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Dhamma TalkDhamma Talk

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Kamma and MeritsBy Venerable Aggacitta

Venue: Taiping Hokkien Association

Today we had an excellent opportunity to collect

pindapata and I am also happy to be able to deliver

this Dhamma talk at the Hokkien Association of

Taiping. For Buddhists, it is normal practice to chant

the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts before giving

alms food. The reason for this is that we believe in the

concept of merits and merits-making.

There are varying degrees of merits which can be obtained, depending on the type

of dana one has performed. It is a fact that merits are obtained irrespective of

whether a person gives dana to an animal, a beggar, a ‘bogus’ monk or a practising

monk who is pure in his precepts. However, the merits obtained varies in each of

the above situations. Furthermore, if a person takes the Three Refuges and

observes the Five Precepts before performing the dana, the merits obtained is

enhanced especially if the person keeps the precepts diligently. So, the purity of

mind and conduct of both the donor and the recipient of a particular dana

determine the value of the merits accrued.

A devotee once asked the Buddha whether it is true that one will only obtain merit

if he gives dana to the Bud-dha and his retinue of monks as opposed to giving to

those of other religions. The Buddha replied that this was not true and merits are

always obtained whenever a person does a good deed. For example, when a

person dis-cards food remnants from his plate into the river with the thought that

the remnants may provide food for the fishes in the water, he also gains merits.

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The Buddha also mentioned that there are many different degrees of merits. He

told the story of Anathapin-dika, a great philanthropist, who gave to all and sundry

that needed his help. On one occasion, Anathapindika lamented that the food he

had donated on that day was of poor quality ( rice cooked by boiling broken grains

and a dish of fermented paste). However, the Buddha said that the value of the

food given is not as important as the virtue of the donor. If one gives with

faith and respect, does not ridicule or harm the recipient and is full of generosity,

the dana is well performed.

The Buddha then gave the example of Velama, an exceedingly wealthy Brahmin,

who performed dana of an astoundingly rich value. However, the merits he

obtained were only minimal because at that time, there were no virtuous,

enlightened monks to receive them. If he had had the opportunity to just offer

even a simple meal to a sotapanna, the merits accrued would have far surpassed

the merits obtained from that luxurious dana of his. Again, the value of meritorious

actions increases in multiples of a hundred in direct proportion to the virtues of the

recipient, in ascending order from a sotapanna to a full-fledged arahant, a Pacceka

Buddha and from there to a Samma Sambuddha. Even greater than all these are

the merits accrued by a person who takes refuge in the Triple Gem in all its purity.

But one who undertakes and steadfastly upholds the Five Precepts obtains merits

that far surpasses what has been mentioned earlier. And even greater that this are

the merits accrued by one who radiates metta to all beings for a few seconds. The

greatest merits are obtained when one can observe, even mo-mentarily, the

arising and passing away of the Five Aggregates.

In Thailand, where Buddhism is deeply entrenched, there are people whose chosen

livelihoods leave much to be desired, for example, members of drug or vice

syndicates and people in the sex industry. However, being Bud-dhists, they know

about kamma vipaka and realise that they will reap whatever they have sown. In

order to counteract the demerits of such unmeritorious lifestyles, they are usually

very generous and do a lot of dana, donating a lot to build temples and schools. In

their future rebirths, they may be reborn as animals in luxurious surroundings such

as pampered pets of rich people. Even in SBS, we have three cats, which are quite

pampered and will only eat fish and not plain rice! In some homes, people rear

arowana, an expensive breed of fish, which thrives on a good diet. However these

animals have no freedom and are caged. It is thus a good practice not to keep

‘caged’ animals in our houses such as birds in cages or fishes in small aquariums so

that in our future lives, we will also be free.

Whenever we finish chanting the Three Refugees and the Five Precepts, the monks

normally say ‘appamadena sampadetha’. This means “do not forget to fulfill

your vows/training”, thus reminding devotees to continue to uphold in their daily

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lives what they have chanted. There are people who are afraid to chant the Five

Precepts because they fear that they will break these precepts easily. They are

under the misconception that once a pre-cept is broken, a serious akusala deed has

been committed and that is the end of everything. In truth, we can always renew

our precepts as long as we are honest with ourselves about how serious we truly

are in keeping them pure.

Furthermore, for every second that you keep your precepts pure, you have

already achieved that second of good meritorious kamma. That is how

kamma works. If you have enough good supportive kamma, sometimes even

some non-weighty bad kamma can be nullified. Of course, if you have accumulated

some very weighty akusala kamma, there is no way out and you just have to bear

the consequences of that action. If you take the lives of others, you will have a

very short lifespan. If you torture others, you will be born sickly. Always keep in

mind that kamma does not act on its own accord. It is dependant on the conditions

present such as the environ-ment one is in, food, surroundings and also one’s state

of mind. Keep your precepts well and you will be fine. SBS

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