I’ve talked about the Sincere Mind (podcast 35) and the Profound Mind (podcast 58), these being two of the Three Minds identified by Shan Dao in his commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, the third of the three Pureland Sutras. This commentary had a profound effect on Honen Shonen; and Honen often talked about the Three Minds.
The third of the Three Minds is the mind that transfers merit with a view to birth in the Pure Land. The idea of transference of merit is a very Mahayana Buddhist concept. First, we have to understand what merit is, I suppose. We can say that merit is the happiness of mind that comes from living a good life. When you do good things, it brings happiness into the world. So, if we live good lives, we have some merit.
But as Pureland Buddhists we know that the merit that we achieve, is quite small. We do some good things in life, we do some bad things in life – we are ordinary beings, we are mixed; and also, of course, we are busily consuming, so, the balance sheet is very difficult to keep in the black. The benefits that I receive vastly outweigh any good that I might manage to do. But I’m doing my little bit.
So, I have a little bit or merit, but I don’t rely on that. I rely on the merit of Amitabha Buddha. Because I have faith in Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha’s merit envelopes me. He shares his merit with me. She pours it down and I am intoxicated with it; and that’s what enables me to produce these podcasts and talk to you and live the Dharma life; and as I live the Dharma life, of course, I get a little bit of merit - happiness of mind - very nice.
So, in Mahayana Buddhism, which is based on altruism, we have the idea of giving this merit away, so we transfer it, we transfer the merit; and because we have the infinite merit of Amitabha cascading down upon us like a downpour, we can afford to give it away. There is no shortage. One becomes mean and clings on to things when there is a shortage, but if you live in the life of Amitabha, there is no shortage. It’s a source without limit. So, one can give merit away.
One gives it away willy-nilly, but, of course, one also gives it away specifically, and this is a kind of prayer. When we know of somebody who is suffering, somebody who has an obstacle to their spiritual path, somebody who is in difficulties, perhaps somebody who is angry with us – sometimes people are angry with me – I send them merit. Like that. We make a prayer to transfer merit to the person who is in need of it.
This is a Mahayana form of prayer: to transfer merit in this way. We can make it part of our daily practice to think: Who do I want to transfer merit to today? And, if we transfer merit to them - we transfer happiness of mind to this other person- then, of course, the world will become a nicer place and they will have a happier life and they will go to the Pure Land, also.
They may or may not be able to receive the merit that we send, but we can only do our best. We send merit to all those who are in need of it. I send merit to President Trump, Boris Johnson, President Macron, I send merit to them all, because, if they become happier in mind, we will all enjoy a better world and, little by little, the realm of Shakyamuni Buddha will approach to being a Pure Land itself.
Namo Amida Bu
I transfer you merit!
Thank you very much
Dharmavidya
David
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