Pursuing Merits in the Most Fruitful Ways

In many Buddhist Southeast Asian countries, merit making is an important fabric of community life. Merit making, or the practice of generosity (Pali: dana) generally involves rituals such as making donation to help upkeep temples, offering alms to the Sangha or just simply giving one’s time to help in the maintenance of temple facilities.

While some do these out of personal altruism, many indulge in these rituals with the hope that their “acts” will bring future blessings, such as a life with less disturbances, better livelihood opportunities or even improved social prospects for members of their family. Without doubt, the dana economy adds a small number into local and country wide GDP, with many days in a year just dedicated to the various rituals.

Some however, view these pursuits as a lowly practice, which emphasized on just getting and a "me first (or me always)" focus. Others however, say that true merit making should focus on higher Buddhist practices, such as practicing meditation on letting go, particularly of any sense of self. They do not to waste time on lowly practices, and instead prefer to go straight to the higher levels.
 
Merit Making to Establish Wise Sense of Self

Nevertheless the Buddha repeatedly warns that the higher levels cannot be attained and sustained in a stable manner unless they develop it with a strong foundation. The pursuits of merit, like an act of simple giving, provide that foundation.

Whenever the Buddha gave a Dhamma teaching to listeners who had not yet come to regard him as their teacher, he would start by emphasizing the value of giving. Only after his audience had come to appreciate this virtue would he introduce other aspects of his teaching, such as morality, the law of kamma, and the benefits of renouncing for the holy life. 

So basically speaking, one cannot wisely let go of one's sense of self until one has developed a wise sense of self, and the pursuit of (right and beneficial) merit is the Buddhist way to develop a wise sense of self
 
What Is a “Wise Sense Of Self”?

A wise sense of self begins with basic wisdom. Some have it naturally, a common sense that arises without much effort. Most others need to train themselves to attain the wisdom of letting go. To do this, one must first focus on things to hold onto, that is, skillful traits that provide a secure place to stand on while letting go of personal habits and traits which are harmful.

In Buddhist practice, these skill sets can be acquired through the practice of three types of meritorious activities, namely giving, cultivating virtue and meditation. When done constantly and consistently, these three activities help one to naturally develop a tendency of getting to know the characteristics of impermanence, stress, and non-self.

Giving (dana), cultivating virtue (sila) and meditation (bhavana)

The first act itself - giving - if done without ulterior motives, allows one to immediately experience a sense of liberation. However, giving without having a sense of letting go can lead to one developing pride. Giving with pride does not help to cultivate a “non-self” behavior.

Happiness of generosity can be maximized by wisely choosing the proper motivation for giving a gift, a proper gift, and a proper recipient for one's gift. Gifts given from one's meager resources are considered very valuable:

“… an offering given from what little one has is worth a thousand times in value - SN 1.32 / L-19;
“… one should give even from a scanty store to him who asks” - Dhp. 224.

Cultivating virtues require the pursuit of a relatively constant and pleasant mindfulness based lifestyle that is able to sacrifice short-term happiness for long-term happiness. It is a lifestyle that considers the needs of others while engaging in habits that cultivates a strong sense loving, kind and compassionate actions. 

As we engage in a new life that establishes virtuous habits, it is important to have a mindfulness that gives space for us to learn from our past mistakes without succumbing to draining feelings of guilt. It is pointless to dwell on a demerit past while trying to cultivate a meritorious one. As the mindfulness practice gets matured, one will see a life beyond what are merits and demerits, for what really matters is what is occurring right now. This verse from the Bhaddekaratta Sutta (An Auspicious Day - MN 131) sums it up nicely:

You shouldn't chase after the past
or place expectations on the future.
What is past is left behind.
The future is as yet unreached.
Whatever quality is present
you clearly see right there,
… right there.

In mind training, the meditative practice most often cited in conjunction with merit is the development of good will, or loving kindness meditation (metta bhavana). Cultivating kindness on a regular basis through positive auto-suggestions infuses the mind with warmth and empathy towards oneself and others. It helps us to bring harmony into our relationship with others, so that we deepen our connections with our friends and loved ones, are more empathetic toward strangers, and experience fewer conflicts and resolve existing troubles with those we ordinarily clash with. The practice not only leads to happiness both now and in the future, but also helps to minimize bad results of one's past unwise actions.

Ultimate Goals of Merit Making

Building a wise sense of self through giving, cultivating virtue and meditation provide the basis and foundation for attaining higher spiritual levels. The Buddha has shown many of His disciples that through constant and consistent engagement with these meritorious activities, a spiritual sea-change in the pursuit of happiness and personal enlightenment can occur. For some, ultimately it leads beyond the pursuit of happiness and merit – they lead to the deathless states of arahantship. In the final word, the Buddha said it best:

“For a person whose mind is not soaked (by lust), unaffected (by hatred), he transcends both merit and evil. For such a wakeful one, there is no danger, no fear”. - Dhp 39

“He has gone beyond attachment here for both merit and evil, sorrowless, dustless and pure: he's what I call a brahman.” - Dhp 412

 
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Transcribe of Dhamma sharing given at Bandar Utama Buddhist Society (BUBS) on 24 April, 2022.