The relationship between merit and merit--Kaishan Temple, Meitian Town, Yizhang County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province
Shi Wuchan (Kaishan Temple) Li Zaosheng (renamed himself)
Written on December 21, 2022 in March 2020
There are "merit boxes" in temples. If you put money in them, will there be any "merits"? When we usually go to temples, we often see some boxes with "merit boxes" written on them for everyone to put money into. So is there any "merit" in putting money into it?
To be honest, there is no merit, only merit. In fact, it should be called a "Futian Box" and not a "merit box". That is wrong, because no matter how much money you give, there is no merit, only merit. Everyone needs to understand this.
Emperor Wu of Liang can be said to be the greatest Dharma protector in the history of Chinese Buddhism . He really devoted himself to protecting the Dharma. Everyone is familiar with this. As an emperor of his generation, he built 480 monasteries for Buddhism and protected hundreds of thousands of monks. His contribution to Buddhism was unparalleled.
When Patriarch Bodhidharma came to China, Emperor Wu of Liang asked Patriarch Bodhidharma; "I have done so many good things for Buddhism, isn't my merit great?" Patriarch Damo replied calmly: "There is no merit." Emperor Wu of Liang became angry when he heard this and drove Patriarch Bodhidharma away without even sending him back.
In fact, Patriarch Bodhidharma was an honest man, and what he said was correct. He was just telling the truth. The things Emperor Wu of Liang did did not have any merit, only merit. But the truth is often easy to offend and make people unhappy. If Bodhidharma got off the donkey along the slope and praised Emperor Wu of Liang for a few words, he would definitely be very happy, and the two people would not fall out. But Patriarch Bodhidharma is not that kind of person. He seeks truth from facts in front of the emperor and does not lie. Through this incident, we can also see his character, which makes us respect Patriarch Bodhidharma even more!
Merit is different from merit. If you want to truly practice Buddhism and truly learn Buddhism, you must study hard.
What merit does it have? " The Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra " makes it very clear: "Continuous thoughts are merit, and straight mental conduct is virtue. Self-cultivation of one's nature is merit, and self-cultivation of one's body is virtue. Good teacher, merit must be seen within one's own nature, and is not required by giving and offering."
The truth behind this is very profound. Simply put, merit is cultivation. Gong is effort, virtue is attainment and results. If you are diligent in keeping the precepts, you will gain concentration, and attaining concentration is virtue. You have made the effort to cultivate concentration and developed wisdom. Opening up wisdom is virtue. If you have merit and virtue, then it is merit. If you have merit and no virtue, then it is just merit. Although you also keep the precepts, but you have not achieved samadhi, then it is only merit and cannot be counted as merit. Merits are inherent in your own nature, and you must seek them from within. It has nothing to do with your practice of giving and making offerings. Giving and making offerings is to cultivate blessings, and it is just merit. If Emperor Wu of Liang had asked Patriarch Bodhidharma: "Are my merits great?" then Patriarch Bodhidharma would have praised him: "Your merits are too great!"
Of course, learning Buddhism requires both blessing and wisdom, and both merit and merit should be cultivated. If you only cultivate merit without cultivating merit, you will not be blessed. Then you will not be able to eat, and you will have to work hard every day for food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Then how can you practice!
But remember, cultivating wisdom is more important than cultivating blessings. Cultivating wisdom is the main practice, and cultivating blessings is only a supplementary practice. Cultivating wisdom means cultivating merit, transcending reincarnation, becoming a Buddha and becoming an ancestor; what you get through cultivating merit is only blessings from humans and heaven, and the results are in the three good ways. This priority must be clearly distinguished.
Emperor Liang Wu, the famous Buddhist protector in history, was a very "promising" emperor. In the early days of Emperor Wu of Liang's succession, he advocated Taoism and his country was strong. But later, after he saw the monk's magical powers, he turned from Taoism to Buddhism. After all, Taoism has never advocated magical powers!
After Emperor Wu of Liang converted to Buddhism, he not only believed in Buddhism himself, but also used his status as emperor to force the people of the country to believe in Buddhism, even his own ancestors. Monks all over the world have no prohibition against eating meat ( Buddhist precepts are not allowed to eat meat, but meat and meat are not actually the same). Only monks in Han Buddhism are not allowed to eat meat. This is one of the great contributions made by Emperor Wu of Liang to Han Buddhism. Buddhism advocates not killing. Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty asked the people of the country to eat vegetarian food. Even the three animals sacrificed in the ancestral temple were made of flour.Using vegetarian food to offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple, doesn’t this force the ancestors to convert to Buddhism?
