16 - The role and importance of punya (merit)

• Merit is what is gained and accumulated through good and wholesome deeds.

• It transfers throughout one’s lives/rebirths.

The most meritorious deed = Offerings of robes, alms, medicines and dwelling to a monk or nun on the path to becoming an arhat.

+ 10 more meritorious deeds such as giving (Dana), Morality (Sila) and mental development (bhavana).

Importance of the Sangha:

• Actions should be performed within the Sangha in order to generate the best merit.

• The monastic Sangha act as a ‘field of merit’ - they receive the gifts of the laity + they must live by the monastic rules.

• The more spiritually advanced the monk is, the bigger their field of merit is.

Transference of merit:

• An individual can decide to give their merit away

• It is typically given to deceased relatives, gods or all sentient beings

• ‘parivarta’ = term for transferring merit

• Transference of merit to deceased relatives = alternative to mourning + is an important element of Buddhist funerals, particularly in Theravada.

‘Of all the concepts central to Buddhism, merit (punya) is one of the least known and least appreciated in the west’ - Bikkhu Bodhi