VIRTUE PERFORMING IN A FRUITFUL WAY
Talking about doing merit in a fruitful way which brings about personal improvement, we should know what and how to practice happily as follows :-
l. Virtue performed in the right place. We may choose a place for offer alms, for example, to help the poor, the blind or any other disabled people, including 31 those suffering from some kind of disaster, like flood, storm or fire. Those people may be unable to help themselves. We may contribute in building contemporary lodging for them, building a school for their children, and building a place to care for the sick. We may contribute in building a bridge or road as public facilities, or in building a dam to save water for the people living nearby to have clean water to use for their better health. This is a good way to do merit.
When we know how to do beneficial merit, we will consider whatever helps and makes both people and animals happy. Suppose there are some holes in the ground in front of our house, we may fill them up, so people can’walk past conveniently.
Everyone will be happy from one’s good deed. We will receive merit by doing so. We do not have to go to a temple to do merit every time. We can do other useful things as well.
If you are wise in doing merit, you will choose to do good or useful things in the right place. For example, if we build a public roadside shelter that anybody can use whenever they need to: to get rest from sun burn, or to get dry while it is raining. In addition, we can build a monk lodging place, pavilion, shrine, toilets, electricity, preaching hall, library, public rest house, and so on.
Lord Buddha teaches us that, “When we bring happiness to others, we will be reciprocated.”
Virtue performed in a right place can be compared to wise farmers who select healthy seeds and plant them in good soil with fertilizer. They will surely receive a great deal of products, and this will make them happy.
2. Virtue performed for the right person. This means to set up our mind to help and support our fellow friends as well as animals by sharing so called “happiness” with them, as much as we can. We extend our good will to all animals, from the smallest to the biggest one, like an elephant, water animals, land animals, and no-legged animals which crawl along the earth, flying animals included. We can share food suitable to each kind of animal. Our good will helps them grow and live. This is why we receive a great deal of merit.
Talking about helping our fellow human beings, we should first consider how those people are. We should be careful not to support those who are mischievous, who do not care of morality or virtue.
Otherwise, we might support them to do bad things unintentionally. It is useless to do so.
In general, we should support the poor, the disabled people, the aged, and those who suffer from natural disasters like a flood, big storm, earthquake, fire or so on. We can support them by sharing food, shelter, clothes, medicine and other necessary things.
Our good deed is to help support them to survive and help them to help themselves as soon as possible.
This is a way of doing merit in Buddhism, and we receive a great deal of merit. This is what the Buddhists always do in their countries.
There is another way to do good merit among the Buddhist assembly, which is to treat parents and grandparents kindly. The parents will encourage and support their children to enter the priesthood, which is considered a way of paying gratitude to their parents and their ancestors. Then they will offer the four requisites - food, clothing, dwelling and medicine, to the monk. Furthermore, they may offer some other necessary things to the Wat, such as electricity, water reserve tanks, and some other facilities.
No matter and what we are, we will do merit as far as we can. No matter where the monk is, or how old he is, as far as they are perfect monks or novices, we will get full merit when we give alms to them. If the monks have plenty of those things, they will share things with other monks or with other lay people who are in need. In this case our merit will be extended.
Unfortunately, some Buddhists might meet some imperfect and not well practised monks. They become down hearted and lose faith in Buddhism and think that all the monks are the same. This will prevent an opportunity to do merit with other perfect monks.
The writer would very much like to advise the Buddhist assembly not to be too depressed and stop doing merit or whatever is good to practice. Lord Buddha’s word is, “Alms-giver should not be down-hearted but should keep on doing merit where and when it is beneficial.” This means one should decide to do merit willingly to whom we are happy with.
Since our alms is worthy, we should decide to offer things to good and perfect monks. Let’s take this point, if you do not feel like giving alms to any monks or novices, please do not give alms to them. Because when we do not have good intentions, we will get less merit. If there are any monks or novices you are pleased with, then do offering alms to them. This will make you feel happy.
In general, we, as Buddhists, should gradually do merit as far as we can. Our merit will be accumulated just like scooping up water from a sandy place bit by bit, and as a result we can fill up the water container.
Since our alms is noble, we should decide to do merit with a well-practised monk. If we do it whole heartedly, this will make us happy.
