The Accumulations of Merit and Wisdom

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The Accumulations of Merit and Wisdom

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Phakchok Rinpoche talks about the accumulations of merit and wisdom, how they are defined, how they differ from each other, and how to gather them.

Citation

Phakchok Rinpoche. "The Accumulations of Merit and Wisdom." Samye Mandala, Guru Rinpoche Day Message, April 30, 2023. https://www.samyemandala.org/grd/the-accumulations-of-merit-and-wisdom/.

Dear friends near and far,

As always, I hope this message finds you well, healthy and happy. On this Guru Rinpoche day, I would like to talk about the two accumulations, how they are defined, how they differ from each other, and how to gather them.

As you all know, there are two accumulations, of merit and of wisdom. Whatever activity you engage in—whether it is practicing virtue or purifying the obscurations, whether it is by means of recitation, meditation, the six perfections, or anything else—if you do so with concepts and clinging, this virtue will go towards the accumulation of merit. On the other hand, if you engage in any of these activities without any concept or clinging whatsoever, it will go towards the accumulation of wisdom.

In order to fulfill your wishes in these six realms of samsara, you need to gather the accumulation of merit. However, if you don’t have the correct motivation, your virtuous action will only be a semblance of the accumulation of merit. If you are motivated by renunciation, it will be merit that leads to liberation. If you have genuine bodhicitta, it will be merit that leads to awakening. Finally, for your virtuous actions to become the accumulation of wisdom, they need to be devoid of all concepts and all clinging.

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Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

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Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

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Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

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Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

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Āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt आवरण  Tib སྒྲིབ་པ་  

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Bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt बोधिचित्त  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།  Ch 菩提心  

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