MERIT AND MERIT-MAKING
Merit (punya; Chinese, gongde; Japanese, kudoku) is
karmic virtue acquired through moral and ritual ac-
tions; it is widely regarded as the foundation of Bud-
dhist ethics and salvation. Although Jodo Shinshu, the
Shin (true) PURELAND SCHOOLof Japanese Buddhism,
rejects the efficacy of meritorious acts, the vast major-
ity of Buddhist communities affirm the soteriological
effects of good actions. As indicated by the term merit-
making,virtue is the deliberate result of human con-
sideration and conduct.
Buddhist literature widely attests to the making and
consequences of merit. The JATAKAtales tell stories of
how people benefit from their virtues and suffer from
their vices. “Be quick in goodness,” counsels the Word
of the Doctrine(DHAMMAPADA), “from wrong hold
back your thought.” In Milinda’s Questions(MILINDA-
PAN
HA), the Buddhist monk Nagasena tells King
Milinda that those who are pure in heart, refined and
straight in action, and free from the obstacles of crav-
ing will see NIRVANA. In these Pali texts, merit accrues
from moral actions.
In MAHAYANAliterature, the importance of moral-
ity is affirmed, but the notion of merit is extended to
the idea of benefits obtained largely through ritual
actions. Since ritual involves magical power exceeding
that of moral effort, the benefits are greater. The
LOTUSSUTRA(SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA-SUTRA; Japan-
ese, Myohorengekyo), for example, describes the mag-
nificent benefits that will fall on those who do no more
than read, recite, copy, and uphold the sutra. Their
benefits will be without limit or measure, far exceed-
ing the merits acquired through moral practices such
as almsgiving, patience, and gentleness. An investment
in ritual actions yields greater benefits than merits re-
alized through moral effort.
The relationship between ritual benefits and moral
merits varies according to different traditions and
teachers, but in most cases both are affirmed and are
indicated by the single Japanese term kudoku,which
literally means “the virtue of effort.” In order to spec-
ify the particular value of Buddhist effort, as opposed
to all other human actions, the idea of the “field of
merit” (punyaksetra; Chinese, futian; Japanese, fuku-
den) identifies Buddhism as the field within which
merit and benefits can be realized and even multiplied.
The Chinese and Japanese terms extend even further
beyond the idea of ritual benefits to suggest divine
blessings. The field of blessings is identified variously
with the Buddha, the SAN ̇GHA(monastic community),
and the dharma—that is, the entirety of Buddhism
itself—and is defined even more specifically as partic-
ular deities, texts, or objects such as relics, all of which
have the power to grant blessings. Despite the empha-
sis on ritual benefits and divine blessings, the merit of
moral action is seldom forgotten. In the category of
the “three fields of blessings,” for example, the first
field involves reverence to the BUDDHAS, the second
calls for repaying obligations to parents and teachers,
and the third requires acts of compassion to help the
poor and the sick. The value of any act, therefore, de-
pends not just on the person carrying out the act but
on the recipient as well. More merit and benefit will
accrue by giving to buddhas rather than humans, hu-
mans rather than animals, monks rather than layper-
sons, and the poor rather than the rich.Benefits and blessings, the related virtues of merit,
are enjoyed as rewards for one’s efforts, but they can
also be dedicated or transferred to others. Like eco-
nomic transactions, merit can be transferred from one
account to another. In Milinda’s Questions,Nagasena
argues that only the merits of good deeds can be trans-
ferred to others; the results of evil deeds cannot. Many
rituals close with a section on the transfer of merit
(parinamana; Japanese, eko) to all sentient beings and
to ancestors. Far from being fixed, karmic merit is
transactional: Bad KARMA(ACTION) acquired in the
past can be extinguished or offset by merit accrued in
the present, and the karmic accounts of the dead can
be augmented by a transfer of merit from the living.
Rendering karmic aid to the dead is particularly im-
portant for those who might be reborn in the HELLS,
where they will face the Ten Kings of Hell, who will
surely indict them for lack of merit. Even for those
whose lives were clearly meritorious, transferring merit
assured their general well-being, and is a key element
in the postmortem care of ANCESTORS. The best rea-
son for transferring merit to the deceased is to help
them gain rebirth in the pure land, the heavenly par-
adise in Buddhist COSMOLOGY.Since these transfers take place through formal rit-
uals, monks and nuns, acting as agents brokering the
transfer, receive donations for their services. This eco-
nomic support has been an essential part of the insti-
tutional life of Buddhism; in addition to being the
foundation of Buddhist morality and salvation, the be-
lief in merit and the transfer of merit is a cornerstone
for sustaining the clergy and their monasteries.MERIT ANDMERIT-MAKING