who appeared complacent in his old merit without bothering to accumulate any new merit.

His daughter-in-law called Lady Risakha had recently married into his family and the family of the old man had no faith in Buddhism.

The father-in-law Mikara saw a monk on alms round while having his breakfast but instead of giving alms he turned his back and ignored the monk.

He therefore got no merit from his interaction with that monk.

Lady Risakha saw what was going on but was not in a position to criticize her father-in-law's behavior so she merely muttered my father-in-law is eating stale fare which was shorthand for saying her father-in-law was living off his past merits.

If a person is not complacent about advantages brought to them by their old merit then they should add new fresh merits cultivated in the present lifetime.

As for how Buddhists build on the good fortune they already have,

The practicality of accumulating good deeds needs to be examined.

We also need to take care when we're studying about merit because it's not as simple as it appears on the surface.

Some people assume that if they do something good then they should immediately get some benefit coming back to them because of it.

This is rather a simplistic way of understanding how merit works.

Going back to 2004 I was based in Manchester in the UK and the temple there started out in a rental property which was in a rundown area of Salford.

One temple supporter was very new to Buddhism but they did a lot to help buy supplies and support the temple.

However,

It turned out that one day when they were attending a ceremony in the temple someone broke into their car and stole things out of their car.

They concluded that their merit was not working and became disheartened because they didn't think they deserved to get their stuff stolen.

If they had just recently done something very good then why should such a bad thing happen to them?

Because normally the result of giving things is that your belongings should be protected from anyone who wants to steal them away.

However,

They were suffering from a simplistic view of merit and we have to accept that the meritorious fruit or lack of them that comes to us at any time may be a mixture of recent merits and also merits which maybe we collected up a long time earlier.

In this connection I'd like to tell you the much more extreme and scriptural example of the untimely death of a temple supporter called Mahakala from the time of the Buddha.

Every morning Mahakala would bring food for the Buddha and the monks at the temple and then after he had delivered the food he would make his way home.

There was one day when he had just stepped outside the temple gates and he was washing his face in a pool in front of the temple gates and at that very moment a whole squad of the king's guard mistook him for a thief and bludgeoned him to death on the spot.

The problem was adjacent to where he was washing his face there was a bag of money which had been discarded by a real thief as he was making his escape.

So when the king's men saw the guy near the bundle of coins that had been hidden in the rushes they assumed that Mahakala was to be the thief and beat him to death.

Many of the monks in the temple commented how unfair it was for such a stalwart temple supporter such as Mahakala to meet with such a violent end.

Overhearing the monk's conversation the Buddha responded that what happened to this man is not befitting of his karma in the present lifetime but it fits with his karma in a previous lifetime.

The Buddha went on to reveal this man's past.

There had been a lifetime when Mahakala had been a guard in a forest outpost.

At that time a couple traveling through the area asked to stay the night before continuing on their journey.

The wife of the couple was very attractive and the guard coveted her.

So with unwholesome intention the guard planted his own jewels in the husband's luggage and then kicked up a big fuss saying oh my jewels disappeared quickly search the whole place and see if we can find the culprit.

Of course the jewels turned up where he'd left them in the husband's luggage.

The guard accused the husband of having stolen the jewels and had him executed for the crime.

So that is why being put to death was appropriate not for Mahakala's karma in the present lifetime but it was befitting for the bad karma he'd done in the lifetime before.

So this is why we can't be simplistic in our understanding of how merit works because for the most part we have no idea what we've stored up for ourselves from the past.

Similarly we can't judge others because although we may have some idea of how merit works we have no idea about the different past karma each person brings with them into the world in this present lifetime.

So it becomes obvious that the more merit we can amass in the present the safer we will be in the future.

In this connection Buddhism enumerates 10 major ways to accumulate merit technically known as Punyakiriya Vatthu.

These can be found in the Sumangala Vilasini and also in the Abhidhamma commentaries.

These 10 ways to accumulate merit can be summarized under three broad headings generosity,

Self-discipline and mental cultivation which are distinguished by the different flavors of meritorious outcomes.

