Good Morning to All, It seems to me that the concept of "merit" in Buddhism is seldom discussed in the forums that I was involved in. Yet it is a vital concept of our journey.
There are quite a few descriptions of merit in the Buddhist sutras. In the Chinese culture, merit is also popularly equated to "good deeds" or "elimination of karma". Some of us even interpret Buddhahood to be the reward for merit or as if merit is our report card. Yet, these are all just descriptions. How do we directly experience merit? The following are my witness. My teacher taught me that merit is the result and not the cause. We don't seek merit. Merits are just accumulation of deeds and only through deeds. "Chan practice" is composed of "cleans, detach, enhance" of oneself and "sense, inspire, act" to others. The "cleans, detach, enhance" is in the human realm. The "sense, inspire, act" is in the Bodhisattva realm. When we "cleans, detach, enhance" enough, we will naturally be able to turn our focus from ourselves to "sense" the needs of others and be "inspire" with wisdom and to "act" to resolve and help. As we become purer, when we transfer our focus from ourselves onto others, our heart shines through with all its compassion and wisdom. In other words, our spirituality is enhance to a higher level, where karma will bother us less. Gradually, we live more frequently in the realm of the Bodhisattva and less in the realm of human. All of us can experience this spiritual phenomenon directly. In the experience of energy or chi, I have learned that majority of our Chan practitioner are able to "sense" the discomfort of others after two to three years of dedicated sitting. Many actually become worried of this natural ability and afraid to get into crowded placed. Actually reaching this level requires dedicated sitting to purify oneself. Anyone who are able to reach this sensitivity should be congratulated to and not be afraid. The fact of the matter is, the more we are able to sense, undertake and process, the more powerful our chi will become. As we become more powerful, the more karmic force of other we can process. The more people we can help. Actually, the more people will come to us, naturally and instinctively. Merit is really just our innate ability to help others. The more people we can help to liberate from their sufferings, the more powerful our journey will be. And more we our spirituality is enhanced. In short, merit is nothing but a description for a necessary section of our entire journey. Without "sense, inspire and act" to others, we are just rationalizing, or bluntly, having an ego trip. Sutra say, "Respect sentient being. Absorb sentient being." In layman's language, "enter the mud to grow the lotus." As my Teacher always remind me, "everything can be experience. Once you experienced it, it is yours. You become the sutra and the Buddha. Otherwise, it is just a bunch of words." Thank you for your time to read this. JMJM Head Teacher Order of Chan -- Be Enlightened In This Life - We ALL Can http://chanjmjm.blogspot.com http://www.heartchan.org ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: zen_forum-dig...@yahoogroups.com zen_forum-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zen_forum-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
