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MERIT
A summary from a Dhamma talk about merit given by Achan Chaiyawat Kapilakan at the Buddhist
Study Foundation, Wat Burana-Siriwatayaram, Bangkok, Thailand.

PREFACE
We Buddhists are likely to speak to each other about the word “merit.” But just how
many people are there who can understand this word accurately according to what is said
in the scriptures? Because we don’t understand what merit is, we depart from genuine
meritoriousness. This causes us to practice those things which are not merit assuming that
they are, and fail to practice those things which are truly meritorious under the
assumption that they aren’t. As expected, we will miss the benefits that ought to be
obtained from merit. People who rely on the Dispensation as a façade are seeking the
gains of worship for their own personal benefit. On account of people’s ignorance about
the subject of merit they take advantage of the situation—by cheating them they mislead
them into believing. They do this with the purpose of getting such profits for themselves
without taking into account the damage they are doing to the religion. Therefore, with the
purpose of preventing the continuation of this pattern, or to somehow lessen it, I should
like to offer a writing about merit for everyone to read and become aware of what merit
is, what the scriptures say merit is.
With sincere good wishes,
Chaiyawat Kapilakan
Chairman of Prani Samreungrat Foundation

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MERIT
(p u ñ ñ a ) 1

Those who believe in kamma, and in the result of kamma2 —that good kamma has a result which
reciprocates as good, namely, well-being for the doer himself; and that bad kamma has a result which
reciprocates as bad, namely, suffering and distress for the doer himself—they must, as a rule, be people who
avoid doing bad kamma and who exert themselves in doing good kamma. Good kamma itself is merit.
Therefore, those who have faith or confidence (saddhā), together with right understanding of good and bad
kamma, will naturally be familiar with doing those things which are meritorious.
Misunderstanding about merit in relation to kamma
Those who haven’t studied or paid attention to the subject of merit (puñña) have a crossed
[mis]understanding about merit. The word merit is understood for one thing and the word kamma (karma) for
another thing. They understand that doing bad is called “kamma” and doing good is called “merit.” So usually
they say it as a pair, “merit-&-kamma”,3 or they say, “it’s up to merit-&-kamma”, etc. In this way people
misunderstand that merit is the good side and kamma the bad side—no doubt the misunderstanding is
increasing. When the terms are spoken separately, that is, when speaking about kamma alone, they’ll most
likely talk about the bad side: “that person has done a lot of kamma (karma), now he’ll reap a lot of trouble
because kamma responds accordingly”; but when they speak about what has given this or that person happiness
and well-being they’ll only speak about merit: “he’s someone with a lot of merit, isn’t he?” This clearly shows
us how even names and words [concepts: conventional reality] are misunderstood. The nature of merit is
opposite to evil (pāpa), not opposite to kamma. “Kamma”, i.e. “doing”, is a neutral word; it can be either good
or bad. Doing good is that which gives as a result well-being; and it can either be called “good-kamma” or
“merit”, or in Pali “kusala-kamma.”4 Doing bad is that which gives suffering as a result; and it can either be
called “bad-kamma” or “evil”, or in Pali “akusala-kamma.”5 Thus merit is good kamma and evil is bad kamma.
Misunderstanding about merit in relation to dāna (giving or generosity)6
People still hold a further misunderstanding about merit. When they give to those worthy of respect and
veneration, like father and mother, teachers or monks, they call it merit. But if they give to people in general,
people not worthy of respect, veneration or praise—like a beggar, etc.—they call it “dāna.” This shows that
merit is understood as one thing and dāna as another thing. We can see that Thai people, who profess
Buddhism, though they desire to do merit and avoid evil, however, they are not aware of all that which ought to
be known about merit and evil. When, for example, they say, “Don’t think only about doing merit, please also
think about doing dāna, there are still great many paupers and underprivileged people in need of assistance”,
this shows how they understand dāna and merit as different things, and also dāna as inferior to merit.
In the Buddhist scriptures it is said that there are ten kinds of meritorious deeds—dāna is one of them.
