What is the difference between "merit" and "merit"

A brief analysis of merit and merit

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Question: "There is a passage in "The Revelation of the Ksitigarbha Sutra" that says that merit cannot be given to people , only merit can be given to others, and merit must be cultivated by oneself. Master, we usually say, "I would like to dedicate this merit to so-and-so." Can that sentient being benefit from this merit? ”

< p> Answer: If you practice meritoriously, it’s okay. Merit is different from merit. I have blessings and wealth. My wealth can be enjoyed by you and given to you. I have a house that can provide you with a place to live, which is merit. I have a position in society that I can give to you. For example, Buddha Sakyamuni gave up his throne and gave his merit to others; Master An Shigao was the king of Iran. He was the king for half a year, decided to become a monk, and gave up his throne to his uncle. This is how merit can be given to others. . If merit does not work, what is merit? Merits are precepts, concentration, and wisdom. There is no way I can give you the merits of keeping the precepts. If you don’t keep the precepts, I keep the precepts. There is no way I can give you the merits of keeping the precepts. This is impossible. I have gained concentration, but I have no way to give it to you; I have gained wisdom, and I have no way to give it to you. Therefore, merit cannot be given to others, but merit can be given to others. "I would like to dedicate this merit to someone." You have specially cultivated the merit, and you have cultivated it for him, and he has obtained this merit. For example, when a friend of mine passed away, I recited a hundred Ksitigarbha Sutras for him. If I recited it especially for him, I would not recite it if it was not for him. If I recited it for him, he would be able to gain this merit. How much does he get? "Ksitigarbha Sutra" makes it very clear, one-seventh; six-sevenths can be obtained by oneself, and only one-seventh can be obtained by others. The Buddha made it very clear in the sutras that if something is done especially for him, what he gets is still merit, not merit.

If you read and recite the Ksitigarbha Sutra, you will understand. A Brahmin female mother committed bad karma when she was alive. Her daughter is very smart and understands the Dharma. According to the Dharma, her retribution must be in hell. So after her mother died, she was very depressed. How to save her mother? She has a sincere heart of filial piety, which moved her to the Tathagata Enlightenment King Tathagata, and Buddhism gave her the method of cultivation. What method should I teach her? Method of chanting Buddha’s name. In order to save her mother, she accomplished it on her own day and night. This is what we call chanting the Buddha's name. She achieved this with undivided attention. This effect was achieved only when she was extremely sincere. Achieving an undistracted mind is equivalent to the Arahant of Hinayana and the Bodhisattva of the Seventh Level of Perfect Teaching of Mahayana. It is not easy! Her mother was reborn in heaven and left hell to be reborn in heaven. What reasons do you think of? If her mother hadn't fallen into the evil realm, she wouldn't have worked so hard and seriously, so she was able to stay focused all day and night. It was her mother's power that helped her. Either her mother would have done bad karma or die. She will not study so seriously, and she will never be able to be calm in her life. Her mother worked hard to increase her luck, and she worked really hard and worked hard to achieve it. Her mother was able to escape from hell and be reborn in heaven with this merit. "I wish to use this merit to decorate the Buddha's Pure Land" and return to her.

If we recite sutras for our relatives and relatives, with words but no intentions, what they will get is very limited; if we are all like Brahmin women, if you dedicate this to them, they will decide to transcend, which is very effective. It all depends on our own practice skills. The more extraordinary our skills are, the higher his status will be. If we just recite Buddha's name, chant sutras, and worship Buddha without stopping the distracting thoughts in our hearts, what he will get is too limited. This principle is all in the "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Original Vow Sutra", which teaches us how to deliver salvation and how to achieve the effect of salvation. We must understand this truth. From this we can see that we must do our best not only for others, but more importantly for ourselves! We have truly achieved success and become enlightened in this life. We practice the method of reciting the name of the Buddha, and we have truly passed away. The higher the grade of our rebirth, the more merits and virtues our family members, relatives, and generally speaking enemies and creditors will receive. The greater I dedicate this merit to them, and dedicate it every day to "repay the fourfold kindness to the superiors and relieve the three hardships of the inferiority", the greater he will get. If we achieve nothing in practice, we will get nothing. We must rely on our own serious efforts. (Master Jingkong's "Buddhism Questions and Answers" 21-90-09)

Question: Master Jingkong, what is the difference between merit and merit?

