“Just as a drop of water that falls into the great ocean
Will never disappear until the ocean itself runs dry,
Merit totally dedicated to enlightenment
Will never disappear until enlightenment is reached.” ཇི་ལྟར་ཆུ་ཐིགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེ་ནང་ལྷུང༌། །རྒྱ་མཚོ་མ་ཟད་བར་དུ་དེ་མི་འཛད། ། དེ་བཞིན་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཡོངས་བསྔོས་དགེ་བ་ཡང༌། །བྱང་ཆུབ་མ་ཐོབ་བར་དུ་དེ་མི་འཛད། །
Consciousness (namshé) is impermanent.
Wisdom (yeshé) is permanent. རྣམ་ཤེས་ནི་མི་རྟག་པའོ། ། ཡེ་ཤེས་ནི་རྟག་པའོ། །
–Buddha Shakyamuni, Questions of Sāgaramati Sutra (Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā Sūtra)
In two new short social media video reels (see below), I first briefly discuss the question of “merit” (sonam in Tibetan) and why it is so essential to accumulate as a Buddhist practitioner. In the second video reel, I discuss if “Buddhists pray to external beings?”. The heavily theistic/religious loaded term “pray” is commonly used (and mistranslated) in English for the Tibetan terms “solwa deb” which means more “supplication”, and “monlam” which means “aspiration”.
These two topics are different but also inter-related, because if a practitioner has not accumulated merit (as well as the other main accumulation of primordial awareness wisdom (yeshe), also considered essential) [1] they cannot and will not experience much result or progress/change on the Dharma path to full awakening.
1) A question of “merit” and why it is essential for Buddhist practice and realisations
There are many forms of merit-making described in ancient Buddhist texts. The Pāli canon identifies three bases of merit (puññakiriyā-vatthu)
- giving (dāna-maya)
- virtue/ethics (sīla-maya)
- mental development (bhāvanā-maya)
These were explained by the Buddha himself at Jetavana Monastery in Śrāvastī, the capital of the Kosala Kingdom during the 6th century BCE. Then there are the ten bases of meritorious action [2], which expands upon these initial three bases, such as rejoicing in the merit of others. This elaboration was provided by Buddhaghosa, a prominent 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. Puṇya (merit) and kuśala (wholesome) are closely related. Both pairs are used for distinguishing between ethically right and wrong. Although in the Pāḷi suttas, mental development (bhāvanā) practices such as meditation are included in the path of merit.
The most fruitful form of merit-making is those deeds done with regard to the “field of merit” as the three jewels of Buddhism, that is, the Buddha, his teachings, the Dharma, and the Sangha (noble Arya beings community). In original Buddhist societies, it is believed that merit is more sustainable/powerful than magical rites, spirit worship or worldly power. Acts of merit bring beneficial and pleasant results, whereas acts which lack merit bring negative and disagreeable results. A mixture of the two generates mixed results in a person’s life.
In brief, merit is “like a bank account” of one’s virtuous and beneficial activities of body, speech and mind. Like a video camera, the mind’s screen captures all, even if we are not even aware of our thought processes most of the time and just reacting to appearances and people. The positive aspect of that is we can also choose what we want to put in that account and invest in it. We can also “purify” things we have deposited in there with purification practices like genuine regret and Vajrasattva. So interdependence is a fundamental aspect of merit, with the inner power of the mind, being the most important feature.
Interestingly, a lack of merit does not appear in the form of obstacles, which are often a sign that a practitioner/group, is doing something on the Dharma path, but in the form of no real “blessings” in terms of genuine results, progress and transformation. That is why there are often no obstacles because not much is actually happening for the maras to try and “block”.
This is why a person could spend many months and years in “practice” on the meditation cushion/retreat, yet not have progressed in terms of reducing negative afflictions of jealousy, aversion, competitiveness, hostility, anger or excessive desire, lust and so on. There are well-known stories of yogis who spent months isolated in caves, only to get annoyed, angry and defensive the minute someone is rude, or says they are not a good practitioner, or corrupt etc. We have all experienced this in our own minds as well. Can we take and transform any criticism of ourselves and others and still generate love, compassion for such beings and even better actively wish they experience happiness and rejoice when they do?
In some forms of Mahāyāna or Vajrayāna it is believed, that merit will accrue from certain ritual actions, sometimes called the ‘power of blessed substances’ (rdzas). These are considered an addition to the traditional list and are said to help protect against calamities or other negative events caused by bad karma. There is also the idea, particularly in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism that merit can be transferred to others via dedication and other practices. So although the transfer of merit did not exist as such in early Buddhism, some scholars say early teachings did form a basis for it being developed later, in the same way as long-life practices.
Another merit-making practice is saving lives and releasing animals from captivity, as a way to make merit. Although when this is done by meat-eaters, one wonders how much merit is actually accumulated or offset by eating slaughtered animals in captivity.
“Do Buddhists pray for salvation to external beings?”