Generosity usually emphasizing material prosperity in the future,

Precepts emphasizing health and beauty and mental cultivation emphasizing wisdom.

Before making a start it's probably worth pointing out that just because I only mentioned 10 things that are good for us to do in our life it doesn't mean that I'm trivializing any of the other sort of conventionally good deeds that you probably already do in your life that haven't made it to the short list.

For example being an upstanding citizen,

Paying your taxes,

Taking your bit-fins,

Looking after your parents,

Doing chores around the house or staying out of trouble just because you don't see those things on the Buddhist list of good things doesn't mean that you shouldn't continue doing them.

So please carry on having ambition in life,

Working hard and avoiding being a disappointment to others.

The 10 items that did make it to the short list are chosen because they are particularly effective ways of accumulating merit.

All the other things you do in your lives are also important because they are like the groundwork that allows you to have the free time,

The free will for you to be able to cultivate the 10 merit accumulating practices in earnest.

By this I mean that if you cannot stand on your own two feet and if you're worrying about debt and hardship then you won't have the focus to do any of the good deeds which I'm going to talk about to you today.

So to come back to our 10 major merit accumulating activities Generosity practices include giving,

Humility towards those of high virtue,

Service,

Transfer of merit to others and rejoicing in the merit of others.

Self-discipline consists in keeping the precepts on various levels.

Mental cultivation practices include meditation and listening to Dharma sermons,

Giving a discourse on the Dharma and straightening one's views.

It should be noted that although some of the names overlap with those found in the Buddhist 10 Perfections,

The level of practice of virtues as merits is not as intense as the equivalent practice on the level of perfections.

So let's look at each of them in turn.

The first way of generating merit through generosity or dharmamaya is giving beneficial gifts to others.

There are many different forms of giving although gifts can mean giving to the poor or needy to generate merit.

In the Buddhist context more often gifts are offered to members of the monastic community of a temple,

Typically gifts of food,

Clothing,

Shelter or medicine.

The most basic act of generosity is the gift of something that is beneficial to the recipient or Watthottana.

But it should be noted that gifts of items such as weapons or alcohol would not lead to merit being accrued as they would not create ultimate benefit for the recipient.

Merit is also generated by the gift of worldly knowledge such as vocational knowledge,

Technically known as Witthyatthana,

Or spiritual knowledge known as Tamatthana and even letting go of one's anger to be able to forgive a person,

Known technically as Apayatthana,

The scope of which includes release of condemned animals such as fish or birds back into the wild.

In conclusion there are four categories of giving.

Giving physical objects,

Giving worldly knowledge,

Giving spiritual knowledge and forgiving.

And often it's the case that the last item on the Buddhist list is meant to be the most challenging one.

Even Dalai Lama famously admitted that he forgives but he does not forget.

The second way of cultivating generosity is humility towards those of high virtue or Apachayana Maya.

If a person instead of finding fault with others is both humble and respectful in a way that allows them to look for the good in every person they meet,

That humility will lead them to accrue merit because at the very least they will always see the world in a positive light,

Allowing them to remain in a pleasant mood the whole day long.

In practice to accrue merit Buddhists express humility by bowing or saluting elders or spiritual exemplars.

Paying respect to the Buddha or spiritual teachers can typically involve a shrine such as the one shown on the slide which is a UK style home shrine.

I found in research I did back in 2015 that 70% of Buddhists in the UK have home shrines similar to this one.

So shrines can be seen to symbolize the practice of humility in Buddhist lives.

The third way of cultivating generosity is service or volunteering technically known as Vaya Vacha Maya.

From the point of view of accumulating merit,

Service includes all volunteer activities where time and a helping hand are given towards a good cause,

By which I mean a generally uncontroversial one.

The fourth way of cultivating generosity is transfer of merit to others or Tathīdhāna Maya.

In practice transfer of merit for Buddhists usually occurs in the context of memorial rites for deceased relatives.

