In Buddhism, there is a concept called merits. When one does good deeds, he accumulates merits, which brings about good karmic rewards. This is the Buddha’s skillful means of encouraging people to cultivate themselves and do good. When they do good, not only do they benefit others, they themselves also receive benefits. However, people can be easily attached to gaining merits. Their motive for doing good then becomes to benefit themselves instead of benefiting others. In spiritual cultivation, we are to practice to be selfless and place the wellbeing of others before our own. Even though we gain merits when we do good, we shouldn’t get attached to good karmic rewards. However, it is truly difficult for people to be completely selfless and not think about gaining merits for themselves. How to prevent people from being attached to the concept of merits depends on how the teaching is explained.
In one of Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s Dharma talks, I notice how she explains the teaching of a sutra from a different perspective in which she conveys the essence of the teaching while not getting attached to the idea of gaining merits. She gives a teaching about how people can gain five types of merits after learning the Dharma.
Here’s the summary of the sutra where the teaching comes from.
One time, the Buddha was staying at Jetavana, Anathapindika’s Park in the Kingdom of Sravasti. He said to the monks, “When a sage preaches the Dharma, he gains five types of merits. First, he will have a long life. Second, he will have a lot of wealth. Third, he will have a fine look and upright manner. Forth, he will have a good reputation. Fifth, he will have great intelligence.”
Why does he gain these five merits? This is because when the sage preached the Dharma in his past lives, he conveyed the meanings fully, and guided the listeners to understand the truth. Hence, those who killed, after hearing his teaching, stopped killing. For this reason, the sage has a long life.
Those who stole, after hearing his teaching, stopped stealing and became generous and giving. For this reason, the sage has a lot of wealth.
Those who listened to his teachings gained peace of mind and showed pleasant facial expression. For this reason, the sage is born with a fine look and upright manner.
Those who listened to his teachings came to respect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the sangha. For this reason, the sage comes to have a good reputation.
Those who listened to his teachings developed wisdom. For this reason, the sage comes to have great intelligence.
When Master explains this teaching, instead of placing the focus on the preacher and the merits gained by the preacher as it is told in the sutra, she places the focus on the listeners and the Dharma, which is what helps the listeners gain these five merits. Below is how she explains the teaching.
The Dharma spoken by the Buddha helps the listeners gain five types of merits. First, the listener will have a long life in his future lives. This is because after learning the Dharma, he knows to stop killing and turn to protecting lives.
Second, the listener will have a lot of wealth in his future lives. This is because after learning the Dharma, he understands not to steal or acquire wealth unjustly, and moreover becomes generous and giving.
Third, the listener will have a fine look and upright manner in his future lives. This is because after learning the Dharma, he becomes gentle and kind and is friendly to others. He forms good affinities with people in this life, so in his future lives, when people see him, they will be fond of him and like him.
Fourth, the listener will have good reputation in his future lives. This is because after learning the Dharma, he takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the sangha and follows the Buddha’s teachings. In doing so, he does not do bad deeds; naturally, he will have a good reputation.
Fifth, the listener will have great intelligence in his future lives. This is because after learning the Dharma, he understands life’s principles clearly and develops wisdom. By learning the Dharma, the listener gains these five types of merits.
Since Master is giving the teachings, she is the preacher. According to the sutra, she will gain the five merits. Yet, she does not focus on the part about the preacher gaining the five merits, but chose to focus on the part about the Dharma and getting people to learn and practice the Dharma so that they may benefit from the teachings and gain merits. From the way she explains the teaching, I see the selflessness of Master.
Ordinary people’s minds are restless. In our mind, we have constant chatter of our thoughts, which are always wandering around. The Buddha tells us that all things in the universe undergo four phases of change. For material things, they go through formation, continuation, deterioration, and annihilation. For living beings’ bodies, they go through birth, aging, illness, and death. For our thoughts, they are constantly arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Because our thoughts are always changing, it’s difficult for us to develop wisdom. The Buddha wants us to reflect on our thoughts and learn to concentrate our mind on spiritual cultivation so that we can bring forth our innate Buddha nature and wisdom.
Every day, when we engage with our surroundings, our mind gives rise to all kinds of thoughts. Yet, thoughts are temporary. Here’s a story to illustrate this.