This leads to the second question of whether or not Buddhists pray to an external being for help. Generally, speaking in most Buddhist traditions, the answer to that is Buddhists do not pray to others like that. This is because Buddhism is considered a non-theistic philosophy/religion, and do not believe there is a creator of the universe and everything in it who can be supplicated for help and who decides whether one goes to heaven or hell. As Buddha himself taught:
So the Buddha cannot save beings from their negative karma or afflictions personally, and could only teach them the path to liberation from those mind states and suffering. The path is not easy and requires effort and discipline, but it is possible for those who have genuine renunciation/wish to emerge from the endless rounds of samsaric suffering.
However, in Vajrayana/Tantric Buddhist traditions, in particular, it can seem as if Buddhists are praying to deities and Buddhas as if they can help them via devotion and praises alone. People make offering and praises and chant aspirations in front of sacred Buddhist statues and paintings. On the one hand, some people do approach it as if those beings can save them from that alone, however, that would generally be considered a faulty approach. The main purpose of such activities are to generate the causes and conditions (and merit) and mind states of generosity, rejoicing, praising, love, compassion and so on, in order that they may then meet qualified teachers (or even Buddhas) and also develop such mental attitudes so that the Buddha nature mind state within, is revealed and touched until it becomes completely revealed and clear without effort.
Although such supplications can generate some positive merit, those alone are not sufficient to attain full awakening. So, for example, one can aspire to be re-born in the pure realm of Amitabha, but if the causes and conditions and lack of merit are not present, then it may be difficult if not impossible for that to actually happen. Hence why merit (and wisdom) are so important, and these cannot be achieved by prayers or praises alone. For example, someone could be doing lots of rtiuals even in a monastic or retreat situation, but if outside of those situations they still cling to things and beings as separate from oneself, inherently existent in some way and does not have genuine renunciation, bodhicitta, love and compassion, patience, generosity and so on, then no matter how many rituals or chants one does, the mindstream remains stuck in the ego-driven cycles of suffering. Even worse, such practice can then become “like nectar turned into poison” if one becomes attached to the idea, appearance etc. of being a “practitioner”, one’s practice, teacher and so on.
We can see this clearly when one considers intense attachment many experience for their religion or guru. If someone criticises their teacher, or tradition, they get instantly very angry and worse, attack, bully and harass those people or try and censor/silence them. That is a sign of a lack of genuine devotion, or love and compassion and no real progress in practice. As they say, where there is strong attachment there is strong aversion [3].
In Vajrayana, Buddhist followers also make offerings to “unseen beings” called Dharma Protectors, oath-bound to protect the teachings and Dharma practitioners. However, as we can see, if people use and manipulated those beings for worldly and political “wins” or wishes, the outcome will be the Protector becomes a protector of worldly and non-virtuous things. Dharma protectors will only protect practitioners if those people are actually practising Dharma and wishing for realisations and results in alignment with the aims of Buddha Dharma [4].
May this be of benefit in helping myself and others focus on creating merit, virtue and health in ourselves and other beings, and in practising the path of the Buddha Dharma with diligence and correct view.
Written by Adele Tomlin, 19th July 2025.
Endnotes
[1] The two accumulations ( ཚོགས་གཉིས་, tsoknyi, ) are generally the accumulations of merit and wisdom primordial awareness. In the Kālacakra Tantra tradition, there are other accumulations, for more on Kalacakra preliminaries and accumulations, see my article here on Je Tāranātha’s important Kālacakra text, Hundred Blazing Lights.
[2] Post-canonical texts and commentaries such as the Dhammasaṅganī and Atthasālinī, elaborating on the three bases of merit, state that lay devotees can make merit by performing ten deeds. Seven items are then added to the previous three:
- Giving (Dāna-maya)
- Virtue (Sīla-maya)
- Mental development (Bhāvanā-maya)
- Honoring others (Apacāyana-maya)
- Offering service (Veyyāvaca-maya)
- Dedicating (or transferring) merit to others (Pāli:Pattidāna-maya; Sanskrit: puṇyapariṇāmanā)
- Rejoicing in others’ merit (Pattānumodanā-maya)
- Listening to Buddha’s Teachings (Dhammassavana-maya)
- Instructing others in the Buddha’s Teachings (Dhammadesanā-maya)
- Straightening one’s own views in accordance with the Buddha’s Teachings (Diṭṭhujukamma)
[3] For example, this can be clearly seen in pre and post 1959-Tibet, when any critic or dissenter of the Dalai Lama/Gelug sectarian institution and power in Tibet, was targeted en masse, attacked, defamed as Chinese spies or anti-Tibet, harassed and bullied online (and even in person). One Indian scholar I know was even harassed by such people at public events and who stormed into his office. I personally have also experienced a concerted smear and defamatory campaign against me by anonymous people, who are not happy with my writing about lama sexual misconduct and Mongol-Gelugpa sectarian hegemony in Tibet since the 17th Century.
[2] The outcome of misuse of worldly beings [now banned by the 14th Dalai Lama] and violent military action in that way by Gelugpas, some argue has led to the current, and ongoing result of Tibetans, dictatorially ruled by the Mongol-Gelug-Qing dynasty alliance for three centuries, being violently kicked out and losing all forms of political and worldly power in Tibet.