Answer: OK, this is a good question. "De" means exactly the same thing as "get" in "get". Merit means that you get this blessing. Merit means that you get the merits you have cultivated. This virtue means the same thing as "get". But merit is different from blessing. Fortune refers to the five desires and six sense objects. Externally, this belongs to merit.

Therefore, I have blessings that I can share with everyone. I have a house that I can give to others to live in. I have food and clothing that I can give to others. I give alms to others and provide food to others. I can share my blessings with everyone. *Enjoy. Merits are not good. Merits are inherent in oneself, inner efforts. There is nothing I can do to give you this. If there is a way to give this thing to us, we should not practice it. If Shakyamuni Buddha gave us the merits of his practice, wouldn’t we get all the merits? Therefore, merit is not enough. As the ancients said, merit can only be gained by cultivating the public, and by cultivating the married woman. If you do not cultivate, you will not be able to help anyone.

What we saw in the Shurangama Conference is that Ananda thought that Sakyamuni Buddha was his elder cousin and the one who loved him the most. He thought that he did not want to practice: you must practice asceticism. If you don’t practice asceticism, you won’t get it. My elder brother will probably give it to me when the time comes. During the Surangama Conference, I also encountered difficulties from the Madagascar woman, and then I realized that it was no good. No matter how good the relationship was, there was nothing I could do to give it to you, so you had to cultivate your own merits. The easiest thing to understand is, for example, keeping the precepts has merit. Keeping the precepts is your own business. If you keep the precepts well, what do you get? What is obtained is concentration, and concentration arises from precepts. This term in Buddhism is called samadhi. When you obtain samadhi, in our current terms, you obtain a pure mind. Therefore, the power of observing the precepts cannot be given to others. Obtaining samadhi and a pure mind are what I have obtained, and I cannot give them to others. Cultivating concentration has merit and opens up wisdom. You see, Buddhists often say, "Samadhi arises from precepts, and wisdom develops from concentration." So where does wisdom come from? Wisdom comes from precepts and concentration. If you don’t keep the precepts and practice concentration, you won’t have wisdom. No matter how much you listen or see, this is called wisdom and eloquence in Buddhism, but it is not true wisdom. It still cannot solve the problem. To solve the problem, you need true wisdom. Therefore, merit corresponds to precepts, concentration, and wisdom, but not to merit. Everything he asked was related to this. (Master Jingkong·Questions and Answers on Buddhism·Answers to Hong Kong Fellow Practitioners 2004/10/9)

Question: Can merit be turned into merit?

Answer: Yes, it’s all in one thought. If you cultivate merit without clinging to merit, if you cultivate merit without thinking about merit, you will be transformed into successful virtue. I am blessed for everyone to enjoy it. When Shakyamuni Buddha was alive, we should pay attention to what he showed us. He practiced three kinds of generosity every day in his life. He lectured on sutras and Dharma to everyone every day, and lecturing on sutras and Dharma was the method of giving and opening up wisdom. Lectures require the body, and this body is called inner wealth giving. I use my body and my physical strength to serve everyone. For example, many students now volunteer at the monastery. Volunteering is a donation of internal wealth, and its blessings are greater than the blessings of a donation of external wealth. Even though you have money, if you bring 100,000 or 80,000 yuan here to provide support, if you have external wealth, your one-day volunteer work in this place will not only amount to 100,000 or 80,000 yuan. Therefore, we need to know about internal and external wealth. Buddha Shakyamuni gave away internal wealth throughout his life, gave Dharma, and gave fearlessly every day. He transformed merit into success. (Same source as above)

Question: Can cherishing blessings in this life turn the blessings in this life into merit and merit?

Answer: It can be transferred. If you understand what I just said, you will learn it, you will definitely be able to do it, and you will definitely be able to change it. (Same as above)