Water is poured from a bottle into a bowl as a symbol of an outpouring of merit by the person who has recently done good deeds but wishes to share the merit for the benefit of a loved one who has passed away.

By sharing merit the total amount of the merit even for the person doing the pouring increases rather than diminishes like one candle being lit from another increases the total brightness.

The origin of dedicating merit in the scriptures comes from an occasion related in the Dhammapada commentary where a king called Vimbhisara asked the Buddha if he were to make an offering whether it would still be possible for deceased relatives to receive a share of the merit from the deed.

The Buddha replied that it would be possible the next day when the king offered a meal to the monks on behalf of the relatives of his who had been reborn as hungry ghosts or Pēdbā.

When the merit was dedicated the hungry ghosts manifested themselves transformed from nakedness and suffering to being clothed in divine raiment and having escaped their condition of suffering at least temporarily to be reborn in a heavenly destination.

The fifth and final way of cultivating generosity is rejoicing in the merit of others technically known as Pāṭṭhā-numodhana-maya.

This sort of merit is accrued by those who seeing someone else doing a good deed or receiving a good fortune congratulates them on this even if that person is unable to contribute anything more to the other person's good deed or achievement by being supportive of rather than envious of that other person they will accrue a fraction of the merit already accrued by that other person.

In practice this magnanimity is expressed in Theravada communities by saying the words Sātu or well done to the doer of a good deed.

The only way of cultivating merit through self-discipline is by keeping the precepts or Sīla-maya.

Self-discipline is practiced in Buddhism by avoiding taking advantage of the weaknesses in others or oneself through physical or verbal actions.

Self-discipline is practiced by upholding at least five rules of training or Sīkāpatthā otherwise known as precepts or Sīla.

The different levels of precept practice will be explained further in blessing number nine.

So we move on to the way merit can be generated by cultivating the mind.

The first way of accumulating merit through mental cultivation is by meditating or Pāvāna-maya.

The scope of meditational training can be broadened to include reading Dhamma books,

Chanting as well as meditation itself.

Meditation is an exercise for relaxing and internally focusing the mind which will lead to the arising of inner radiance and distancing the mind from disturbance by anxiety,

Limiting habitual wandering,

Bringing peace and eventually self-knowledge.

The second way of accumulating merit through mental cultivation is by listening to Dharma sermons or Dhamma-savana-maya.

Dharma sermons or more informally Dharma talks would normally be encountered by a Buddhist when they attend activities at a temple or meditation center.

A monk or expert on a Buddhist subject would elaborate knowledge in a way that exemplifies Buddhist virtues,

Challenging the listener towards self-improvement rather than merely entertaining them.

These days Dharma talks are also available on Buddhist satellite channels,

The internet and streaming services.

This method of generating merit refers to the benefits accrued to the listener on the receiving end of the talk.

The third way of accumulating merit through mental cultivation is by giving a discourse on the Dharma or Dhamma-desana-maya.

Just as a Dharma sermon generates merit for the listener,

Merit also accrues to the person able to explain and communicate Dharma in a way that inspires listeners.

The mastery and steadfastness in Dharma implied by ability to speak well on the Dharma crystallizes merit on a still deeper level for the speaker.

Given a Dharma discourse doesn't always mean climbing into the pulpit or the equivalent,

It may also include answering questions on Dharma or giving a pep talk to those experiencing suffering.

The fourth and final way of accumulating merit through mental cultivation is by straightening out one's views or dittu-tukamma.

This is the final way of generating merit and it being in final place in the list probably implies that it is the ideal end product of practicing the preceding nine ways of cultivating merit.

It refers to the degree to which the practitioner is able to straighten out false views and to move towards transcendental right view which according to the Sutta of the Majjhima-Nikaya means valuing generosity,

Valuing welfare work,

Honoring those worthy of respect,

Acknowledging the karmic retribution of action,

Acknowledging the reality of this world,

Acknowledging the reality of the next life,

Repaying a debt of gratitude to one's parents,

Acknowledging the existence of spontaneously arising beings and acknowledging that enlightenment can be achieved by those who practice well.

