Creating Karma vs Creating Merits

[DSFriend]

On a daily basis, we (samsaric beings) operates within the law of karma, avoiding actions which creates negative karma and engaging in actions which creates good karma. However, operating within the law of karma is not what a Buddhist aspires to have.

Buddha's state of being is one of which karma has been exhausted.  Every thought and action is free of the stains of 8 world concerns for example  thus, purifying all karma and creating an ocean of merits.

Since we are not free from the 8 worldly concerns in all our thoughts and actions, do we even begin to create any merits?

Is there a way for us to still directly create merits to support our practice?

[Big Uncle]

On a daily basis, we (samsaric beings) operates within the law of karma, avoiding actions which creates negative karma and engaging in actions which creates good karma. However, operating within the law of karma is not what a Buddhist aspires to have.

Buddha's state of being is one of which karma has been exhausted.  Every thought and action is free of the stains of 8 world concerns for example  thus, purifying all karma and creating an ocean of merits.

Since we are not free from the 8 worldly concerns in all our thoughts and actions, do we even begin to create any merits?

Is there a way for us to still directly create merits to support our practice?

Dear DSFriend,

I love what you wrote and what you have just explained is very true. Most of the virtuous practices we do are not pure and they are tainted by our 8 mundane concerns. So, we study the Dharma and our spiritual path is called Dharma practice. So we try and try and keep trying till we get it right. On top of that, prayers and pujas are always dedicated with the pure aspirations of enlightened ones to be sure it will generate some sort of merit. In Tantra, the best way to generate merit is to make offerings and keep our samaya with our Guru. Through him, all higher attainments will flow from. All masters of old have done this and successfully thwarted their 8 mundane concerns.

[hope rainbow]

from DSFriend:

Since we are not free from the 8 worldly concerns in all our thoughts and actions, do we even begin to create any merits?

This is how I understand this to work:

good karma = positive potential created from acting virtuously
merit = very powerful good karma created in connection with virtuous actions that are associated with the spread of Dharma and that are free from worldly motivation

our mindstream = a field
8 worldly concerns = poison / pollution
merits = crops

Crops cannot grow in a polluted field.
Merit cannot arise from actions motivated by worldly concerns.

However, the actions of our guru have a bodhichitta motivation, they are free of worldly motivation.
When we assist our guru in his mission to spread the Dharma, to help all sentint beings, to achieve the 4 immeasurables, we "tap" from his/her virtuous motivation, and we can create merit that way.
This is why we say our guru is our merit-field.

But, because we are not yet free of worldly concerns, we may not be able to keep the merit, not to mention accumulate merits.
Indeed, the very first anger we allow our mind to indulge with will destroy the merit we created, just like poison on a healthy crop would destroy it.

DEDICATION:
This is why we dedicate immediately after any action that may have been merit producing.
We dedicate the merit for the sake of all sentient beings, we "give it away".
How does this work?
Simple: once we got the crop, we distribute it to others before we spoil it. By acting this way, later on, when we need crops ourselves we will get some in return.

[hope rainbow]

Ho! and I forgot to mention this:
Something to figure out and from which we can understand the real power of positive karma - if we dedicate properly (if we "give away" properly), our merits do not disappear, they don't get "lost", they actually multiply.
Understanding why they multiply is understanding karma better.
To "give them properly" is to act free from worldly concerns.
A mind that "act free from worldly concerns" is a mind that is not polluted and that can generate merit itself.
What is on the opposite end of worldly concern? Bodhichitta

Now, what is proper dedication?
Check your meditation prayer and weight every word.

[Helena]

I also read in the Lamrim that anger is like the "ultimate terminator" to all our positive karma or merits.

So, no matter how much good deeds we have done or merits we have collected, they all burn away with our own anger.

Like how our anger can reduce even Mount Meru into a pile of ashes. Is this true?

Can anyone please explain or clarify?

If it is true, then our anger is indeed very potent and scary. It wipes out everything?

[hope rainbow]

The lamrim clearly states that one moment of anger destroys eons of merits.
Thus some further questions arise:

1. what actually is anger?
I'll try this: strong dis-liking arising out of a state of suffering and ignorantly projecting an "exterior object" as the cause for the experienced suffering, this "object" become the object of our anger and we strongly believe our anger (and the resulting actions) to be entirely justified.
So anger is first a THOUGHT.
From this tought, various mindset can develop and we can easily engage into regrettable actions.
Examples: anger as jealousy, anger as depression, anger as fear, anger as paranoia, anger as ressentment...
And examples of actions: lying, rough/hurtful speech, dividing speech, lies, thefts, sabotage, putting other down, murder!
Where is the ignorance in this process? The ignorance is the wrong identification of an "external object" as the cause for our state of suffering.
This means that we are HURTING the object of our anger thinking that we can solve our suffering, but we are "attacking" the wrong object, and in doing so we eventually make ouir potentialities for anger more likely.
Acting out of anger may seem as if we are solving a problem, but it isn't.
We can easily think of examples of that in our lives, when we have acted out of jealousy or hatred (well, I can).
ANGER is at the opposite end from a mind of enlightenment.
ANGER is a pitfall to darkness, the darkness of EGO, it is a counter-productive "self"-defense reaction, pityfull and plain stupid.
Anyone wants to add to this?

2. is it only anger that destroys merits, or is it also desire, pride, ignorance, doubt...?
Can someone cast light on this?

3. since we are not enlighetened yet (well, me at least), how can we make sur we dedicate properly? uuuhhh...
Hehe, I found the answer to that in the lamrim, and it s so simple, it blew me away...
At the end of our dedication, we dedicate just like the buddhas dedicated, or just like our teacher dedicates.