For this reason dāna cannot be separated from merit; dāna is just one class of merit among the 10 kinds. There
are actually more classes of merit: virtue (sīla) and mental development (bhāvanā). It is therefore impossible
to separate merit and dāna as two different things stating that if one gives to a beggar it’s called giving dāna
and if one offers to a monk it’s called doing merit.
So apart from not knowing the meaning of merit and dāna, there is yet another point which is misunderstood:
that merit is only about giving. That if one has nothing to give, in particular to a monk, it isn’t merit. I don’t
know where this kind of misunderstanding comes from; it looks like it might come from the monks because

1
merit: Pali form: “puñña”, Thai form: “bun.” Pali is the language in which the Buddha’s early Teaching is exposed.
2
kamma: action, deed; doing. Sanskrit form: karma. Means volitional action by body, speech or mind, having an inherent
tendency to bear fruit in accordance with the kind of action done. Note that kamma means action, not the result of action
(vipāka), as when people say, “It’s my karma.” This reduces the teaching of kamma to mere fatalism. Kamma (will,
volition, intention) is a mental phenomenon and thus it can be accumulated. People accumulate different defilements
(kilesas) and different kammas. Different accumulations of kamma are the condition for the different results in life. This is
the law of kamma and vipāka, of ethical causality or cause and effect. Some Upanishads—post-Vedic speculative texts,
expressed causality as a morally neutral, purely physical process of evolution. Others stated that moral laws were intrinsic
to the nature of causality, rather than being mere social conventions, and that the morality of an action determined how it
affected one’s future course in the round of rebirth. Whether these last texts were composed before or after the Buddha
taught this view, though, no one knows.
3
Similar to when one says “good & evil.”
4
kusala means wholesome, skillful, good, right, meritorious; kammically wholesome or profitable, conducing to well-
being. Why “skillful”? Because it deals skillfully with the law of kamma and it’s the smart thing to do. So kusala-kamma
is usually referred to in English as wholesome or skillful action; other times as right conduct.
5
The Pali term akusala-kamma is usually referred in English as unwholesome or unskilful action.
6
dāna: gift; giving; generosity; almsgiving; offering; charity; liberality; donation; benefaction.

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they are prone to teach in this way. When they teach the lay people about doing merit they more often suggest
donating and acts of charity. They don’t usually address performing any of the other aspects of merit—for
example, keeping the precepts (sīla): not killing living beings, not stealing, etc. There’s only a demand for
donations and charity. They state that this is actually the way to do merit; which means they teach incorrectly,
and consequently the listeners will likewise carry on knowing incorrectly if they observe and believe what they
are told. The truth is that when one gives to monks, beggars or whoever, it’s all dāna. When it is giving, it is
dāna, one kind of merit within the ten kinds of merit.
For dāna to be dāna it does not always have to rely on material/tangible things. This is something that is not
yet accurately understood, and which even those in the know rarely speak about. This misunderstanding is not
particular to ordinary people, even people who study Dhamma or learn Abhidhamma say that if one does not
have some[material]thing to give one can still do merit –but of course what they mean is another type of merit.
To exclude dāna in this way is to make a mistake. The truth is that although one may have not even a single
cent or anything at all to give, even if one is poverty stricken, one still can perform dāna—which sometimes is
even better than the dāna performed by a wealthy person (this will be explained later on).
The ten kinds of merit
Due to the fact that there is still a great degree of misunderstanding and confusion regarding merit, I ask for
the opportunity to explain my research in the Buddhist scriptures. There are ten kinds of merit:
1. dāna: generosity – giving as well as sharing
2. sīla: virtue or moral conduct – not to break the precepts, i.e. to restrain one’s bodily and verbal actions
3. bhāvanā: mental development either through calm (samatha-bhāvanā) or insight (vipassanā-bhāvanā)
4. apacāyana: to respect and honour, revere, those who are worthy of it
5. veyyāvacca: to be energetic in doing the duties that ought to be done
6. pattidāna: to dedicate to others the merit one has done
7. pattānumodanā: i.e. anumodanā, to rejoice in the merit others have done
8. dhammassavana: to listen to the Dhamma, The Lord Buddha’s Teaching
9. dhammadesanā: to teach the Dhamma
10.diṭṭhujukamma: it translates as “the straightening of one’s views.” This is only an expression; it actually
means “sammā-diṭṭhi”, namely, right view. In some places this term is used instead.
