Key Terms/Puṇya
From Bodhicitta
पुण्य puṇya
merit
བསོད་ནམས་
bsod nams
福,功德
fú,\ gōngdé
Sanskrit - Noun
1·Discover
Basic Meaning
positive potential that is created by performing virtuous actions and results in happy results and experiences
2·Explore
Has the sense of
planting a field of positive potential by engaging in constructive actions of body, speech, and mind, that result in positive experiences that support our mental development and help us to follow the path to enlightenment
3·Study
Study details
- Abhidharma (Indo-Tibetan): In the Abhidharma systems, puṇya (T. bsod nams) is fundamentally linked to wholesome mental factors (kuśalacaitasika). It is defined as the virtuous force generated by wholesome actions of body, speech, and mind that results in pleasant maturation (vipāka) or happiness (sukha). The accumulation of merit is often categorized into three types of activity:
- Generosity (dāna
,T. sbyin pa): The practice of giving material goods, protection, or the Dharma.
- Ethical Discipline (śīla,T. tshul khrims): Adhering to vows and refraining from non-virtuous conduct.
- Meditative Cultivation (bhāvanā,T. bsgom pa): Developing focused concentration and wholesome states of mind.
- In this context, merit is seen as the primary cause for fortunate rebirths among humans and gods (sugati), acting as a stabilizing force that protects the practitioner from the lower realms.
- Mahāyāna (Indo-Tibetan): In the Mahāyāna tradition, merit is elevated from a means for favorable rebirth to a crucial component of the path to perfect buddhahood. It is formalized as the "collection of merit" (puṇyasaṃbhāra,T. bsod nams kyi tshogs), which must be amassed alongside the "collection of wisdom" (jñānasaṃbhāra,T. ye shes kyi tshogs).
- The collection of merit primarily serves as the substantial cause for the attainment of a buddha's form bodies (rūpakāya), which include the saṃbhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya.
- Crucially, the Mahāyāna emphasizes the dedication of merit (pariṇāmanā,T. bsngo ba). By dedicating one's accumulated merit to the enlightenment of all sentient beings, the merit is said to become inexhaustible, like a drop of water added to the ocean.
- The term is also associated with puṇyakṣetra (T. bsod nams kྱི་ཞིང་), the "field of merit," referring to the objects of refuge (the Three Jewels) and the assembly of noble beings to whom offerings and prostrations are made to generate vast positive potential.
- Vajrayāna (Indo-Tibetan): Within the Vajrayāna, the accumulation of merit is intensified through skillful means (upāya). Ritual activities, such as mandala offerings, guru yoga, and deity visualization, are considered highly efficient methods for amassing the collection of merit necessary to support the swift realization of wisdom. The union of merit and wisdom is often symbolized by the indivisible union of method (upāya) and insight (prajñā).
- Theravāda/Pāli Tradition Context: In the Pāli tradition, puñña refers to the fruit of good actions that cleanses and purifies the mind. It is developed through the ten bases of meritorious action (puññakiriyavatthu), which include giving, virtue, meditation, reverence, service, sharing merit, rejoicing in others' merit, hearing the Dharma, teaching the Dharma, and straightening one's views. Accumulating merit is viewed as a prerequisite for spiritual maturity and eventual liberation (nibbāna).
In other languages
Tibetan
བསོད་ནམས་
bsod nams
sönam
Sanskrit
पुण्य
puṇya
Chinese
福, 功德
fú, gōngdé
Japanese
fuku, kudoku
Korean
bok, gongdeok
How translators render it
meritBuddha-nature Standard
In the dictionaries
Tshig mdzod chen mo
༡) རྣམ་དཀར་གྱི་ལས། བསོད་ནམས་ཉམས་པ། བསོད་ནམས་བསགས་པ། མིང་གི་རྣམ་གྲངས་ལ་སྐལ་བ་བཟང་དང་ཁྱུ་མཆོག་མཁར་རྗེ། དགེ་བའི་ཆོ་ག། དགེ་ལེགས། ཆོས། ཉམས་དགའ་བ། དམ་པ། སྡིག་ཟད། ལེགས་བྱས་བཅས་སོ། ༢) ཞི་གཟའ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་མིང་གི་རྣམ་གྲངས། ཁྱིམ་བཅུ་གཉིས་ཀུན་ལ་བསོད་ནམས་ཤིན་ཏུ་དགེ།
Dung dkar tshig mdzod chen mo
དགེ་བ་བསགས་པའི་ལེགས་བྱས་དང་ནུས་པ་ལ་ཟེར།
Term type
Noun
Source language
Sanskrit
Topic
puṇya
Alternate spellings
bsod nams, merit, virtue, puṇyasaṃbhāra
