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Merit is difficult to understand 
because the effects 
of merit thatwe can see are the 
result of compounded 
causes. Some of the good luck or 
good 
coincidences that we see come 
from the merit we 
have stored up for ourselves from 
long ago. Some 
of the good luck will come from 
the acts of merit 
which we have done recently and 
which remain in 
mind. Thus we need to have an 
understanding of 
Blessing Five: Having Done Good 
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Deeds in One's Past 87 
merit otherwise, looking at the 
outcomes we might 
come to the misunderstood 
conclusion that good 
deeds don't give rise to merit and 
might give up 
too easily. The other aspect is to 
understand correctly 
how to do the sort of good deeds 
that accrue 
merit otherwise, again, we might 
come to the conclusion 
that our efforts to do good deeds 
have nothing 
but a disastrous effect on our 
future. 
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Some people have such a strong 
conviction in 
merit that they think that merit and 
demerit is the 
only valuable way of evaluating 
actions in the 
world. However, such a narrow 
view can lead to 
some shortcomings of 
understanding. To take merit 
seriously, can inspire you to do 
good deeds, avoid 
evil and purify the mind. However, 
as one of the 
main characteristics of merit is that 
it accrues exclusively 
to the doer of a good deed, it tends 
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to make 
Buddhists disinterested in what the 
people around 
them are doing. They may become 
interested only 
in their own personal destiny 
without thinking to 
try and upgrade the state of society 
or show concern 
for the destinies of those around 
them. Thus, 
the benefit of understanding merit 
is to make the 
best of our present to ensure a 
bright future. 
E3. Overcoming shyness to 
accrue Merit 
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It is obvious from the examination 
of our present 
circumstances that we are living in 
a time when the 
circumstances of society are not 
very catalytic 
anymore. Because of the difficulty 
in discerning the 
fruits of meritorious action, the 
majority of people 
in the world today: 
1. don't know the importance of 
merit; 
2. know the importance of merit 
but don't know 
how to go about accruing it; 
3. know how to accrue merit, but 
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because they have 
not made merit making an implicit 
part of their 
lives, they are not particularly 
motivated to accumulate 
merit. 
Some people want to do 
meritorious deeds, but are 
too shy. Some people know that it 
is good to bow 
down in respect to one's parents, 
but because they 
didn't make bowing to their 
parents part of their 
everyday life since they were 
children, by the time 
they are old enough to realize they 
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are too shy to 
start something new. 
The important thing to overcome 
the shyness we 
might feel in accruing the merit in 
our lives is to 
make it a part of our daily routine 
so that we don't 
lose touch with merit or become 
unfamiliar. In this 
respect there are three important 
pieces of advice 
for the practitioner coined as 
mottos for those attending 
Wat Phra Dhammakaya: 
1. Any morning when you have 
not given alms, you 
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shouldn't allow yourself to take 
breakfast: You 
should get up in time to give alms 
to the monks 
on their almsround at dawn every 
day. If there 
is no monk on almsround you can 
always collect 
up small donations on a daily basis 
in a 
piggy-bank and offer them at the 
temple the next 
time you go. If you can manage to 
achieve this, 
you will avoid poverty in the 
long-term. Even if 
you are not particulary well off in 
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the present 
lifetime, you can be assured that if 
you give alms 
every day, eventually you will put 
an end to the 
hardship of financial insecurity. 
2. Any day when you don't intend 
to keep the Precepts 
you shouldn't dare to leave the 
house: Once 
you have taken the precepts, you 
should revise 
the intention to keep them every 
day for the Five 
Precepts. At the very least you will 
always be 
within the protection of the Five 
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towards Enlightened Living 
to get the benefits today. There's 
no need to wait for 
next lifetime before starting your 
good deeds because 
whether you will have the chance 
to do good 
deeds or not in your next life is 
dictated by the 
amount of good deeds you do in 
this lifetime. Thus 
start doing good deeds today, this 
very hour, at this 
very second. 
In addition to the merit you 
cultivate as a matter 
of course in your everyday life, 
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you should look 
for opportunities to increase your 
store of merit on 
special occasions such as offering 
saIghadAna (offering 
a meal to the monastic 
community), go for a 
longer meditation retreat, ordain 
temporarily for 
the course of the rainy season. 
Don't go thinking 
that you already have plenty of 
merit stored up from 
your past. You may be wrong. If 
you really had a 
lot of merit in your past, you 
would be able to sit 
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comfortably for the whole of the 
hour long meditation 
session. If you still feel 
uncomfortable when 
you meditate or feel that you have 
to change posture, 
that is the sign that you still have 
room for 
improvement in the merit you have 
stored up for 
yourself. You need to use the 
precious life of yours 
to rectify your faults and 
weaknesses — and the 
best way to do this is to do as 
many good deeds as 
you can. Otherwise the hunger of 
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the mind will go 
on unabated 
F. ILLUSTRATIVE 
EXAMPLES 
Fl. Metaphor: Merit in the Past -
Pedigree 
The nature of the differences is not 
the same as the 
pot-bound bonsai of the previous 
Blessing. It is not 
caused by the environment— the 
difference lies 
within the person himself 
it is a 
personal attribute 
which differs in strength from one 
person to another. 
Compare a wild strawberry with a 
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domestic 
breed of strawberry. You can water 
and fertilize a 
wild strawberry all you like, but in 
the end it will 
only produce a lot of leaves and a 
few tiny bitter 
fruits. By contrast, a domestic 
strain, even if neglected 
will produce numerous and 
succulent fruits. 
The difference is factor which 
belongs to the plant 
itself. With plants it is the 
pedigree, but with people 
it is the residue of the behaviours 
they have built 
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up for themselves in the past 
not a reputation 
because that needs a third party to 
remember it —
it is something they build up inside 
them whether 
they have witnesses for their 
behaviour or not. 
F2. Metaphor: Merit - Food for 
the Mind 
All dynamic things in the world 
have fuel on which 
they feed. Fire burns on 
brushwood. A tree needs 
food, but the food that nourishes it 
is sucked up 
through the roots. The body burns 
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on physical food. 
To get the food we need for our 
body we must find 
ourselves a job or a career. A light 
bulb burns on 
electric current. Sometimes the 
energy is stored up 
in the object itself at a previous 
time (like the bulb 
of a daffodil or a car battery), 
sometimes the energy 
is used as it is obtained. All of 
these things 
must be provided with the fuel 
they need or else 
one day if the energy they have 
stored is exhausted, 
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they will become useless or even 
die. 
All of these objects have their own 
food or fuel to 
nourish them, but as meditators, 
the object we are 
most interested in is the mind. The 
mind too, must 
have a food which can fuel its 
efficient activity, but 
what could possibly function as a 
sort of energy 
which the mind could store or use? 
Indeed, the personal residue we are 
talking about 
has the special quality of being like 
food which 
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nourishes the mind — so that the 
mind can, to itsfull 
potential attract good opportunities 
and things on 
all four levels of success 
mentioned above. If mind 
is well fed it has repurcussions for 
all the other levels 
too — sooner or later. 
F3. Ex. Sini JAtaka(J.284) 
The bodhisattva was once an 
ascetic and had an 
elephant trainer as a patron. A 
stick-gatherer, 
sleeping at night in the hermitage, 
heard two 
roosting cocks abusing each other. 
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