The fifteenth lojong slogan is: four practices are the best of methods. These four practices are:
- Accumulate merit.
- Lay down evil deeds.
- Offer to the dons.
- Make an offering to the dharmapalas
This is when it’s very obvious that I’m not fully Buddhist (I’m what my teacher Ethan Nichtern calls “Buddhish”), because these concepts lie beyond my scope of understanding or experience. So, we’re going to take these one at a time and just see what’s there for us.
Today I want to talk about accumulating merit. I can almost guarantee you it’s not what you’re thinking. Traleg Kyabgon so brilliantly explains, “People normally think of merit as some kind of accounting system or bank balance… The accumulation of merit is not really like that, for it doesn’t represent something we can own or lose so much as something that can really transform energy.”
When we put our energy toward what is good, it grows. The opposite is also true. When we put our energy toward what is evil, it also grows. Both have the capacity to reach peak points that can really change a situation. Our collective energies matter. I think we’ve seen a pretty clear display of that in the past days.
We can see accumulating merit as setting our intention toward growing the good, and then actually following through on it. Rather than puffing us up and making us feel self-important or self-righteous, accumulating merit actually reminds us to be humble and earnest in how we live. If you’re bragging about accumulating merit, you’re doing it ALL wrong.
To put this another way, see it as doing good. Simply doing what is good. This can be small things like thanking the cashier at the grocery store to standing up for what is right, no matter the cost. It includes prayer, service, giving someone a smile, volunteering, holding back a harsh word. You don’t have to “go big” to do good. Mostly, it’s the millions of small ways we interact with ourselves and others during the day that creates good energy. We live in the space of compassion and openness, for example, and that starts showing up in all these little ways.
There isn’t any hustle culture in accumulating merit. It comes from a place of centeredness. You live from your soul. You do it because of who you are, not because of anything or anyone outside of you.
It feels both sad and serendipitous that I’m writing this a day late because yesterday I learned that a dear friend of mine, Pat, died. Pat was an absolutely badass woman. She was a teacher, a professor, a human rights lawyer. She was a fierce advocate for the good in this world. It’s heartbreaking to imagine a future without her powerful light and encouragement radiating on those of us who knew her. Pat is such a strong example of someone who accumulated merit. So kind, so wise, such a passionate advocate for people. I hope through her friendship I have somehow grown closer to the virtues she so amazingly embodied. I will miss her greatly.
To whom are you grateful today? Who embodies the kind of centered strength in doing good you’d like to emulate? How can you spread that kind of good energy today?