One day, a cultivator was walking outdoors and saw a pond with a blooming lotus flower. Joy arose in his mind. He stopped to enjoy the beautiful lotus flower. While he was immersed in this beautiful scenery, a farmer came to the pond and, with his shovel, swiftly removed the lotus flower.
The cultivator asked, “The lotus flower was so beautiful. It was doing fine in the pond, why did you remove it?”
The farmer responded, “You are a cultivator, and your mind should be tranquil. How come you are attracted to this lotus flower and let it disturb your mind?”
Upon seeing the lotus flower, the cultivator gave rise to a thought of joy. As he was enjoying the flower, his thought abides in joy. When the farmer suddenly removed the lotus flower leaving the pond with muddy water, the cultivator’s thought changed, and his joy ceased.
Such is the nature of our thoughts. As the external circumstances change, our thoughts, in responding to them, also change and give rise to love, affection, empathy, revenge, arrogance, shame, etc. These thoughts come and go. When we give rise to a wholesome thought, such as aspiring to spiritual cultivation or wanting to do good deeds, it is easily disturbed by afflictions and ignorance that arise in our mind, which then cause us to lose that wholesome thought. The four phases of change, arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, keep on repeating in our mind. This is why we easily forget the Dharma we’ve learned and make slow progress on our spiritual cultivation. The Buddha wants us to reflect on our thoughts, see how they arise, abide, change, and cease, be aware of their impermanent nature, and practice focusing our mind on spiritual cultivation when encountering distractions. Only when our mind is calm and steady can our Buddha nature manifest and we develop wisdom.
Reflect on our feelings and the suffering they bring
Being able to feel is a mysterious thing. Our body’s sensory system allows us to feel our environment, such as the cool breeze of the fall or the refreshing fragrance of a flower. We also experience mental feelings, such as happiness and tranquility. Feelings allow us to enjoy life, yet they also create trouble for us. One moment, we are happy. The next moment, we can be angry. Feelings are fickle. When we get caught up in our ever-changing feelings, it can give us much suffering. The Buddha wants us to understand our feelings so that we can be in control of them and bring tranquility to our mind.
In Buddhism, feelings are categorized into five types: pleasant, joyous, unpleasant, worrying, and neutral. For ordinary people, we experience pleasant feelings when things go our way. We experience unpleasant feelings when things go against our wish. People have desires. When they can’t get their desires fulfilled, unpleasant feelings arise, such as disappointment and anger. There’s a Chinese saying “out of ten things, eight or nine of them do not turn out the way we wanted.” This implies that in real life, things turn out the way we wanted only 10% or 20% of the time. If we always want things to go our way, we will be miserable as most of the time things will not go our way.
Within unpleasant feelings, there is the feeling of worrying. People worry about a lot of things. We worry about our children. We worry about losing what we have. We can worry about just anything. When we worry too much, it can give us distress.
Pleasant feelings are happy feelings, such as seeing a friend whom we have not seen for a long time. Yet, happiness is only temporary. We are happy during the time with our friend. Afterwards, our happiness fades. Within pleasant feelings, there is the feeling of joy, which goes much deeper than happiness. Even after the moment of happiness has passed, whenever we recall that memory, the feeling of joy arises. An example is spiritual joy. It’s the joy that arises from practicing the Dharma.
Our feelings can also be neutral. It is neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It’s like plain water and has no taste.
In fact, how we feel depends on our perception. Given the same situation, different people will feel differently. When being solicited to donate money to help the poor, a person responds happily and generously because he thinks that his donation can help people in need. Another person, however, declines as he thinks that giving money away means he has less money to spend. In the former case, the person feels happy. In the latter case, the person might feel annoyed.
The Buddha tells us to reflect on our feelings and find out why we feel the way we feel. Unpleasant feelings typically arise when we regard things from our own perspective and self-interest. When we get carried away by our emotions, especially negative ones, we need to know how to bring our composure back. In daily life, many things bring us afflictions and disturb our mind. To soothe unpleasant feelings, Dharma Master Cheng Yen prescribes the remedy of Si Shen spiritual soup with the ingredients of contentment, gratitude, understanding, and tolerance. When we drink this spiritual soup often, we learn to turn our unpleasant feelings into empathy and become more considerate of others. Practicing in this way, our mind will become more and more peaceful, and we will experience more and more spiritual joy.
