How can we create merit?
Merit (Buddhism)
Merit (Sanskrit puṇya, Pāli puñña) is a concept in Buddhism
We can sponsor the printing of the Prajnaparamita,Sanghata ,Diamond Sutra
We can offer food to animals and the poor people
We can eat a vegetarian meal
We can turn a prayer wheel
We can circle a holy site or stupa three five or seven times
We sponsor a Buddha or Bodhisattva image
We can build a Temple or Stupa
We can save the life of beings
We can offer vegetarian food to monks
We can recite the sutra
We can recite the names of The Buddha's and Bodhisattva's
We can translate Sutra's because the merit of translating Sutra's is inconceivable
We can make light offerings to the images of Buddha's and Bodhisattva's
We can bathe the image of the Buddha
We can practise dharma meditation
We can take the five precepts and keep them purely
We can take the Bodhisattva precepts and keep them purely
We can make offerings ( candle,incense,flowers,fruit,cloth ect.)
before Buddha's and Bodhisattva's
image or before the Stupa or in the Holy places connected
with the great deeds of Sakyamuni Buddha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merit_(Buddhism)
Teachings of merit in the sutra's:
Chapter X
The Conditions and Comparative Merit and Virtue of Giving Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra
At that time the Buddha told Earth Store Bodhisattva, “Here in this assembly in the
palace of the Trayastrimsha Heaven, I will now discuss the comparative merit and
virtue derived from acts of giving done by the beings in Jambudvipa.
Listen attentively to what I say.”
“Moreover, Earth Store, in the future, the leaders of nations, Brahmans, and
others may encounter Buddhist stupas, monasteries, or images of Buddhas,
Bodhisattva's, Hearers, or Pratyeka-Buddha's, and personally make offerings or
give gifts to them.
“Moreover, Earth Store, in the future, leaders of nations, Brahmans, and others may,
upon encountering ancient Buddhist stupas and monasteries or sutras and images that are
damaged, decaying, or broken, resolve to restore them.
If they resolve to dedicate that merit before the stupas or monasteries, then,
based on that limitless and unbounded reward, those leaders, good people, and
their helpers will all eventually complete the path to Buddha hood.
“Moreover, Earth Store, in the future, leaders of nations, Brahmans, and others
may have compassionate thoughts upon seeing the old, the sick, or women in childbirth,
and may provide them with medicinal herbs, food, drink, and bedding so as to make them
peaceful and comfortable.
“Moreover, Earth Store, in the future, if good men or women manage to plant only a
few good roots within the Buddhadharma, equivalent to no more than a strand of hair,
a grain of sand, or a mote of dust, they will receive incomparable blessings and benefits.
“Moreover, Earth Store, in the future, good men or women, upon encountering images of
Buddhas, Bodhisattva's, Pratyekabuddhas, or Wheel-Turning Kings, may give gifts or make
offerings to them.
“Moreover, Earth Store, in the future, good men or women, upon encountering new
Buddhist stupas, monasteries, or sutras of the Great Vehicle, may give gifts and
make offerings to them, gaze at them in worship, and respectfully make praises
with joined palms. Upon encountering old stupas, monasteries, or sutras, or those
that have been destroyed or damaged, they may either do the repairing and rebuilding
themselves or encourage others to help them.
“Moreover, earth store, in the future, good men or women may plant good roots in the
buddhadharma by giving, making offerings, repairing stupas or monasteries,
rebinding sutras, or doing other good deeds amounting to no more than a strand of hair,
a mote of dust, a grain of sand, or a drop of water. Merely by transferring the merit
from such deeds to the dharma realm, the merit and virtue that those people will create
will cause them to enjoy superior and wonderful bliss for hundreds of thousands of lives.
But if they dedicate the merit only to their immediate or extended families or to their
own personal benefit, then the rewards received will be only three lives of happiness.
By giving up one, a ten-thousandfold reward is obtained. So it is, earth store.
The circumstances involved in the causes and conditions of giving are thus.”
The Benefits of Making Light Offerings
It is said in the Ten Wheel Sutra of the Essence of Earth (Kshitigarbha):
"All comfort, happiness and peace in this world are received by making offerings
to the Rare Sublime Ones (the Triple Gem), therefore those who like to have comfort,
happiness and peace always attempt to make offerings to the Rare Sublime Ones."
Those Deva's or humans who accumulate the merit of making one light offering,
or just a handful of flowers, will see the fully enlightened Buddha Maitreya.
It is said in the Sutra of Arya Maitreya: "Those who offer 1,000 lights, or
1,000 blue utpali flowers, or who make the pinnacle of a stupa, who make the holy form,
will be reborn when Maitreya Buddha shows the deed of gaining enlightenment and receive
his first Dharma Teaching." It is also said that even those who offer one flower,
or who rejoice at the merit of others who offer, will achieve this Buddha hood.
This means that even if one doesn't get enlightened during Shakyamuni's teaching,
then during Maitreya Buddha's teaching one's mind will get ripened and liberated.
Flower Adornment Sutra
The Merit and Virtue from First Bringing forth the Mind,
Chapter Seventeen.
Uses various analogies to describe the merit obtained by the Bodhisattva
when he first resolves his mind on becoming enlightened.
The Sutra On The Merit Of Bathing The Buddha
At one time the Blessed One was in Rajagriha, on Eagles Peak, together with one thousand, two hundred and fifty monks. There were also an immeasurable, unlimited multitude of Bodhisattva's and the eight classes of gods, nagas and so forth, who were all assembled. At that time, the Pure Wisdom Bodhisattva was seated in the midst of this assembly. Because he aspired to extend compassion toward all sentient beings, he thought: "by what means do the Buddhas, Tathágatas, obtain the pure body, furnished with the marks of the great person?" Again he thought: "all classes of living beings are able to meet the Tathágata and approach him with offerings. The blessings that are obtained are without measure or limit. I do not yet know, however, what offerings living beings will make or what merit they will cultivate after the death of the Tathágata so as to bring about those roots of good merit that quickly lead to final, supreme enlightenment." After thinking this, he then arose from his seat and bared his right shoulder, having bowed his head at the feet of the Buddha; he knelt upright, with palms in salutation and spoke to the Buddha, saying, "World Honored One, I wish to ask questions and hope that you deign to acknowledge them." The Buddha said, "Noble son, I will teach according to what you ask."
At that time, the Pure Wisdom Bodhisattva said to the Buddha: "World Honored One, being fortunate to receive the compassion and pity of the Great Teacher (the Buddha), we shall teach the method of bathing the image. I will now convert kings, ministers, and all those of good faith, cheer, or merit. Every day I will bathe the noble image to procure great blessings. I pledge to always receive and carry out with pleasure "The Sutra On The Merit Of Bathing The Buddha."
The Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter 40
Part 1: Universal Worthy's Ten Great Vows
"Those wishing to attain such merit and virtue should make and carry out ten Great and Profound Vows. What are they?
1. To pay homage to and respect all Buddhas.
2. To praise the Thus Come Ones.
3. To make abundant offerings.
4. To repent of and overcome karmic obstacles.
5. To rejoice in all merits and virtues.
6. To request the the turning of the Dharma wheel.
7. To request that the Buddhas remain in the world.
8. To study always with the Buddhas.
9. To be in harmony with living beings always.
10. To transfer all merit and virtue.
The 1st Paramita, giving = the sixth realisation