We can see there are a lot of different kinds of merit -including dāna. When it is merit, as a rule, it must be
among these, the ten puñña-kiriya-vatthu7 —there’s no other kind of merit apart from these ten kinds.
The meaning of the word “merit”
The word “merit” is translated from the Pali term “puñña” which comes from the verbal roots “pu” and
“pur.” “Pu” translates as “to cleanse”: attasanntām punāti sotetīti puññam—“it’s termed merit (puñña)
because it has the meaning of ‘to cleanse’.” Here “to cleanse” means to make something pure, to make one’s
“continuity”8 pure, clean from the impurities that defile it, namely, lust (rāga), hate (dosa) and delusion (moha).
Impurity means corrosion, that which defiles or soils. “Continuity (santāna)” here means one’s continuity of
consciousness. The various meritorious deeds that are performed—such as dāna, etc.—will cleanse the doer’s
continuity of consciousness to make it pure. As to what the continuity of consciousness is cleansed from, that
will depend on the kind of merit that is performed. Not just any kind of merit will cause the continuity of
consciousness to become pure from lust, hate and delusion [that is to say, different kinds of merit reach
different levels of defilement].9 As to the second verbal root, “Pur”, this one has the meaning of “complete”, i.e.

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puñña-kiriya-vatthu: “the ten kinds of merit that ought to be performed because they are the basis of innumerable
advantages (ānisamsa).”
8
santāna: continuity (of consciousness). In everyday Thai language, the word “sandan” (Pali form: santāna) is understood
as meaning “inborn characteristics, trait, instincts.”
9
There are 3 levels of defilement (kilesa): 1. Vītikkama-kilesa is the coarse defilement, causing one to break sīla (the
precepts) and perform wrong or evil action physically or verbally. 2. Pariyutthāna-kilesa is the medium kind of defilement
that arises with unwholesome consciousness but not to the point of breaking sīla and performing evil action. To refrain
momentarily from this medium kind of defilement is done by absorption consciousness (jhāna). 3. Anusaya-kilesa (latent
disposition, underlying tendency) is a very fine defilement. When defilement has not been eradicated, the anusaya-kilesa
would settle like sediment in the consciousnesses, like a seed, a condition for medium kind of defilement to arise.
"Just as a tree with firm roots undestroyed, though its branches or leaves are cut down springs up again, even so while the latent
craving is not rooted out this misery springs up again and again"
As there are three levels of defilement, there are three stages to object and cast off the defilements. The first level, similar to
branches or leaves, can only be suppressed and dispelled by virtue (sīla); the second level, which is like the trunk, by
concentration (samatha-bhāvanā); and the third level, the roots, by insight (vipassanā-bhāvanā), when the characteristics of
nibbāna are experienced all defilements are completely eradicated—never to arise again.

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it is called “puñña” meaning that “it is something that should be completed” or “if there’s none of it yet, then
one should make it happen; if there’s only a little, not yet complete, one must make it complete, and also
plentiful.”
So this is what is called “merit” (puñña), and it’s a way to measure in the first place whether what we are
doing ought to be called “merit” or not. It’s not that one chooses one meaning or the other, if it is merit it has
both: (1) a means to cleanse the continuity of consciousness to make it pure, and (2) something that ought to be
brought to completeness, and also plentifulness.
Necessary principles that determine merit:
- Giving because one wants something in return, is it merit or not?