So now that we know that merit can be accumulated by cultivating the mind,

Let's continue by looking at the benefits that can be expected from having accrued merits in our past.

The first benefits brought by merit when it arises are benefits at the level of the mind.

This is one of the most important benefits because there is no need to wait for the afterlife in order to see the results.

Whenever we perform a good or meritorious deed,

The merit will arise immediately in the mind.

The effect merit has on the mind is to cleanse the mind,

Raise the quality of the mind,

Bring happiness,

Make the mind more stable,

Flexible and radiant.

Merit also increases the potential of the mind,

Allowing better decisions to be made and more insightful analysis.

Merit helps to make our thinking thorough and comprehensive,

More noble and profound.

From there meditation starts to give benefits on the level of the personality.

This level of the effects of merit sometimes is easier for other people to point out to us than it is for us to notice ourselves.

Often the first you know about this level of merit at work is the comment from other people that you seem to have changed for the better or they might point out how come you don't seem to get as angry or clumsy as you used to be.

As the accumulated merit in our mind gradually spreads to the level of our personality,

It facilitates change for the better.

The merit reduces our clumsiness while increasing adeptness and mastery.

It will upgrade our tastes and values while maturing our character and personality.

It allows our speech and behavior to become more skillful while increasing our patience threshold.

It gives us more control over our temper and even improves our personal appearance while reducing our anxiety levels.

The third level that of the lifestyle it may take a little longer for the benefits to manifest because our quality of lifestyle is a consequence of both present and past deeds.

The effects of good and bad deeds are mixed together inseparably.

Nevertheless some of the general results of our merit on the lifestyle level include attracting success and praise,

Acting like a teflon coating against trouble and paving the way to attainment in our meditation as well.

It will help our wishes to be fulfilled more easily.

On this lifestyle level there are some differences in the flavor of merit outcomes that can be expected.

For example there is a difference between merit benefits accrued when doing the solitary merits as compared with those accrued when encouraging others to do merits.

To apply this to the example of acts of generosity the likely results of the merits would go something like this.

Those who make donations alone without encouraging their friends will be born rich in future lives but won't have many friends.

They will have to look hard for anyone to give them their friendship or even understand them.

Those who make donations themselves and encourage others to join them in making merit too will be born rich in future lifetimes and will have plenty of wealthy friends too.

Those who don't make donations but they encourage their friends to make donations will have plenty of rich friends but they will be poor themselves.

Those who don't make donations and don't encourage others to make donations can be expect to have a lot of hardship waiting for them in the future and no friends to fall back on either.

Apart from the effects on meritorious outcomes made by the gregariousness with which a person practices merit making the nature of the good deed can affect the expected meritorious outcome.

Giving needed materials leads to wealth generally.

Persuading others to do good deeds leads to large retinue or following as it would probably be known in the present day.

Keeping the precepts leads to physical beauty.

Restraint from killing leads to long life.

Restraint from cruelty leads to freedom from illness.

Being good-tempered leads to a radiant complexion.

Congratulating others leads to power and influence.

Humility and respect lead to high social standing and meditation leads to intelligence.

Finally we come to the outcomes on the social level.

The accumulated result of good deeds over the course of a long time will eventually filter through to the social level helping to foster social harmony,

Freedom from war and natural disasters,

Justice,

Social progress,

Collective economic prosperity and good climate.

Results that benefit all who share society with us.

This happens especially as the result of the collective merit accrued by the majority of the people in society starts to show its results.

Merit takes its effect instantly on the level of the mind if we are observant enough to notice it.

However the time the effects take to filter successively through to the levels of personality,

Lifestyle and society can be expected to take successively longer.

Let me conclude by offering a few reflections on the Buddhist outlook on accumulating merits.

Namely on the speed of meritorious outcomes,

Whether merit is just an ulterior motive,

Why if merit is good are people so reluctant to do it and lastly why in Mahayana Buddhism don't we seem to hear quite as much about merit.

