Merit
- Punna , beneficial and protective and onward leading
- Connected to coming to realize the blessings and our lives, and being nourished
- So much more than the deep spiritual experience, need to hold with dimensionally
- Merit like air, being nourished all the time and we do not recognize this
- What is wholesome? Our choices, refrain shapes our life
- Punna focused primarily on three: giving, virtue, and meditation.
- What actions and choices?
- Mongolian sutta
- What is it about generosity?
- What is it about ethics?
- What is it about meditation?
- Hanging with wise people
- There is protection there….
- Establishment of ethics
- Meditation …. Lead to merit
- In which which touched by the waves of the world is stable
- Support family and community
- Hearing and discussion the teachings
- Spiritual practice
- What are your blessings for your spiritual life? That supports your practice
- Loving, humor, family, gratitude,
- What does this feel like?
- Emotional sobriety
- Nature
- Peace of mind
- About privilege
- Complexity
- Merit
- Feel it and savor it
- Acts of generosity, helps with mediation,, give self respect
- Kindness feels good
- Having a practice
- Lord help me accept the truth about ourselves no matter how good ti is Bill OHanlon
- Embodied generosity
- Reflect on the benefits of the spiritual practice
- Touching the earth in a beautiful way
- Bohdichitta practicing for the benefit of all beings
- Of all the concepts central to Buddhism, merit (puñña) is one of the least known and least appreciated in the West. This is perhaps because the pursuit of merit seems to be a lowly practice, focused on getting and “selfing,” whereas higher Buddhist practice focuses on letting go, particularly of any sense of self.Because we in the West often feel pressed for time, we don’t want to waste our time on lowly practices, and instead want to go straight to the higher levels. Yet the Buddha repeatedly warns that the higher levels cannot be practiced in a stable manner unless they develop on a strong foundation. The pursuit of merit provides that foundation. To paraphrase a modern Buddhist psychologist, one cannot wisely let go of one’s sense of self until one has developed a wise sense of self. The pursuit of merit is the Buddhist way to develop a wise sense of self.The following readings show how this is done. They begin with a section on basic wisdom, which shows how the questions that lead ultimately to the wisdom of letting go first focus on things to hold onto: the skillful traits that, on the beginning level, provide a secure place to stand while letting go of character traits that are obviously harmful. Buddhist wisdom famously focuses in the characteristics of inconstancy, stress, and not-self, but the application of that wisdom grows out of the pursuit of what is relatively constant and pleasant, and requires a mature sense of self: able to plan for the future, to sacrifice short-term happiness for long-term happiness, to consider the needs of others, and to develop a strong sense of self-reliance in the pursuit of a happiness that is wise, pure, and compassionate.
The section on merit then sets out in general terms the types of meritorious activities that conduce to that happiness, focusing primarily on three: giving, virtue, and meditation. The next three sections focus on the ways in which each of these activities can be pursued so as to produce the most happiness. For instance, the section on giving discusses how the happiness of generosity can be maximized by wisely choosing the proper motivation for giving a gift, a proper gift, and a proper recipient for one’s gift. The section on virtue shows how to learn from one’s past mistakes without succumbing to debilitating feelings of guilt. The section on meditation discusses not only how the development of good will — the meditative practice most often cited in conjunction with merit — can lead to happiness both now and in the future, but also how it can help minimize the bad results of one’s past unwise actions.