Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
We may ask how we create merit in our day to day life. We could do it in an
elaborate form and fly to Bodhgaya in India to light lamps. That is fine.
The two best ways of accumulating merit are guru devotion and compassion to
sentient beings. But all of these may be difficult to accomplish for people
leading busy lives in the city. There are many other simple ways.
As you drive in New York City at night you see lots of lights. If you are a
follower of the Buddha, think that they are all butter lamps and offer them.
Actually, there is not even a need to transform them into butter lamps--just
offer them as they are. It's so easy. You don't have to do anything, all you
have to do is just think. Since everything is mind, it will work.
Buddha is our mind, the offering is our mind, and merit is our mind. New York
is our mind, the city lights are our mind. Whenever we see lights, we offer
them as lamps. And even if you can't do that, if somebody else is offering
these as lamps to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and you just rejoice
thinking "that's a nice thought you have", you gain half of the
merit.
Or if you see a blanket, dedicate it to all the sentient beings that are cold
somewhere in the world. See how simple it is? We can definitely do that…
On the Mahayana path, in order for an act to qualify as merit, you do not
actually have to accomplish it in the sense of physically doing it. For
example, say you are in the Middle East. It is very hot and you are putting the
blanket away. Now you can think that since you don't need this blanket and many
people somewhere in Tibet must be very cold, you dedicate this to them. You
don't have to actually send the blanket. If you can do it, that is good--but
not necessarily better.
The wish in itself has merit. This is the view, this is what we accept as a
Buddhist.
Anything can be used for accumulating merit. If I have awareness, I can drink a
cup of water so that I can get some energy, so that I can talk more (Dharma).
If I think like that, I can accumulate some merit.
So drinking water will not become a usual mundane act of selfishness. It will
become an act of accumulating merit. In fact accumulating merit and doing good
deeds are much easier than doing bad deeds.
Accumulating bad deeds is very difficult. You have to shed lots of blood. You
have to suffer. You have to go through many difficulties. Doing good
deeds is much easier.