To start with people's confidence in the meritorious outcomes of wholesome deeds,

Words and thoughts is shaken when the outcomes are slow to materialize.

That Buddhist lives are not instantly transformed for the better when they cultivate good deeds often adds to the doubts about the reliability of the karmic mechanism.

Delays between doing a good deed and receiving a beneficial outcome are accounted for in Buddhist scripture by the absence of four catalytic factors.

It seemed to be more readily available at the time that the Buddhist scriptures were compiled.

As mentioned in the Vibhanga scripture the accomplishments or samapatti are four factors conducive to the quick ripening of good karma just like catalysts which facilitate a chemical reaction.

Firstly karmic outcomes tend to be more instantaneous if a person is born into supportive or catalytic circumstances such as an encouraging family who can instill inspiration to cultivate good deeds.

So that covers the nurture side of the equation.

Secondly karmic outcomes tend to be more instantaneous if a person is born with catalytic gift of well-being which means gifted with outstanding physical characteristics such as voice appearance or strength that ensure small wholesome actions give rise to large outcomes.

So that covers the nature side of the equation.

This explains why when celebrities do only minor good deeds the whole world sits up and takes notice.

Thirdly karmic outcomes tend to be more instantaneous if a person has catalytic timing which means that they are born in the right place at the right time specifically the time when the Buddha is around to give teachings in person.

This is why some scholars such as Peter Macefield in his 1986 book Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism controversially argued that merit alone cannot pave the way to enlightenment without the presence and teaching of the Buddha.

Lastly karmic outcomes tend to be more instantaneous if a person is born with catalytic discretion which means impeccable earnestness of moral fiber especially the sort of person who keeps their word as seen in the scriptural examples of people who made acts of truth.

In this connection I would like to relate to you the scriptural account of a guy called Puna whose ploughed field turned into gold.

The Dhammapada commentary tells us about a poor ploughman who had no money to his name.

Everyone else went to a festival in town but he said he couldn't go because he was already living from hand to mouth and had no money to spend on celebrations.

So all morning he worked hard ploughing the fields.

As usual his wife would bring two portions of food out to him in the fields for his lunch but that day as his wife was fetching the food she met an enlightened disciple of the Buddha along the way.

They were not a wealthy family but she thought to herself some days I meet a monk but have nothing to give.

Sometimes I have something to give but there's no monk to receive my gift.

But today the two things have coincided and I have a chance to give food to this monk.

So thinking this she placed one portion of food into the bowl of the monk and the monk closed the lid of his bowl.

However the woman wasn't done.

She protested don't just help me out in this lifetime help me out for future lifetimes as well.

Hearing this the monk opened the lid of his bowl again and she put in the second portion of food.

Consequently she didn't have anything left for her lunch and she didn't have anything left for her husband's lunch either.

She wasn't sure whether her husband would be very pleased about this but she took the chance and she went back home again and started to make lunch all over again for the two of them.

Meanwhile Poonnath the husband was getting rather hungry ploughing in the fields wondering where's my wife got to.

Sometime later the wife turned up in the field and she informed her husband I have got some news to tell you.

The reason why I'm late is because along the way I met with a disciple of the Buddha and instead of bringing your food immediately I gave it to that monk instead.

Instead of being angry Poonnath said Sātu I rejoice in the merit of the thing which you've done.

If it were me I would have done the same thing.

After that they ate their lunch and they fell asleep.

Sometime later when they woke up all the furrows which Poonnath had ploughed that morning had turned into solid gold through the power of the generosity of his wife giving the food and the husband rejoicing in his wife's merit.

When Poonnath saw so much gold he felt quite embarrassed about it so he called in the king to help remove the gold and got to a safer place.

However the gold had some special characteristics.

Every time the soldiers touched the gold and said this belongs to the king it turned back into mud.

So it was only when Poonnath said I intend that this gold be given to the king that it would stay as gold when it was loaded into the king's chariot.

