How does 'giving merit' to someone work?

person

Credit goes to @vinlyn for this question. But its also something I've often wondered.

Doing prayers and practices to give merit to others is something I've often come across in TB.

How is that supposed to work exactly? If its really possible then why don't the buddhas and bodhisattvas simply give us all merit and enlighten us all?

This isn't meant to be disrespectful as I'm a Tibetan Buddhist, I simply don't understand the mechanism. I've always just thought of it as doing something for others in order to develop kindness and merit in one's one heart.

vinlyn

Credit goes to @vinlyn for this question. But its also something I've often wondered.

Doing prayers and practices to give merit to others is something I've often come across in TB.

How is that supposed to work exactly? If its really possible then why don't the buddhas and bodhisattvas simply give us all merit and enlighten us all?

This isn't meant to be disrespectful as I'm a Tibetan Buddhist, I simply don't understand the mechanism. I've always just thought of it as doing something for others in order to develop kindness and merit in one's one heart.

It's common in Thai Theravada Buddhism, as well, and frankly, I think it's a crock. But my mind remains open to the concept. Thanks for highlighting this.

nanimo

I agree Person. I've often wondered about the mechanism for that myself. Anyone know?

The closest to an answer I've ever come to understand would be to use someone's ignorance against them (i.e. By making a "shining example" of moral behavior out of oneself that attracts others who want to be the same. In emulation, their circumstances improve ere go the "transferring of merit") but it all falls down because it relies on a mountain of ignorance in the other individual and a certain amount of interaction with the same to work. That sadly doesn't cover the working of merit transfer to strangers we would not even have any interaction with. So, I don't know, but I'm anxious to learn.

person

Another thought. Is it like the benefits of praying for someone like some of the scientific studies suggest? Where we're not giving merit so much as sending out positive vibes or something?

Jeffrey

transferring merit is a jesture of including all beings rather just yourself in your path. How vast is the mind?

nanimo

Hmm, ya' know, Person, I don't know but I would think the mechanism might be similar just with a different name. I'm no master so I can't speak to what "merit" actually is in the all-inclusive sense. Perhaps a full definition of the term might "enlighten" us. Who knows?

genkaku

I have never been entirely clear about what "merit" was or why, if it were indeed something, anyone might want to accumulate it. Merit sounds like another dangerous load to me and if this is the case, I would hardly want to unload it on anyone else.

When Emperor Wu asked Bodhidharma what merit resulted from the emperor's "ordaining Buddhist monks, building monasteries, having sutras copied, and commissioning Buddha images," Bodhidharma let him down gently: "None. Good deeds done with worldly intent bring good karma, but no merit." (Here's Wikipedia)

The response may generate more questions than it answers, but the legendary account seems to suggest that accumulating merit (whatever it is) is not a good idea.

I'd be grateful to anyone willing to correct my fuzzy perceptions.

nanimo

Well, I can't argue with Bodhidharma. Karma keeps the Samsara cycle going so obviously there is no merit in karma. By that reasoning though what is merit? I would presume it is skillful since Bodhidharma does not equate it with karma, but beyond that what is it that actually "transfers" or is supposed to anyway?

Thank you BTW Genkaku for drawing my attention to wikipedia. I shuffled over to the merit listing from Bodhidharma and read what they had to say. Sadly, their definition didn't help much, as they made it seem more like a cross between encouragement to do morally good deeds, and good karma -neither of which would be transferable.

That would then force me to use an Occam's razor approach to buddhism that Siddartha Gautama himself encouraged and take up Vinlyn's perspective by default.

Bekenze

Apparently merit is a Christian concept as well.

Ada_B

My Tibetan Buddhism teacher explains that you aren't really transferring anything, of course. "Merit" is just a concept, you can't point at it or really even define it. The idea of "transferring merit" is just a way of thinking that helps one grow one's compassion for others. It definitely works - I've been practising it a few years now. It's a mental exercise that helps one develop empathy and think about others in a positive manner.

The result of the practice is that the 'practiser' grows in virtue (as Aristotle would have called it), rather than any direct effects on the 'practisee'. However, when you encounter the person to whom you've transferred merit, or have dealings with others who are involved with them, your whole demeanour towards them is improved.

For instance, I have practised transferring merit to my mother in law over the years and our relationship has never been stronger. But perhaps that is because I've stopped seeing her as a mean, critical person and have started seeing her as a vulnerable person who has trust issues. By transferring her merit, I have spent a lot of time effectively wishing her well, which has meant I genuinely care about her more and the effect of that is that my behaviour towards her has changed for the better. It is interesting to note how often "difficult" people are actually reflecting how we treat them!

Like many things in Tibetan Buddhism, you make an error if you take it literally, in a concrete, Western way of looking at things. But if you accept it as a skillful means, a practice or technique which has been found to work over thousands of years, then it can be very beneficial.

person

Thanks @Ada_B That's kind of how I thought of it. I guess the practical aspect gets lost at times and people start to take it literally, particularly amongst the uncritical lay Tibetans.