When doing something good—it can be dāna (generosity), sīla (morality; keeping the precepts), or bhāvanā
(mental development)—does such deed present the characteristics of cleansing the continuity of consciousness
to make it pure or not? If it does, it’s merit. If it doesn’t, it isn’t merit. If such deed, for example, dāna, is
already associated with wanting (first one wants) and then one gives—one wishes to get an immediate result at
that moment, like reputation, honour, words of praise, etc.—the cleansing of one’s continuity of consciousness
to make it pure cannot take place.
Desire to get (a result) means that lust or greed (rāga or lobha) is already present. Therefore, even though
one gives to a monk or donates to a monastery, if one does it with desire for the thing that is to be exchanged, I
cannot see in which way this can be merit. From the beginning the intention to give up something did not arise
in any way. Only when there is something tempting to be obtained, one gives. For example, a monastery
solicits contributions; it wants money to do something accordingly. To persuade you they give you a reverential
Buddhist object in return (an incentive premium). But this contains some tempting and enticing features. They
tell you that if you do the merit with this amount of money, you’ll get a religious medallion with this and that
characteristics and with this and that kinds of combined metals or stones; but if you do it with more money then
the article in reciprocation will be nicer, and so on. They also include an advertisement of the properties of the
object(s) they’ll give you back in reciprocation to stimulate your desire to get the object. Once you have desire
to get, then you donate the money. Where is the merit in all this? Some people say they do merit for the next
life, because they believe in kamma and they believe in the fruit of kamma. Here the important point is to know
that which one needs to do in order to reach a good condition (sugati-bhūmi: a favourable destination) in the
next life. However, in the case abovementioned, the main point is greed (lobha) that has put itself forward. So
in any event this isn’t merit, because if one doesn’t get (the tempting object) one doesn’t give, and if one does
get it then one gives.
Let’s not forget that the word “merit (puñña)” means that which has the nature of cleansing the continuity of
consciousness to make it pure; however, in this case defilement, i.e. greed, had already arisen. It can happen
that one may have had a pure intention at the beginning, before actually performing the act of giving, but once
the advertising soliciting money was heard, greed was provoked, and thus one did it with desire to get the
object in return. What was pure at the beginning became defiled later on. It can clearly be seen that the
heart/mind was not clean at the time of giving, lust—desire, wishing for something—had taken place, which we
know as a characteristic of that one kind of unwholesomeness (akusala) which The Lord Buddha termed as
“taṇhā” (craving). This explains how no merit took place at the time of giving; nevertheless, people understand
this as being merit. This confirms the existing ignorance about the subject of merit.
- Giving because one wants merit in return, is it merit or not?
Supposing one does not want an object in return at all, one only wants merit, is such act of giving to be
regarded as merit or not? For example, one listens to a monk’s sermon teaching that merit is a good thing that
one should get, that one should wish for. So one gives donations because one wants this merit the monk praises
so much. Although one gives or donates in this way it cannot be counted as merit. Why isn’t it regarded as
merit even though it actually consists of giving? One should know that although one gives because one wants
only merit, such an act is actually not merit, simply because of the occurrence of the desire to get merit. We can
clearly see there’s desire for remuneration; there’s a blemish involved, i.e. the desire to get.
Most people misunderstand that “merit” is something splendid one ought to get, that the action itself (giving,
keeping the precepts, etc.) is not merit yet, but it’s just the cause that will bring about that good and splendid
thing called “merit.” Again, the fact is that giving itself is already merit. Buddhism classifies merit into ten
kinds, consisting of dāna, sīla, etc. Dāna is giving, and just as it arises it’s already merit. But they
misunderstand that giving is not yet merit but a means to get merit. Thus they see merit as a gain (a result:
phala) worthy of being obtained; this is how the action becomes defiled, impure. Nowadays this is all there is:
Greedy donors craving remuneration they call “merit”, and greedy people soliciting contributions craving to get
a lot of money. This means that the continuity of consciousness of both parties [donors and donees] is not pure
at all. Every time contributions are solicited they breed a kind of action which cannot be considered merit, but
which is actually unwholesomeness (akusala), i.e. greed has arisen. This is really how it is.

