money to build a retreat center or a monastery. If you
give to these worthy causes, and if it’s a gesture of real
generosity—if you’re giving without wishing for any-
thing particular in return—then it works.
When we take the bodhisattva vow, we give a gift.
The moment we give the gift is the moment we re-
ceive one of the marks of taking the vow. The in-
struction is to give something that you find it hard to
let go of, something that hurts a little. If you give
money, it should be just a little more than you really
wanted to give.
In all of these traditional ways of accumulating
merit, the inner meaning is that of opening com-
pletely to the situation, with some kind of daring.
There’s an incantation that goes along with this, the
practice of which is said to be the ultimate expression
of gaining merit because it has to do with letting go of
hope and fear: “If it’s better for me to be sick, so be it.
If it’s better for me to recover, so be it. If it’s better for
me to die, so be it.” Another way this is said is, “Grant
your blessings that if I’m meant to be sick, let me be
sick. Grant your blessings that if I’m meant to re-
cover, let me recover.” It’s not that you’re asking some
higher power to grant the blessings; basically, you’re
just saying, “Let it happen, let it happen.”
Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and
complete nonattachment—all are synonyms for ac-
cumulating merit. The idea is to open up rather than
shut down.
Overcoming Resistance 99