Karma For Today's Traveler 7: Field Of Merit - I

The Field of Merit Now I would like to look a little closer at how we generate our good fortune.

As we have seen,

Buddhist doctrine teaches that our good or bad fortune is set in motion by our own good or bad actions.

But remember,

In our world equilibrium,

The world responds in relation to the changes that are made upon it.

It is not the amount of good,

Per se,

That is returned to us,

It is the amount of change.

The amount of world response depends on the extent that what we have done affects the world.

For example,

If while driving,

We accidentally strike and kill a vagrant drug-addicted thief,

The world will respond in a relatively minor way.

However,

If we accidentally strike and kill a beloved world leader,

The response of the world will be much,

Much larger.

Consider the following example,

Let's imagine that I am still,

That I am a layman,

And I live in a house with a neighbor beside me.

Suppose I hate my neighbor,

And stand by the fence between our yards and call him a liar and a bad guy.

What would happen?

Well,

It's likely that the neighbor would not take too kindly to my harsh words and would demand to know why I say such things,

Or perhaps call me a bad guy and a liar too.

But imagine I am not yet satisfied,

So I set up a loudspeaker system and blast my accusations at full volume for the entire neighborhood to hear.

What would happen this time?

I think it's safe to say that the neighbor,

And not to mention the whole neighborhood,

Would be much more upset,

And would probably call the police,

Or even physically assault me himself.

In the first situation,

My bad action was small,

And the response was small.

In the second,

Both my bad action and the response were amplified.

A similar effect happens with our good actions leading to a good response from the world.

If we amplify our good actions,

The good results are likewise amplified.

For good actions,

The amplification system is what is termed the field of merit.

The receiver amplifies the gift.

In Thailand,

Many people take a proactive approach towards luck by consciously doing good things,

Making merit,

And thereby increasing the likelihood of good luck.

It's normal for Thais to make merit before an important exam,

Job interview,

Or when trouble threatens.

One way of making merit is to go to the local market where live fish are sold,

And to buy a fish destined for a dinner table,

And release it back to the river.

Another way is to donate money to a temple.

But the most common form of making merit is to offer food to monks when they make their early morning alms round.

According to Buddhist doctrine,

The amount of merit that is received,

In world equilibrium terms,

From offering alms depends on the level of the person that one makes merit with.

Different monks,

Different merit.

To illustrate,

Imagine a Thai person making merit by offering food to seven different people dressed as monks.

The first person,

Though wearing a monk's robe,

Is not actually a monk at all,

But an immoral mafia-type guy,

Hiding from his enemies,

Pretending to be a monk.

He does not keep the precepts,

And actively engages in bad action.

In this case,

Little good is done to the world from the food that the Thai person gave him.

So let's say that the Thai person receives a single unit of merit.

One unit of food given yields one unit of merit.

Let's call this level 1.

Note that here we are focusing on the direct,

Physical effect the giving will have on the environment of the giver,

Meaning the giver's world equilibrium.

The extremely important factor of the intention of the giver will be examined in the second part of the book,

Mind Equilibrium.

Let's move on.

The second person is also not a real monk,

Just a guy too lazy to work,

Who wears the orange robes so he'll get free food and a place to sleep.

This guy doesn't keep the precepts,

But is generally not engaged in bad actions.

In this case,

The Thai person receives more merit,

Much more,

On the order of 100 times more.

Let's call this level 100.

The next monk is actually a practicing monk who diligently keeps the precepts.

That is,

The monk lives and acts in such a way as to never intentionally cause harm to himself or other living beings.

The Thai person's merit increases by another factor of 100.

The goodness of the recipient amplifies the merit returning to the giver by 10,

000.

The fourth monk is the real deal.

He's absolutely locked in the observance of the precepts.

He's not a perfect guy,

But he's locked on the path.

For the rest of his life,

He will never intentionally break the precepts.

His faith in his path is absolute,

And he is actively trying to do good and advance in wisdom.

This type of person,

Whether a monk or layperson,

Is known as a stream-winner,

Sotapanna.

The stream-winner amplifies our Thai person's merit another 100 times,

Level 1,

000,

000.

The fifth monk is even higher.

He's endowed with all the virtues of the stream-winner,

Plus his defilements of greed,

Hatred,

And delusion have,

Through practice,

Been reduced to a much lower level.

Buddhism identifies the three defilements of greed,

Hatred,

And delusion as impurities in the mind,

Obscuring the full awareness of reality as it is.

This type of person,

Whether a monk or layperson,

Who has reduced his defilements,

Is called a once-returner,

Sakidagami,

And the level is now 100,

000,

000.

The sixth monk is on the threshold of enlightenment.

This type of person,

Whether a monk or layperson,

Known as a non-returner,

Anagami,

Has completely and fully eliminated greed and hatred from his mind,

And has further reduced delusion.

We are now at 10,

000,

000,

000.

Our final monk is truly enlightened.

An arahant,

And the level is now a staggering 1,

000,

000,

000.

Our Thai friend is fortunate indeed to make merit with an arahant,

For his one unit of merit offered has been amplified a trillion times.

This is the reasoning behind the one-portion-of-food-equals-many-comfortable-lives concept that I mentioned at the beginning of this book.

This may all seem quite incredible to people in this modern age,

Yet there is an undeniable logic to it.

Wouldn't you rather help the good people so they can do more good,

Than help the bad so they can do more bad?

Let's make a comparison between two people,

Mr A and Mr B.

Their consumption of things in the world is similar.

Mr A is a good person,

And he is beneficial to the world.

Consequently,

The amount that he gives to the world is large.

On the other hand,

Mr B is a person who just lives in the world without much thought or consideration.

His behaviour is unstable.

Sometimes he's doing good,

And other times he's doing bad.

The amount of good he does is much less than Mr A.

If we have a chance to support one of them,

Wouldn't you choose Mr A?

Wouldn't Mr A amplify our support,

Creating more good in the world?

Or in more general terms,

Isn't it reasonable that supporting good people amplifies the amount of good given?

An Arahant is an enlightened being full of wisdom and compassion,

Totally free from greed,

Hatred and delusion,

A living example of a perfected human.

Such a person has,

Through their own efforts,

Changed their own behaviour until it is entirely wholesome.

They have successfully completed their own self-development.

Their work on themselves is complete.

The remainder of their life effort is spent in service.

And so,

As completely virtuous humans,

Free from all defilements,

Their power to amplify merit is enormous.

For this reason,

Making merit with an Arahant will greatly affect our world equilibrium.

So back to the question,

What are we to do?

First,

Keep the five precepts,

Our wall of world harmony,

So that we make no more destructive waves in our worldly sea.

Second,

We must actively do good to improve our world equilibrium environment.

And,

Understanding the field of merit,

We can amplify the good we do by supporting the truly good people around us.

But what about our past bad deeds that are already set in motion?

Is there nothing to be done about them?

There is.