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The scriptures speak about merit surrounded by defilement (kilesa). Regarding dāna, they make a division of
three periods of time: (1) the time before giving, (2) the time of giving, and (3) the time after giving. It’s merit
surrounded by defilement when one has a pure intention only at the time of giving, but not before and after. At
the moment of preparing the different foods one is to offer to the donee, there’s only desire to get the things in
remuneration (the diverse auspicious objects, words of praise, going to heaven—or even merit). After giving
one is but overjoyed with the auspicious objects that one got (the words of praise one hears, or the fact that one
is going to heaven, etc.). The pure intention, that is, just to aim at giving support to the donee without paying
any attention to obtaining objects of remuneration, happens only at the time one is handing over the donation or
charity, at the time of giving or offering in the hands of the donee. The defilement is the very wanting to get the
objects of remuneration. So here the natural condition that is characterized as “merit” happens only in one of
the three periods of time, specifically at the time of giving, which is surrounded by the defilement that arose
before and after giving. This kind of merit has not much subsequent result or advantage (ānisamsa)10; it will not
flourish. But as far as one sees, it appears that for the most part even at the time of giving there is obvious
desire—they are trembling with joy thinking of the auspicious object that they are going to get, or if not, they
are overjoyed with the words of praise of the donee. When this is the case, it means there’s no meritoriousness
happening in any of the three occasions whatsoever.
Misunderstanding merit is dangerous
People who [mis]understand that doing good will generate merit, that merit is separate from the action itself,
are at further risk. When a religious person tells them that killing beings gives merit, they will not hesitate to
believe him and thus they will kill. When they have been taught for a long time that killing living beings gives
merit, that is, that one gets desirable magical and life-auspicious things in remuneration, they will kill because
they want merit. Even nowadays in other religious ideologies they still teach that animal sacrifices are merit or
bring merit. If they have this kind of understanding, it means they are people hopelessly obscured in regards to
merit. They are not aware that having a compassionate heart (karuṇā), having a heart of love-and-kindness
(mettā) towards the life of living beings, having a mind in which the thought of harming living beings does not
arise, is in itself merit already. The things one gets from these actions—happiness, well-being, a favourable
destination and heaven—are the result of merit. Hence the misunderstanding that killing living beings gives
merit is wrong view (miccha-diṭṭhi);11 it only leads to trouble (dukkha) and distress.
The Ten Kinds of Merit
1. Dāna — Giving/Generosity.
Dāna proceeds by the power of two causes: (1) A heart/mind with the thought of veneration (pūjā):
When giving to those people above us who have guṇa,12 like our father and mother, teachers or the community
of monks (bikkhu-saṅgha), etc., in the appropriate occasions, dāna is carried out because the mind is thinking
of veneration (pūjā), in other words, veneration to the goodness they posses, it is called accomplishing dāna
with veneration. (2) A heart/mind with the thought of compassion (karuṇā): When one sees the suffering in
other people and as a result compassion—pity, sympathy—arises, and one desires to help to relieve their
suffering by giving and sharing utilities, food, wealth or money, it is called accomplishing dāna with
compassion.
Some discourses (suttas) mention that even love-and-kindness (mettā) can cause people to be energetic
about performing dāna as well, that is, once an affectionate mind arises wishing to extend the benefits of
happiness to others one gives dāna.
At the time of giving dāna, the merit is not the thing one is going to get, but it is the cause that makes one
give, that is, a heart/mind which is thinking of veneration (for veneration-based dāna), or a

10
ānisamsa: subsequent result; “result that pours forth.” Kamma is action, and vipāka, fruit or consequence, is its reaction.
Kamma is like potential seed: vipāka could be likened to the fruit arising from such seed. As kamma may be good or bad,
so may vipāka be good or bad. It is experienced as happiness, bliss, unhappiness or misery, according to the nature of the
kamma seed. Ānisamsa are the subsequent results, the concomitant advantages or disadvantages – like material things
such as prosperity, health and longevity, or poverty, ugliness, disease, short life-span and so forth. Ānisamsa is the “result
that pours forth” from vipāka: for example, birth is vipāka (a fruit of kamma), aging, sickness and death are the result that
pours forth from birth; seeing is vipāka, the reaction to such seeing, which could be a greed or anger, is the subsequent
result. There are five kinds of ānisamsa which accrue to the virtuous: great wealth, good report, self-confidence, untroubled
death and a favourable state after death.