Otherwise it would be gold meant only for him because it was as a result of the merit which he had done.

This is one example of why if you are born in a time when there are those of very high merit something which Buddhists refer to as a field of merit those who when receiving a gift from others yield great merit to the giver and meaning the fruits of the merit appear immediately after the gift is given.

In the present day and age this is why we have to remain patient in awaiting our meritorious results because we have to wait a lot longer to see how the fruits of the merit may come back to us in our lives.

A second reflection on merit is the question of whether merit is just an ulterior motive.

Some Buddhists have such a strong conviction in merit that they think that merit and demerit is the only valuable way of understanding their interaction with the world.

Similar to the logic of karma such a narrow view can lead to a myopic view of the world.

As one of the main characteristics of merit is that it accrues exclusively to the doer of a good deed it tends to make Buddhists disinterested in what the people around them are doing.

They may be interested only in their own personal destiny without thinking to try and upgrade the state of society or show concern for the spiritual well-being of those around them.

This is why on the social scale using criteria such as the 38 blessings of this Mangalasutra that we are studying puts more emphasis on performing merit within the social context of bringing the highest benefit to the world.

This issue also touches on the phenomena of people who only do good deeds to get recognition or to have their name engraved on a plaque of patrons displayed prominently in a temple.

Although you might argue that this is rather a childish reason to do good deeds,

The merit of doing good deeds even with rather selfish intentions will eventually transform the outlook of that person so that in the future they will be more likely to perform merits for the right reasons such as pure altruism.

Because merit done is beneficial for the doer no matter what the level of the intention as monks we have to encourage merit making in all forms and if you observe the range of reasons people perform merits at any temple you will notice the full spectrum from childish to mature.

The third reflection on merit is to ask why in many cases even when people know doing meritorious deeds is good and noble they are still reluctant to perform them.

Even a cursory glance at the world news headlines will confirm that the contemporary era is one when circumstances of society are not very catalytic anymore.

Because of the difficulty in discerning the fruits of meritorious action the majority of people in the world today fail to see the importance of merit.

Even when people see the value of doing good deeds they may be ignorant of how to accrue it and even when they know how to do good deeds they may still give it a low priority in their lives.

The Buddhist way would be to strive against the tide of apathy in modern society by trying to find the opportunity to practice each of the three major groups of meritorious deeds on a daily basis.

Advice given by our vice abbot in Thailand the Venerable Dattachivoh is that when we know that meritorious deeds can have a positive effect on our lives we ought to try to build meritorious deeds such as generosity keeping the precepts or meditation into our daily routine especially when we know from our study of the logic of karma that habitual karma is stronger than random acts of kindness.

The Venerable Dattachivoh's advice is that any morning when you've not given alms to the monks or not having given food into the bowl of the monks who pass the front door of your house and arms around you shouldn't dare to have your own breakfast.

Any day when you haven't intended to keep at least five precepts then you should not dare to leave the house.

Any day when you haven't done your meditation and chanting you shouldn't dare to go to bed.

If you can integrate all three modes of merit cultivation in your daily schedule at the very least you won't run the risk of merit in your life running out.

A final reflection on merit making before you say I have studied Buddhism in other schools and they've never mentioned merit should be that I qualify today's session by reminding you that not all later schools of Buddhism are as strong in their emphasis on merit making as the schools of early Buddhism.

Some schools of Mahayana Buddhism have a philosophy position that there is no point in cultivating merit or working on oneself even because they focus instead on the advice that a person would be better just to trust in the often future Buddha's grace to ensure salvation which is similar to the works versus faith debate in Christianity.

Furthermore other later schools focus instead on the idea that you don't need to gradually develop your potential towards enlightenment but by the tenets of sudden enlightenment all you have to do is just wake up to the realization that you are already enlightened.

In practice despite the susposed tenets of Mahayana philosophy from my own limited observations the majority of Mahayan Buddhists also engage in strenuous cultivation of meritorious habits.

