When I dedicate my merit to someone else, how does this work?

[Aurore]

I cannot find any information on the mechanics behind how transference of merits work.

I guess regardless how it actually works, it is a good practice for generating Boddhicitta and putting your aspirations for all beings to attain to the highest perfect state to work. The dedication of merits at the end of your dharma work or any meritorious deeds is to seal and reinforce your motivation. When we dedicate our merits and as long as the purpose is not fulfilled, merits will remain in the pool of merits for all sentient beings and continue to increase towards that.

So perhaps, dedicating merits is like contributing towards this merit field which can benefit someone we know or for all sentient beings.

[buddhalovely]

When you do something positive for others, if you take a moment and dedicate the merit to all sentient beings, you’re spreading the joy. A good opportunity for this is in your practice as a Buddhist. If you just finished meditating or reciting some Buddhist sutra, you can put your hands together reverently and say:

May this merit I have accumulated
benefit all sentient beings.
May all beings be well,
and may they all attain perfect peace.

[ratanasutra]

At first, what is the meaning of merit and karma? The merit collected from the actions that are free of the 8 worldly concerns ie we donated money to the monastery in order to help the monk for food, building fund etc so that the monk can be focus in study Dharma while the karma is base on the actions which not free from the 8 worldly concerns ie we did a donation to the monastery in order to get fame and be recognized by other.

Therefore the karma can be used up but the merit will continue support us on our spiritual journey even in next life until we achieve the ultimate goal of enlightenment.

Then when we dedicate the merits, it is a kind like we add in a drop to an ocean of merit therefore if we have collected so much of merit, it will flown over to other people who close to us and people who we dedicate to even not close to us.

[Vajraprotector]

I do not know how it works either, but I think when we dedicate merit, it is not so much for the other person to receive, but merit is generated due to our motivation to benefit others, and in return there is such "merit" that arise.

I read that the logic behind merit dedication is to put the merit to work to the highest purpose of all, so that we don't waste the merit. As long as the purpose is not fulfilled, merit will remain and continue to increase towards that. 

If one does not dedicate the merit, merit ripens once and is finished. But if one dedicates the merit for all beings to attain full liberation or Buddhahood then the merit increases never-endingly,  then it will never diminish, just as a drop of water is merged into an ocean, it can never dry up completely.

In dedication prayers, we dedicate merits accumulated in the past, present and future by ourselves and all sentient beings, it is said that the act of dedication itself will also increase the strength of the merit.

[bonfire]

"Re: When I dedicate my merit to someone else, how does this work?"

Could it be that a mind that cares for someone or a group of people very strongly diverts the energy that was once meant to be directed to one own towards that person or group of person.

Could it be that as a consequence, by the power of gratitude (and thus "care in return"), the energy comes back flowing from the "helpees", thus multiplying the "given away" energy and benefiting the altruistic giver.

energy = merits

[yontenjamyang]

Dedication of merits on the basis of:

1) The virtuous deed is done for others and not on a selfish basis. This is for the deed to be a merit and not just good karma. Karma can be the same act but done with the motivation to benefit oneself and someone we know.
2) All sentient beings are connected to us whether we realizes it or not. Only because of this interconnection can one dedicate the merits. Ordinary being's affinity is important because being unenlightened one still grasp at the difference of one beings with another. For eg, our loved ones are closer then our enemies. The antidote to this is to develop selflessness and equanimity.
3) Based on this connections, we dedicate from our side the merits; it is a motivation that the good results generated from the virtuous deed will benefit all beings via this connection and "storing" the potential of this merit with them. It also create the cause for future results to manifest via the "results similar to cause" rule of the law of karma.
4) All this must be done with genuine motivation and is actually quite difficult actually because we are still grasping. Be the more we do, the more it becomes genuine provided we built on these meritorious motivations everyday (or few times a day) until it becomes second nature.

