What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
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Ten
Meritorious and Ten Evil Actions
A fortunate or unfortunate life
depends on individual merits and demerits.
The
performance of good actions gives rise to merit (punna), a quality
which purifies and cleanses the mind. If the mind is unchecked, it has the
tendency to be ruled by evil tendencies, leading one to perform bad deeds
and getting into trouble. Merit purifies the mind of the evil tendencies
of greed, hatred and delusion. The greedy mind encourages a person to
desire, accumulate and hoard; the hating mind drags him to dislike and
anger; and the deluded mind makes one become entangled in greed and
hatred, thinking that these evil roots are right and worthy. Demeritorious
deeds give rise to more suffering and reduce the opportunities for a
person to know and practise the Dhamma.
Merit is important to help
us along our journey through life. It is connected with what are good and
beneficial to oneself and others, and can improve the quality of the mind.
While the material wealth a person gathers can be lost by theft, flood,
fire, confiscation, etc., the benefit of merits follows him from life to
life and cannot be lost, although it can be exhausted if no attempts are
made to perform more merits. A person will experience happiness here and
now ass well as hereafter through the performance of merit.
Merit is a great
facilitator: It opens the doors of opportunity everywhere. A meritorious
person will succeed in whatever venture he puts his effort into. If he
wishes to do business, he will meet with the right contacts and friends.
If he wishes to be a scholar, he will be awarded with scholarships and
supported by academic mentors. If he wishes to progress in meditation, he
will meet with a skillful meditation teacher who guides him through his
spiritual development. His dreams will be realized through the grace of
his treasury of merit. It is merit which enables a person to be reborn in
the heavens, and provides him with the right conditions and support for
his attainment of Nibbana.
There are several rich
fields of merit (recipients of the deed)which give rise to bountiful
results to the performer of the good deed. Just as some soil can yield a
better harvest (say black fertile soil compared to stony soil), a good
deed performed to some persons can give rise to more merits than to
others. The rich fields of merits include the Sangha or holy people,
mother, father and needy. Good deeds performed to these persons will
manifest in many ways and be the fountainhead of many wondrous results.
The Buddha taught ten
meritorious deeds for us to perform in order to gain a happy and peaceful
life as well as to develop knowledge and understanding. The ten
meritorious deeds are:
Charity
Morality
Mental culture
Reverence or respect
Service in helping others
Sharing merits with others
Rejoicing in the merits of others
Preaching and teaching the Dhamma
Listening to the Dhamma
Straightening one's views
The performance of
these ten meritorious deeds will not only benefit oneself, but others as
well, besides giving benefits to the recipients. Moral conduct benefits
all beings with whom one comes into contact. Mental culture brings peace
to others and inspires them to practise the Dhamma. Reverence gives rise
to harmony in society, while service improves the lives of others. Sharing
merits with others shows that one is concerned about others' welfare,
while rejoicing in others' merits encourages others to perform more
merits. Teaching and listening to the Dhamma are important factors for
happiness for both the teacher and listener, while encouraging both to
live in line with Dhamma. Straightening one's views enables a person to
show to others the beauty of Dhamma. In the Dhammapada, the Buddha
taught:
'Should a
person perform good,
He should do it again and again;
He should find pleasure therein;
For blissful is the accumulation of good.'
'Think not lightly of good, saying,
'It will not come near to me'?
Even by the falling of drops a water-jar is filled.
Likewise the wise man, gathering little by little,
Fills himself with good.'
Ten Evil
Deeds
There are ten
demeritorious deeds from which Buddhists are advised to keep away. These
deeds are rooted in greed, hatred and delusion, and will bring suffering
to others but especially to oneself in this life and later lives. When a
person understands the Law of Kamma and realizes that bad deeds bring bad
results, he will then practise Right Understanding and avoid performing
these actions.
There are three bodily
actions which are kammically unwholesome. They are: (1) Killing of living
beings, (2) Stealing, and (3) Unlawful sexual intercourse. These bodily
deeds correspond to the first three of the Five Precepts for people to
follow.
The effects of killing to
the performer of the deed are brevity of life, ill-health, constant grief
due to the separation from the loved, and living in constant fear. The bad
consequences of stealing are poverty, misery, disappointment, and a
dependent livelihood. The bad consequences of sexual misconduct are having
many enemies, always being hated, and union with undesirable wives and
husbands.
Four verbal actions are
kammically unwholesome, and they are as follows: (1) Lying, (2) Slander
and tale-bearing, (3) Harsh speech, and (4) Frivolous and meaningless
talk. Except for lying, the other unwholesome deeds performed by speech
may be viewed as extensions of the Fourth Precept.
The bad
consequences of lying to the one who performs the deed are being subject
to abusive speech and vilification, untrustworthiness, and physical
unpleasantness. The bad effect of slandering is losing one's friends
without any sufficient cause. The results of harsh speech are being
detested by others and having a harsh voice. The inevitable effects of
frivolous talk are defective bodily organs and speech which no one
believes.
The three other
demeritorious deeds are performed by the mind, and they are as follows:
(1) Covetousness, or eagerly desirous especially of things belonging to
others, (2) Ill-will, and (3) Wrong view. These three deeds correspond to
the three evil roots of greed, hatred and delusion. The non-observance of
the Fifth Precept of abstention from intoxicants can not only lead to the
performance of these three demeritorious mental actions after the mind is
intoxicated, but also the other demeritorious deeds performed by body and
speech.
The undesirable
result of covetousness is the non-fulfillment of one's wishes. The
consequences of ill-ill are ugliness, manifold diseases, and having a
detestable nature. Finally, the consequences of false view are having
gross desires, lack of wisdom, being of dull wit, having chronic diseases
and blameworthy ideas.
A person should always
perform good actions and restrain himself from doing evil actions. If,
however, a person has performed an evil action, it is necessary for him to
realize where he has done wrong and make an effort not to repeat the
mistake. This is the true meaning of repentance, and in this way only will
a person progress along the noble path to salvation.
Praying for forgiveness is
meaningless if, after the prayer is made, a person repeats the veil action
again and again. Who is there to 'wash away a person's
sins' except he himself? This has to begin with realization, the
wonderful cleansing agent. First, he realizes the nature of his deed and
the extent of the harm incurred. Next, he realizes that this deed is
unwholesome, learns from it, and makes the resolution not to repeat it.
Then, he performs many good deeds to the affected party as well as to
others, as much as possible. In this way, he overcomes the effect of bad
deed with a shower of good deeds.
No wrong does,
according to Buddhism, is beyond redemption or rehabilitation, especially
with realization and Right Effort. To be seduced into believing that a
person can 'wash away' his bad deeds through some other 'miraculous' way
is not only a mere superstition, but worse, it is also not useful
particularly to the spiritual development of the person himself. It will
only cause him to continue to remain ignorant and morally complacent. This
misplaced belief can, in fact, do a person much more harm than the effects
of the wrong deed he feared so much.
-ooOoo-
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Source: Buddhist
Study and Practice Group, http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/
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Layout: Chan Duc - Nguyen Thao
Update : 01-11-2002