[Helena]

THANK YOU SO MUCH, HOPE RAINBOW!

I will definitely control my anger even more. Especially, when it destroys eons of merits. VERY SCARY.

It is very interesting to learn the various "shades of anger" and how it manifests into different things.

I think what you wrote in this line below sums up everything about anger.

ANGER is at the opposite end from a mind of enlightenment.

Thank you again, for teaching us all with such care, HR.

Deeply appreciated.

[Big Uncle]

I think anger is extremely deadly delusion but not the only delusion. We have jealousy, laziness, attachment and the list goes on. The real culprit behind everything including half past six motivations, the 8 mundane concerns and anger is really the ego. All delusions are but his minions and the practice of the higher Tantras like Vajrayogini is extremely effective to uproot our ego. Why? Vajrayogini uses our strongest and most prevalent delusions which is desire as fuel towards uprooting it and discovering our true nature - egoless and free of the 8 mundane concerns.

[hope rainbow]

I wish I could get closer to this wonderful lady Buddha, Vajrayogini!

Before I started my spiritual practice, my wish was that there would be nothing left of me after I pass away, not a "soul", not a "mind", no heaven, no spirit, no hell, nothing, that I would simply vanish, no more of the circus of life, peace at last...
I realized later on that what I wished to be released from was samsara, not life itself; and in my wish for "nothing left of me" I figure out it must be my EGO that I wished to get rid of.
No more EGO, no more samsara! Suits me!

But then, we have bodhichitta, even better, living life FULL ON and WITHOUT EGO, entirely, purely, sincerely for others, what a wonderful aspiration, what an extra-ordinary yet so "true-to-oneself" motivation!
Certainly a merit-creating aspiration, and one that counter-acts anger directly.

[Helena]

HR, what you wrote is so similar to my own experience! Wow!

From young, I always prayed that this would be the absolute last time that I need to come back and live through any life form yet again. I also did  not know Buddhism back then. I was only 10!

Whether it is a karmic imprint or our collected merits, I must have had the blessings to even want to detach myself from samsara and ego - eventhough I did not really know it then, nor understand it.

May be this is why I also find Buddha Vajrayogini extremely attractive and appealing.

Thanks so much for your wonderful explanation, Big Uncle.

 All delusions are but his minions and the practice of the higher Tantras like Vajrayogini is extremely effective to uproot our ego. Why? Vajrayogini uses our strongest and most prevalent delusions which is desire as fuel towards uprooting it and discovering our true nature - egoless and free of the 8 mundane concerns.

Here's to discovering our true nature and working devotedly to achieving it!

May none of us be ever separated from the Three Jewels, especially our Gurus.

May we truly realise just how every lucky we are to even hear and have the Dharma in this lifetime.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

[fruven]

First time I learned that we collect negative karma every seconds constantly, nonstop if we do nothing in our lives, carrying our lives just like everyone, work, eat and sleep. While the monks who hold their vows accumulate merits constantly even while sleeping.

What happen to those who are not in Buddhism but constantly improve their habits and attitudes in life, does it not mean they accumulate some form of positive karma or even merits because of their intention and sincerity, say in helping others? 

[ratanasutra]

In the beginning i used to think that karma and merit are the same as i do not understand meaning of it and how it created.

And we only gain merit when our actions are without 8 worldly concerns, mean our mind and actions must be pure therefore the merit will never be used up or disappear, instead it will be with us from life after life.

i will say that not only buddhist that can collect merit, example mother Teresa who so kind and full with love and compassion. i believe Mothere teresa has collected lot of merits towards her selfless actions towards others.   

[fruven]

In the beginning i used to think that karma and merit are the same as i do not understand meaning of it and how it created.

And we only gain merit when our actions are without 8 worldly concerns, mean our mind and actions must be pure therefore the merit will never be used up or disappear, instead it will be with us from life after life.

i will say that not only buddhist that can collect merit, example mother Teresa who so kind and full with love and compassion. i believe Mothere teresa has collected lot of merits towards her selfless actions towards others.   

Mother Teresa inspires others and moves others to action. If my action inspire person A to move to action, and person B who is a friend of person A also is inspired by person A and he moves to action, and the action of person B is one of virtuous, can we say that it is merit?   

[Tenzin K]

As far as I know, karma generated from our actions. Be it positive or negative it’s from our good and bad actions and follow us to our next life and it's also determine where we take our rebirth.

Merit is a concept in Buddhism. It is that which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts or thoughts and that carries over to later in life or to a person's next life. Such merit contributes to a person's growth towards liberation. Merit can be gained in a number of ways. In addition, according to the Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, one can "transfer" 1/7 merit of an act they have performed to a deceased loved one such as in the Shitro practice in order to diminish the deceased's suffering in their new existence. Pari??man? (Sanskrit) may be rendered as 'transfer of merit' or 'dedication' and involves the transfer of merit as a cause to bring about an effect.   

Buddha identifies these three bases of merits: Giving, virtue & mental development.

[Q]

Well... having half a seed dont mean it wont grow to a tree... lol

Just because our deeds right now is not free of the 8 worldly concerns doesnt mean we dont collect merits at all... we still do, but to qualify it for easier understanding... not as much.

However, doing a little good is far better than not doing good at all. Besides when we create the merits, it will be easier for us to let go of our attachments that is pulling us away from a spiritual path.

The fact that we've already started practising is a good thing. We can't just wake up one day and be free of the 8 worldly concerns... it takes time, and constant practice to achieve it. So, dont be disheartened if we still have such 'negative' qualities in us... at least we're already on a journey to get it out of our system =)