Accumulating merits

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gyamtsotrinle
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Accumulating merits

Post by gyamtsotrinle »

Hii everyone,

I would like to ask you about accumulating merits. I planning to go for long term retreat and I was said that for this one needs to have a lot of merits. What is the best ways of accumulating merits? Please, do not answer in this style "I think,,..In my opinion,..and so on,.:-)
thank you very much
P
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Paul
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by Paul »

Mandala offerings.
Look at the unfathomable spinelessness of man: all the means he's been given to stay alert he uses, in the end, to ornament his sleep. – Rene Daumal
the modern mind has become so limited and single-visioned that it has lost touch with normal perception - John Michell
DGA
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by DGA »

Mu Mut wrote:
Why do you go on retreat?
To meditate to understand the workings of your mind.
To practice non-attachment to let your natural mind control your actions, not your emotional mind.
To take spiritual action to shake yourself free,(yogic action) and experience liberation.
Are you certain this is the intention of the person going on retreat? I don't think the OP stated his or her intentions at all...
.....no accumulation of merit is necessary to achieve these things!
...according to?
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heart
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by heart »

gyamtsotrinle wrote:Hii everyone,

I would like to ask you about accumulating merits. I planning to go for long term retreat and I was said that for this one needs to have a lot of merits. What is the best ways of accumulating merits? Please, do not answer in this style "I think,,..In my opinion,..and so on,.:-)
thank you very much
P
It depends a lot on your circumstances and your understanding what the best way to accumulate merits is. There is a lot you can do in your daily life right now if you understand the principles for accumulating merits and how they are connected with the accumulation of wisdom as well as the purification practices.
About retreat you should ask a lama that you trust and explain your situation and your thoughts well to him/her.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
gyamtsotrinle
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by gyamtsotrinle »

Thank you for the answers, specially to Heart,:-)..Yes, of course I have talked with the ma Lama, but not specifcally about merits.
P
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Konchok Namgyal
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by Konchok Namgyal »

Accumulating merit comes from a plethora of different activities, taking the time to do retreat, planning a retreat, doing any sort of practice many many different things are considered " meritous ".
First and foremost, having the mindset that the retreat and all activities in it are for the benefit of all sentient beings is the very most meritous activity you can do.
Dedicating whatever merit you create is second
after that Mandala offerings, deity practice, Ngondro etc.
Your teacher or guide should be able to help you create a very beneficial retreat !
Tashi Delek !
Recognize that your mind is the unity of being empty and cognizant, suffused with knowing. When your attention is extroverted, you fall under the sway of thoughts. Let your attention recognize itself. Recognize that it is empty. That which recognizes is the cognizance. You can trust at that moment that these two – emptiness and cognizance – are an original unity. Seeing this is called self-knowing wakefulness. ~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
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heart
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by heart »

gyamtsotrinle wrote:Thank you for the answers, specially to Heart,:-)..Yes, of course I have talked with the ma Lama, but not specifcally about merits.
P
You should always ask about what is closest to your heart, not what you think the lama or other people expect you to ask. For example in the Sangha I started practice with there was a lot of pressure to request permission to do Ngondro. No matter how excellent it is to do Ngondro I have no doubt that this pressure is the reason we have so many people disliking or failing in their Ngondro practice.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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Konchog1
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by Konchog1 »

Bodhicitta
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
Dakinisa
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by Dakinisa »

This is a very interesting topic to me. I have long struggled with the idea of merit as it feel to me like "saving money on a bank" for my own benefit. The idea of accumulating merits hence has a stingy taste for me, but I see, read and experience that somehow it is very important and I really wished I would understand it. I wonder if merit is more about working on your own mind, being less attached to oneself... and the lesser you are attached the more "merit" you have, which makes you also more suitable for long term retreats?...if you know a very good explanation about merit please let me know. I would really love to understand the concept.

In terms of accumulating merit, there are the 5 to 8 branches. Like doing postulations, making offerings (mandala) , asking for teachings, asking the buddhas to remain and keep the drama wheel turning, rejoicing for the good thats done by others, etc.... there are special prayers that you can do that include all of these and are especially made in order to accumulate merit. So I would guess it could be beneficial to do these. But as in every other practice, it would be very important that you really feel that way when you do it so it really has an effect on your mind.
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Adamantine
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by Adamantine »

Making offerings to charity is always good... if not financial, then with one's own volunteered time, etc. Doing anything to benefit others, or with that ultimate intention of Bodhcitta. The vaster the intention, the less sense of self-grasping or self-satisfaction, perhaps the greater this "merit" could be.
Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
Dakinisa
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by Dakinisa »

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PadmeSamadhi
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Re: Accumulating merits

Post by PadmeSamadhi »

So you want a short answer, i can build a short one! :stirthepot:

For generating merits do Mandala offerings, but for accumulating merits you have to work the mind as a whole by doing: prostrations, using remedies against the Kleshas (mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions), generating Bodhichitta before all practices, taking refuge in the Three Jewels and offer all merits the best you can since you do not lose any merit by offering.

To generate even more merit be skilled in these:
Samadhi: anything in life can become a practice if the concentration is the right concentration;
Tantras: opening yourself for visualization will purifying wrong views during the tantras.

Remember generating Bodhichitta and taking refuge in the Three Jewels before all practices to avoid poisoning the pot which could make your practice almost meritless.
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