Most Mahayana schools prostrate toward the Buddha and chant several times daily in order to cultivate humility in a way not dissimilar to the second sort of generosity which I mentioned earlier.

So Buddhists tend to believe that success or failure in life despite one's best efforts is at the very least strongly influenced by the merit or demerit in one's personal background.

Merit accumulated in the past leads towards good choices which leads to good words and deeds which leads to a tendency for life to be free from worry which leads to life working out for the best.

If no merit is accumulated in the past it tends to lead to poor choices leading to unwholesome words and deeds which tends to lead to a life being full of worries and ending up as a mess.

Although that success or failure may appear most clearly on the level of our lifestyle it does repercussions on many different levels all the way up to the level of society but basically it boils down to the quality of the mind on four levels mind,

Personality,

Lifestyle and society.

A person blessed with success on the level of the mind will have a mind that is stable,

Unwavering,

Hard to distract,

Pure and radiant,

Spacious and light,

Adaptable to any sort of task and implicitly happy and peaceful.

Those who are less lucky might have a mind that is dull,

Inert and easily distracted.

A person blessed with success on the level of the personality might find that people believe every word that they say.

Those who are less lucky may find that even if they tell the truth solidly for a whole month no one will believe them.

A person blessed with success on the level of the lifestyle may be born as an intelligent person,

Their discretion would be reliable.

Those who are less lucky might have such bad judgment they become too afraid to take any decisions,

Always hesitating or prevaricating instead and they would tend to miss life's opportunities as a result.

Even though they may do their best at work and take painstaking care never to slip up,

They may be disliked or discriminated against by their boss.

A society blessed with merit can muster all its human and natural resources towards international recognition.

Less lucky countries even those with educated citizens and abundant natural resources can be reduced to deserts by corruption or civil strife.

Before I finish today let me leave you with a scriptural story from the Siri Jataka that illustrates how ultimately you cannot escape the merit you deserve irrespective of contrivances or worldly influence to the contrary.

There was a previous lifetime when the Buddha was born as an ascetic and he had an elephant trainer as his supporter.

It was a lifetime when animals could speak in a way comprehensible to human beings.

Meanwhile on the other side of town a certain stick gatherer was spending the night in a hermitage and overheard two roosting cocks abusing each other.

In the course of the quarrel one cock boasted that whoever ate its own flesh would become king,

Whoever ate his skin would become commander-in-chief or his queen and whoever ate his bones would become either the king's treasurer or chaplain.

The stick collector wrung the boastful cock's neck which is definitely not a meritorious deed and had his wife cook it.

Then the stick collector and his wife preparing for ascent to royalty took their chicken casserole with them and went to bathe in the river.

Meanwhile they left the cook pot on the riverbank.

However as they bathed the cook pot was blown into the river by an unseasonable gust of wind.

It floated downstream where it was picked up by the elephant trainer who you remember is the supporter of the Buddha to be.

Knowing of this windfall the ascetic Buddha to be visited the elephant trainer at mealtime.

There he was offered the meat and divided it giving the flesh to the elephant trainer,

The skin to the elephant trainer's wife while keeping the bones to himself.

Three days later the city was besieged by enemies.

The king asked the elephant trainer to don royal robes and mount the elephant as a decoy while he himself fought in the ranks.

As a foot soldier the king was killed by an arrow and the elephant trainer survived having won the battle and he was made king his wife becoming queen and the ascetic his chaplain.

The moral of the story is that even if a person has done the heavy lifting of storing up merit for themselves no one however influential or persistent or sneaky can steal the favourable outcomes from them.

So this session I have introduced a blessing number five having accumulated merits in one's past.

For my next session I'll move on to the sixth blessing on the topic of setting oneself up properly in life which explains the importance of having a clear aim in life.

Hopefully as a result of today's session even if you don't already have a lot of merits in your past you will be sufficiently savvy and motivated to cultivate further merits in the present to ensure a happy future.

So for today this is me Prat Nicholas Tanisro signing off for now so long folks and stay safe.