China originally did not have "demons". It was only after Emperor Wu of Liang that there were "demons". There is a Chinese saying "Money can make the devil push the mill", which tells this story. Although Emperor Wu of Liang was the emperor, he could not freely use the money in the treasury! In order to make enough money to make money, he played the game of becoming a monk. Every time he becomes a monk, the ministers are required to donate money to the temple and pray to the "Three Jewels of Buddhism" before they can redeem the "Emperor Bodhisattva". Historical records record that he became a monk four times in total. In 527 AD, he sacrificed his life to become a monk for the first time, but he only stayed in the temple for three days before returning home. The second time he became a monk, he stayed from September 15th to the 27th in 529 AD. The officials donated 100 million to redeem him from the temple to the court. On April 10, 546 AD, he became a monk for the third time. This time, officials donated 200 million yuan before he returned to the court. On March 3, 547 AD, he became a monk for the fourth time. This time, the officials donated another 100 million yuan to invite the emperor Bodhisattva back to the court.
Emperor Wu of Liang originally believed in Taoism and respected Tao Hongjing , the master of the Shangqing sect of Taoism. His political achievements at this stage were remarkable. Unfortunately, all Taoist people like to live in seclusion, so Tao Hongjing concentrates on living happily in the mountains. Whenever Emperor Wu of Liang had important national affairs, he would send letters to Tao Hongjing for advice, so Tao Hongjing was known as the "Prime Minister of the Mountains". When Emperor Wu of Liang later saw the magical power of Buddhism, he thought that he had finally met a Buddhist monk who was not as "put on airs" as the Taoist hermits, so he respectfully invited Zen Master Zhigong to be his national teacher and established Buddhism as the state religion. After receiving the blessing of the Buddha, Emperor Wu of Liang no longer had to humbly seek advice from Tao Hongjing as before. So he forced Tao Hongjing to convert to Buddhism. Tao Hongjing's famous poem: "I have shed countless tears, which will not fall for more than ten years. I will shed them for you today and shed them before the autumn wind." It expresses the mood at this time. Even after Tao Hongjing died, he had to be buried in Buddhist cassocks.
Emperor Wu of Liang was eventually besieged by his men in Taicheng without food for dozens of days, and finally became the only legendary emperor in Chinese history who starved to death. However, historical records record that when Hou Jing took 500 soldiers to see Emperor Wu of Liang, Emperor Wu of Liang calmly chatted with Hou Jing about his daily life, and told Hou Jing to control his subordinates and not harass the people. In this story, Emperor Wu of Liang abandoned Taoism and followed Buddhism as the "cause", and his starvation to death was the "result". Emperor Wu of Liang accepted the reality so openly, which is what Taoism calls "negative". All in all, the connotation of "bearing" includes "cause and effect" but is greater than "cause and effect". The Taoist saying of "only cultivating this life and not seeking the next life" is rooted in the thought of "carrying on". Those who practice Taoism should strive to bear their own karma in this life during their lifetime and not leave it to future generations.
Patriarch Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu of Liang:
There is a famous koan in the Zen sect, about Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan and Bodhi, the first ancestor of Zen Buddhism in the East. Bodhidharma . In the first year of the ordinary year, the twenty-eighth ancestor of Zen Buddhism, the Venerable Bodhidharma, traveled across the sea to China. Emperor Wu saw this and asked: "Since I came to the throne, I have built temples, written sutras, and saved countless monks. What merits do I have?" The venerable replied: "There are no merits."
Emperor Wu was surprised and asked: "Why is there no merit?" Bodhidharma replied: "This is just the reason for the leakage of small fruits in human and heaven. They follow each other like a shadow, although they are not real."
Emperor Wu asked again: "What is the real merit?" The venerable said: "Pure wisdom is wonderful and perfect, and the body is empty and silent. Such merit cannot be sought in the world." Emperor Wu asked again: "What is the first meaning of the holy truth?" Bodhidharma replied: "There are no sages in the vastness of Kuo Ran."
Emperor Wu and Prince Illuminating both held two truths; establishing the true truth to clarify non-existence, and establishing the truth of desire to clarify non-existence, so the venerable replied to Emperor Wu with the sentence "There is no sage in Kuo Ran". Emperor Wu misunderstood the intention of his ancestors, but he still had his own opinion on "no sage".
