- Part Two: Reflections on Cultivation for Lay Practitioners
Merit is the essential spiritual provision for a practitioner. Without merit, the obstacles on our path of cultivation become overwhelming, our surroundings fill almost entirely with adverse conditions , and we find ourselves devoid of any support regarding the four conditions of practice: the Dharma, spiritual companions, resources, and a suitable sanctuary. Some may say, “I frequently perform good deeds, yet obstacles still seem to persist, and I have yet to receive good retribution.” In truth, this is simply because the good deeds performed are far from sufficient to offset one’s accumulated karma; the broad positive karma created remains too meager for the merit of wholesome connections to ripen. Throughout the entire journey of cultivation and realization, we must continuously accumulate merit, “neither ignoring a good deed because it is small, nor committing an evil act because it is minor.” Only in this way can we ultimately bring our merit to complete perfection and achieve full completion in our spiritual practice.
Generosity, upholding the precepts, practicing patience, and cultivating meditation are all ways of accumulating merit. The ultimate fruit of gathering this merit is our attainment of the Buddha’s wisdom. Through the wisdom of the Buddha, we come to know that we truly possess all things within, thereby attaining the greatest fulfillment in life. The wild, seeking mind suddenly comes to rest, and from then on, the mind abides in deep, unshakeable peace.
Generosity is broadly divided into two forms: internal generosity and external generosity. Stated simply, internal generosity means treating oneself with genuine kindness and care. Binge eating and overdrinking, failing to eat and sleep at regular hours, indulging mindlessly in sensory pleasures and intense stimulations, living an erratic lifestyle, consuming alcohol in excess, abusing drugs, and harboring anger or vexation—all of these inflict deep damage upon our physical bodies. Frequent anger harms our Liver; chronic impatience and a short temper damage our Heart; failing to eat on time or chew thoroughly injures our Spleen and Stomach; an erratic lifestyle, unrestrained sexual desire, and promiscuity impair our Kidneys and reproductive system; and irregular rest coupled with excessive worry deprives our brain of adequate blood circulation. While this is merely a simple overview, very few among us have ever truly cherished or treated ourselves well in this manner—and neglecting ourselves in this way steadily diminishes our accumulated merit.
External generosity means utilizing everything we possess to selflessly aid all sentient beings without condition: offering your smile, your love, your labor, your warmth, your good humor, your financial resources, your skillful means, your skills, and your insights into the Buddha Dharma to people, animals, or plants in genuine need—and expanding this spirit even to all beings across the Three Realms. External generosity is not measured by the quantity of what you give; it hinges entirely upon your sincerity, earnestness, and wholehearted effort. Of course, making offerings to the monastic Sangha and constructing temples also fall within the practice of external generosity. Generosity in all its forms accumulates profound merit. Upholding the precepts encompasses two dimensions: guarding the mind and restraining the body. Guarding the mind works directly at the very source of thought and intention, bringing forth luminous, reflective awareness. It observes the arising of every single mental impulse, observing and transforming our deep-seated greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt, thereby steadily dissolving our habitual tendencies. In truth, this practice of reflective observation naturally encompasses generosity, patient endurance, and meditative concentration as well—making it the supreme means of accumulating merit along the path.
When upholding the mind precepts, because we have habitual tendencies and desires, at the very beginning we may not yet be able to cultivate and realize the arising and movement of our own thoughts. Then we must first learn to use the mind well. For example, if you are a doctor, then when each patient comes for treatment, imagine that he is your own family member. Think: if your family member were this seriously ill, what would you do? Then your inner concern, the pain you feel as if it were your own flesh, and your love may all show themselves naturally. No matter how slow-witted a patient is, he will sense it. Most patients are anxious and uneasy; once he feels the warmth of the doctor, he will be willing to open himself up to the doctor and trust him. Then in his treatment, perhaps through this trust alone he will absorb the medicine better and recover more quickly. When you practice medicine this way, you accumulate merit. Even if you do not cultivate and your medical skill is not great, the least reward is that you will enjoy good health for many lifetimes, because you have wholeheartedly cured many people of their illnesses and have often made the wish that others remain healthy. By the same reasoning, for example, if you often genuinely rejoice in others’ good fortune and wish them happiness, once your merit accumulates to a certain level, you will find that your face is often radiant, that you are not troubled by trivial little matters, and that you are happy more and more of the time. When we use our minds to visualize in this way — even though our abilities are limited — as our wholesome thoughts increase, our greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt will gradually diminish. When we reach the point of cultivating the arising and movement of our thoughts without deliberate effort, our minds naturally accord with the qualities of the Way — universal love, compassion, and equality — and we uphold the precepts without trying to uphold them. Then we have reached the ultimate purpose of accumulating this merit.
Discipline of the body means leading by example—demonstrating through our physical actions that we are true practitioners of the path. This includes abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, intoxication, lying, and other harmful behaviors. These fundamental Five Precepts of the Buddha Dharma must be upheld by anyone resolute in cultivating and realizing the path. Upholding these precepts accumulates profound merit. Patient endurance means cultivating tolerance, forbearance, understanding, and sympathetic joy toward every type of sentient being around us, without calculating personal gain or loss. Practicing patient endurance accumulates immense merit.
Meditative concentration means living with complete presence in the right now—no longer troubled by the past, no longer anxious about the future. The karmic fruition of this merit manifests with the greatest speed; in a single instantaneous moment, we immediately experience the profound joy and complete fulfillment that this merit brings. Practicing meditative concentration accumulates boundless merit.
Reciting the Buddha’s name (which truly means holding the Buddha in our thoughts) and contemplating the sutras (which means reading with heartfelt awareness) both accelerate the full perfection of our merit.