Note:

1) Rejoicing works in a similar way and in the Lamrim it says that rejoicing is the easiest way to gain merits. One can get as much as 80% of the merits (without taking anything from the original person who did the virtuous deed) by simply rejoicing. So rejoice.
2) This is only possible, I repeat here that we are all interconnected; at the very basic level ie minus the 3 poison and the 5 aggregates. Stripped of these, what is left but our subtle mind and Buddha Nature. Since everyone has that, we are intimately connected. Hence, via this connection, we can dedicate merits.
3) In our everyday world, we can observe similar connections (thought not in the same scale of sentient beings who are all Ultimately connected). The trees in the forrest are connected (watch the movie "Avatar"). The telephones lines and each internet accounts of all kinds are connected. If we broadcast a "good news" on the internet, everyone share this and we "store" this good news with them along with the potential.

Ps: The above is my personal opinion. Just my thoughts.

[Dondrup Shugden]

A great debate on the subject of MERITS and when and how it works to dedicate it to someone else. 

Do read so that the dedication of MERITS is effective when we do so after virtuous activities.

[Midakpa]

The Buddha said that the best gift one can give to one's dead ancestors is to perform "acts of merit" and to transfer these merits to them. The Buddha encouraged those who did good deeds such as giving alms to monks, to transfer the merits to their departed ones. Thus, alms should be given in the name of the deceased by  remembering the good things the deceased had done when he was alive. Transferring merits to the deceased is based on the popular belief that after a person has died, his merits and demerits are weighed against one another and his destiny determined. The belief is that the departed one might have gone to the world of the spirits. These beings are not able to generate fresh merits and have to depend on the merits earned in the human realm.

In the Theravada tradition, there is a ritual that is practised. The transferer of merits pours water from a jug into a receptacle, while repeating a Pali formula. This is the translation:
"As rivers, when full flow
and reach and fill the distant main,
so indeed what is given here will
reach and bless the spirits there.
As water poured on a mountain top must soon descend and fill the plain
So indeed what is given here will reach
and bless the spirits there." (Nidhikanda Sutta in Khuddakapatha)

The only way to help the deceased is to do meritorious deeds in memory of them. These acts of merits include: giving dana to ordained people, building schools, temples, orphanages, libraries, hospitals, printing religious books for free distribution, etc. In their state of happiness, the deceased will reciprocate their blessings on the living relatives. Therefore, it is the duty of the relatives to remember their departed ones by transferring merits and radiating loving-kindness directly to them.
(adapted from K. Sri Dhammananda, "What Buddhists Believe")

[Kim Hyun Jae]

As a person reading all the comments here, I am thankful for being able to learn so much about merit from this thread alone. Now, I know that merits are created based on good motivation, all beings are inter-dependent, merits are accumulated and transferable and be dedicated to a pool to be used in lives after lives but it can be exhausted as well, especially if good things happen in their lives. That's is scary but also hopeful at the same time.

Thanks for creating this thread.

[sandra]

I like the quote what goes around comes around. When we dedicate merits to others, we are actually releasing positive signals or energy to others. At the same time, we are eliminate self cherishing. We are lower down our ego and self attachment. We are doing for others. We are actually undergoing a self transformation process through the practice.

The subconscious mind are every way in the universe. They are very sensitive, desperate and thirsty for the positive energy. In other words, they need our dedication of merits. Too much unknown questions and doubts in mind until the day we achieve enlightenment. We need to works towards it by doing for others bit by bit along the way.

This is my simple perception on dedication of merits. I believe that it will never wrong if we do things base on the concept of for others.

[pinecone]

After reading the posts of all regarding the possibilities of generating of merits and thereafter to be transferred to others, I have more or less some gist on how the process works. In some Mahayana traditions emphasized merit transfer as a means of overcoming spiritual acquisitiveness and expressing compassionate concern for others. The Bodhisattva, gives all their merit away because he wanted as many beings as possible to benefit from their spiritual virtue. A form of words that one might use to dedicate merit in this way is: ‘May the merit gained in my acting thus, go to the alleviation of the suffering of all beings.’