Steve, Do you believe your karma can be manipulated by others? Anthony
--- On Wed, 16/2/11, SteveW <[email protected]> wrote: From: SteveW <[email protected]> Subject: [Zen] Re: Experience Merit To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, 16 February, 2011, 3:07 AM --- In [email protected], Jue Miao Jing Ming - 覺妙精明 <chan.jmjm@...> wrote: > > 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 > Thank you, JM. Steve