3. Virtue performed at the right time. This means we should know the right time for doing merit, for example, to give a feast to the monk, to perform morning or evening chanting, and to hear the sermon.
We should know what kind of food or drink should be presented to the monk in the morning, and what can be presented in the afternoon or in the evening. The monk will take food just in the morning, and some take one meal, some take two. If we want to offer food to the monk to reserve other days, we should not present it to the monk’s hand. We just 1et the monk know, and then leave it to the lay-supporter so that he or she can prepare it for the monk the next day.
A fruit juice, called nam-pa-na, can be presented to the monk from the afternoon till midnight. This includes coffee or tea without milk, and some other soft drinks like Pepsi-cola and Seven-up. However, milk, ovaltine, and other liquid things of the same kind, are considered food which can be presented to the monk only in the morning, but not in the afternoon or at night.
The five nutriments that can be presented to the monk
in the afternoon (the monk can keep them for consumption for seven days
only) are honey, sugar, fat, butter and cheese. These five things are considered
medicine. Any kind of medicine, can be presented to the monk at any time,
and the monk can keep it as long as he wants.
Preparing “nam-pa-na” or fruit juice for the monk.
Fruit that can be used to make fruit juice for the monk should not be larger than one’s fist, or about the size of an orange. These fruits include lime, jujube, green prune, jambolin, tangerine, orange, tamarine, green marian, plum, unripe banana with seeds, etc.
The juice to be used for making aam-pa-na starts with taking out all the seeds, squeezing and leting it be filtered with a clean white cloth 7 times. One may mix in spices, salt, sugar or herbs suitable to each kind of fruit as one wishes.
This kind of juice is not allowed to be boiled. It can be presented to the monk from noon to midnight. After that, the monk cannot consume it because it might become liquor by fermentation.
Now, in the case of giving medicine to the monk, it is
the same practice as giving it to other lay people, for it has to be specified
by time and dose indicated by
a physician.
As we learn the correct processes in doing merit, we should advise anyone who wants to do merit and how to do it correctly. We should know the right time and right way to inform them. If they can do it correctly, the next step is to encourage them to observe the 5 precepts. This is considered to be the correct time to teach others fruitfully. If they persue what we tell them, we will gain merit in doing so. This is the merit gained through giving good advice to our fellow man.
Another way in doing merit is to have a joyful feeling with those doing merit or good deeds. For example, when we see someone present the Buddha image to the monk, to build a monk lodging for the Wat, to offer alms food to the monk, etc., we should rejoice as we are pleased with those donor people.
Another example, if we know that some people perform a good deed, we should feel pleased and congratulate them. This makes us feel happy and rejoice in the other’s merit.
For lay people who observe the 5 precepts well enough, the monk may persuade them to do meditation practice as the following step. This is again considered to be the right time to teach people to do merit since they are already at the Wat. The merit is there for us al) to do at the right time.
4. Following up one’s virtue. If we never go to Wat, we can make merit in another way, for example, if we make a walkway for the public, if we keep the road clean, or if we give advice to our kids and friends to be good. We can help and support the poor, and give them food and any other necessary things. We can support those who are unable to help themselves. The above examples are ways of doing merit outside the Wat. Although we never go to a Wat, we still can do merit by supporting people and animals that are in need. We should continue doing this to accumulate our merit as much as we can.
If we go to Wat and do merit, for example, to offer alms to the monk, to observe the 5 or 8 precepts, to practice meditation and so on, we should go on doing so and also try to raise up our mind continuously, and accumulate merit as much as we can.
When we observe the precepts as our habit, we should go on to practice meditation as a further step. If we cannot concentrate well, we should keep trying, and we will find that our concentration will be better and better. We may practice a terrace walk (chankrama walk). When we feel peaceful in our mind or enter into a Khanika-samadhi (momentary concentration), we should keep trying to keep our mind in peace all the time, or as long as we can. The peaceful mind will lead us to consider Dhamma profoundly. We should go on rigoriously cleaning the dirty white cloth which may take some time.
Anyhow, many people only know how to clean their clothes, hands and bodies. They do not know how to keep their mind clean and clear from covetousness. Some may get angry easily, full of hatred and covetousness, and ignorance. In summary, anyone who is eager to follow up ones virtue, he will be able to raise his mind to be perfected.
Continue...