True Merit

Whatever cleanses the stream of one’s own thoughts, making it clean, pure and wholly free of the defilements that cloud the mind, is called “merit” (puñña).

Most of us see making merit as something outside ourselves. We look at the activities: offering saṅghadāna (gifts to the monastic community), giving alms food, offering forest robes, offering kathina robes. Yet we hardly ever look at the state of our own mind in that moment, to see whether true merit is arising or not. Even when the activity itself is wholesome, if the mind is clouded, overpowered by filthy defilements, with greed arising, anger arising or delusion arising in that moment, then that state of mind is not true merit.

Merit Has Two Meanings

The first meaning: merit means “that which cleanses.” Merit cleanses the stream of thought, making it clean, pure and free of what clouds it. Whenever defilements (kilesa) arise in anyone’s mind, they cloud that person’s mind: greed, anger, delusion, doubt and wavering, restlessness and agitation, dejection and discouragement, boredom, shamelessness about wrongdoing, wrong view, self-exaltation, and so on.

For example:

When faith arises, lack of faith and lack of conviction are destroyed.
When courage and boldness arise, laziness is destroyed.
When mindfulness that recollects firmly arises, forgetfulness is destroyed.
When the mind becomes steady in concentration, restlessness is destroyed.
When knowledge or wisdom arises, not-knowing, or delusion (moha), is destroyed.

So you must be mindful and diligently guard against these unwholesome states, keeping them from arising by making wholesome states of mind arise. When a wholesome mind arises, that is merit cleansing the mind, making it clean and pure of unwholesome states.

At that moment we will notice an openness, a spaciousness, a lightness and gentleness, a cleanness and purity of mind. When you begin to see this current of merit arising in the mind, it shows that merit has truly arisen.

The second meaning: merit comes from the word pūjanīya, a state that inspires respect and reverence. When merit arises in someone’s stream of thought, it makes that person’s thinking spotless, bright and radiant, without stain. The mind moves with happiness and gladness. When the quality of the mind is good, the good mind governs behavior: actions of body and speech, and all outward conduct, become soft and gentle. Such a person is worthy of reverence, because they have virtue and goodness.

Is Merit Material or Immaterial?

Merit is immaterial (nāmadhamma), but for merit to arise it depends on what is material (rūpadhamma), such as religious ceremonies. So merit is accomplished through two components:

1. Correct ritual: done not out of superstition, but with knowledge and understanding, according to the tradition of the noble ones.
2. A mind that is merit: making faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom that have not yet arisen arise in the mind, so that the mind gains both quality and capability, and reaches happiness.

Where Can We Find Merit?

Merit does not come only from giving material things. The Buddha also taught ten bases for the arising of merit, called the ten puññakiriyavatthu (bases of meritorious action). In brief, they are dāna (giving), sīla (virtue) and bhāvanā (cultivation of the mind).

Group 1: Giving

Dānamaya: giving correctly. Besides giving material things, what matters most is also giving up the defilements, greed, anger and delusion, from the mind.

Pattidānamaya: dedicating merit. The merit we have made and brought about, we dedicate to all people and all beings. It means not hoarding merit, but letting go and giving.

Pattānumodanāmaya: rejoicing in merit. When we see merit arising in anyone at all, whether we see them giving, keeping the precepts or listening attentively to the Dhamma, and we delight in the wholesome states arising in the stream of their life, rejoicing and gladdened with a mind of muditā (sympathetic joy), this is called rejoicing in another’s merit.

Group 2: Virtue

Sīlamaya: the merit that arises from bringing virtue into the stream of one’s life, intending to keep one’s conduct of body and speech, and one’s livelihood, proper and good. For example, the intention to abstain from killing, with a mind moving with mettā (loving-kindness); the intention to abstain from stealing, with a mind inclined to let go, to give and to share; and so on.

Apacāyanamaya: humility, a gentle state of mind that shows itself in humble conduct, free of conceit and fixed views.

Veyyāvaccamaya: doing what is useful, being eager to help with shared work, not narrow-minded, knowing how to treat one another well.

Group 3: Cultivation

Bhāvanāmaya: developing bhāvanā, that is, training the mind.

Dhammassavanamaya: listening to the Dhamma, studying and seeking knowledge.

Dhammadesanāmaya: teaching the Dhamma, instructing in the Dhamma, giving knowledge.

Diṭṭhujukamma: straightening one’s views so that they accord with the Buddha’s teaching, understanding cause and effect, kamma and its results. This is called sammā-diṭṭhi (right view): seeing correctly and well, in line with reality. It belongs to all three groups: giving, virtue and cultivation.

In summary, merit is the result of actions of body, speech and mind accompanied by intention, which cleanse the mind and make it clean and pure. At the most basic level, merit matters because it is happiness, peace and order, the foundation of growth. Merit, that is, giving, virtue and cultivation, is therefore something each of us should study and train in, striving to bring it about in the stream of our lives.