Patriarch Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu of Liang:
Patriarch Bodhidharma first went from Guangzhou to Nanjing to convert Emperor Wu of Liang. Emperor Wu of Liang asked about it and said, "I have built many temples in my life, and I have converted many monks to become monks and monks.What merit do I have? ”
Emperor Wu of Liang was willing to be the first in everything, so when he saw Patriarch Bodhidharma, he did not ask for Dharma. He first wanted to ask Patriarch Bodhidharma to praise him and give him some high hats. So he was afraid that Patriarch Bodhidharma would not know about his merits and benefits in building temples, saving monks, giving alms, and setting up fasts. So he introduced himself and said, "Look at me, I have built hundreds of temples, and there is this temple, and there is that temple. There are many monks living in all the temples. I have single-handedly made them become monks. How many alms have I made? How many monks have I made offerings to? What do you think of my merits?" This means to introduce yourself and say, "Oh! Look at me, my role as emperor is not the same as other emperors. I am an emperor who specializes in doing good deeds and meritorious deeds. What do you think of my merits?" He does not want to ask for life and death, but to show off his merits first.
It seems that a certain great protector said: "Look, do you know me? I am the most powerful person in protecting Buddhism. I have made offerings to the Three Jewels when I have money." In fact, the money he spends on playing with women is tens of millions of times more than making offerings to the Three Jewels. He doesn't talk about that, he only says that he makes offerings to the Three Jewels, and the money he spends on playing with women is also said to be an offering to the Three Jewels. Are you talking about upside down or not? It's true, it's true! Look at the one who went to live a life of debauchery. He didn't say how much money he spent. He spent one dollar at the temple: "I went to donate one dollar, do you know?" These are all disciples of Liang Wudi, let me tell you. If he performs meritorious deeds, he can become emperor in the future.
Patriarch Bodhidharma listened to Emperor Wu of Liang being so intoxicated with himself, introducing himself like this, showing off his merits, selling advertisements, talking about his own benefits, and praising himself. When Bodhidharma heard this, how could a saint say flattering words? When ordinary people heard what the emperor said, they would say, "Ah! You have merit. Your merit is so great! Your merit is unparalleled in the world." This is how ordinary people say it. Bodhidharma is a patriarch, how could he behave like this? So we say: "No merit, no merit." In fact, there is no merit, really no merit.
Don’t doubt what this patriarch said. Emperor Wu's heart was not right. He only wanted to gain fame and reputation, and he only wanted to seek fame. He doesn't know how to seek righteousness. "Building temples to save monks, giving alms and setting up houses are called seeking blessings." These are all seeking blessings and planting blessings in blessed fields. You cannot regard this blessing as merit and just say it is merit. The merit is in your Dharmakaya. It's not like you who can achieve merit by practicing blessings.
At that time, Patriarch Bodhidharma was planning to save Emperor Wu of Liang, but Emperor Wu of Liang thought he was too big. He was an emperor and already had immeasurable merit. He built many temples, saved many monks, gave away a lot of money, and made offerings to the Three Jewels. He thought it was a great merit, so Bodhidharma wanted to break his attachment and said that he had no merit.
It doesn’t matter that he has no merits. When Emperor Wu of Liang heard this, he was not happy, so he ignored Bodhidharma. No matter what Dharma Patriarch Bodhidharma taught, he would not listen: "Why should I listen to you!" Because he didn't listen, Patriarch Bodhidharma wanted to save him and have compassion for him, but he didn't accept it and there was no other way. So Patriarch Bodhidharma left, left, and after a period of time, it turned out that Emperor Wu of Liang died of starvation when he finally died.
If he had merit, how could he starve to death? Because he had no merit, he starved to death. Patriarch Bodhidharma wanted to save him at that time and prevent him from starving to death, so that he could have an enlightened mind. Unfortunately, Emperor Wu of Liang was too big, so even Patriarch Bodhidharma could not save him, nor could he save him.
So when you do good deeds, you should forget about it. Don't always think: "I gave away five hundred yuan, I gave away a thousand yuan to help others. Oh! My merit is not small, my merit is great now, my merit is so great that it almost reaches the thirty-three days. My merit is so great!" If you have such a heart, you have no wisdom! This is stupidity! This is the same as Emperor Wu of Liang.
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