11
diṭṭhi: distorted view or opinion about what is real. Its characteristic is unwise (unjustified) interpretation of things. Its
function is to preassume. It is manifested as a wrong interpretation or belief. Its proximate cause is unwillingness to see the
nobles ones (since seeing the noble ones (ariya) leads to hearing the true Dhamma, which can prevent wrong view from
getting a grip on the mind), and so on. Diṭṭhi actually only means “view”, but it mostly refers to wrong view (micchā-
diṭṭhi), and only in a few instances to right view: sammā-diṭṭhi, of which there’s only one.
12
guṇa-dhamma: good inner qualities like goodness, virtue, “(to have) Dhamma”, etc.; upakāra-guṇa: depositories of
gratitude, like our parents, teachers, etc.

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compassionate sympathetic heart (for compassion-based dāna). It doesn’t matter whether one knows if it’s
merit or not, but if giving arises from any of these two causes it means merit has taken place.
So when one offers to someone who has guṇa (good inner qualities) or to someone who has suffering, merit
is either the thought of veneration or the thought of compassion, which are both associated with the intention of
giving up or sacrificing (something).13 Although it is said that the intention (cetanā) of giving up is called
“dāna”, it has to be accompanied by the thought of either veneration or compassion, only then may it be
considered dāna. If one gives up with any other kind of intention—for example, because one wants to be the
donee’s favorite—it isn’t dāna. When it isn’t dāna, it isn’t merit.
Dāna that doesn’t have to depend on material things
Some kinds of dāna are not dependent on material things. For example, giving knowledge that is beneficial
to others (Dhamma-dāna). Or refraining to take away the life of a person who has behaved wrongly and is in a
position where he can be punished by taking away his life, as a result of compassion arising when considering
the suffering affecting his family due to his death; this is called “abhaya-dāna” (amnesty).
A clear example of this is the opportunity that the King often has to perform amnesty. This occurs when
someone is found guilty of a serious offence and is sentenced to the death penalty, and his relatives or anyone
else makes an appeal to His Majesty to consider suspension of the punishment. As the King deems it to be
appropriate he will suspend the death penalty, thus allowing the convict to escape death.
There are still other kinds of giving that don’t depend on material things, such as offering one’s labour,
which are also regarded as dāna.
Merit does not increase with the amount of money or things that one gives
Whether the act of dāna is more meritorious or less meritorious does not depend on the amount of money or
the quantity of things that one sacrifices. One can give a lot and get little merit, or one can give a little and get a
lot of merit. There’s an analogy in some Dhamma text where a very rich man—whose wealth was as great as
many ten hundred thousands (koti)—wanted to do merit by offering food to the monks’ community (bikkhu-
saṅgha). He felt that doing it himself would involve a lot of effort: he would have to get up early in the
morning to get all the dishes ready for the meal, and so on. So he put it all under the care of a servant. He had
his servant replace him in everything, including the preparation of the food and sweets. When they left this
world, the wealthy man entered a lower heaven; however, the servant entered a higher heaven as a result of his
complete enthusiasm and devotion up to the top, in spite of not having spent any money at all. This points to
the fact that [the quality of] the heart/mind at the time of giving is more important than the object [that is given].
The fact that the wealthy man didn’t want to take the trouble to do it himself, though he had the intention of
doing merit, shows that his faith and eagerness were not very powerful. The merit of these two people thus
brought heavenly results of a different sort.
Therefore, getting much or little merit is not at all a matter of the amount of money [one spends]. There was
one person who couldn’t perform merit because he didn’t have the opportunity or the money to do it. But when
he saw someone else doing it, a mind abounding with anumodanā 14 arose; this other person had just offered
food and sweets in the alms bowl of a monk who was an Arahant. So he recalled the anumodanā and also
rejoiced in the other person’s opportunity to give by placing food in an Arahant’s alms bowl. The power of this
merit was stronger than that of the person who actually placed the food in the alms bowl who saw the monk as
merely a common monk no different from the others.
Giving for the purpose of eliminating stinginess
Seeing the danger of stinginess and thinking of giving dāna in order to eliminate stinginess is something The
Lord Buddha particularly praised very much. Supposing a monk goes out on his alms round, and his alms bowl
gets full, but people still want to offer more—this is called craving to get merit; it’s not getting rid of stinginess.
If one actually wants to get rid of stinginess one should donate to people who are really in need because then
the feeling of sacrifice or giving up will be genuine, seeing that if there’s no one willing to give, that person
will be in trouble. Sometimes when giving to people who have enough to eat, indecision arises: “should I give
or should I not?” But when one gives to people who are in need, indecision does not arise at all—this is an
aiding condition (paccaya) that strengthens merit and is able to diminish stinginess effectively.
Giving for the purpose of veneration is more refined than giving with compassion
Between people who have morality (sīla)15 and people who don’t, the merit of giving to those who do is
more powerful because in this way one recalls the good qualities of the donee; this kind of giving is classed

13
sacrifice: a giving up of something cherished or desired object; sacrificed, sacrificing: to give up, yield or relinquish
(something valued) for the sake of something else, as a person, thing or idea.
14
anumodanā: rejoice, approval, appreciation, congratulations (in the good thing anyone else is doing or has done).
15
To “have sīla” can mean two things: to be virtuous, and/or to keep precepts or rules of behaviour.

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under veneration. Giving with a mind that intends to venerate the good qualities (guṇa) of the individual is
more refined than giving with compassion. Recalling the praising words of the wise, “To give, to sacrifice, to
donate, is the wealth, the provisions to walk the path that reaches Nibbāna16 of the giver himself, because if
there is stinginess defiling the mind/heart, when the time of giving up something arrives, one might not be able
to give it up due to the ardent care with which one guards the things one possesses, and this causes rebirth as a
very poor person, a pauper, who lacks the provisions needed to walk the path to reach Nibbāna.” After thus
having recalled the words of the wise, having faith and belief in their words, one gives with the intention to
venerate, that is, having faith in the walking path of the wise which is sammā-paṭipatti (the correct practice): “I
will practice the way they practice. All sages practice dāna, so I will practice it too.” This is classed as “giving
for the purpose of veneration”, namely, venerating the path of the wise, which is more refined than giving with
compassion, because the quality of the mind is more delicate, more subtle.
Giving simply because one sees it is a bikkhu (Buddhist monk)
[In Thailand] we all know that a bikkhu is someone who keeps sīla; thus nobody is interested in knowing
what kind of religious life the monk keeps, people just give to whoever is ordained as a monk—that’s as far as
they can get. They have no interest in knowing whether he exerts himself in his religious duties as a Buddhist
monk after he became ordained or not, if he is a parasite to the religion or if he is helping the religion to have a
long life. They never take these things into consideration thinking that to give to a monk is in itself auspicious.
An example of placing food in a monk’s bowl with greed: In the early morning at the market the woman
vendor arranges the food in little plastic bags so that they are ready for people to buy them and place them in
the monk’s alms bowl. When the monk goes out on his alms round (pindapāta) to the market, people buy the
things from the woman vendor to place them in his alms bowl. When the monk finishes receiving the offerings
he goes on his first round to the back of the shop, to empty his bowl. The vendor’s assistant counts how many
bags he has and pays him by sets. She sells one set for ten baht but buys back one set from the monk for only
three baht, something that the monk accepts. Everything is done openly without hiding anything. The people
who do the offerings see it before their very eyes but they don’t mind. They do that every day. They see it as
the normal thing to do. Why is it that in spite of the monk’s behaviour they still place offerings in the monk’s
bowl, while there are still many poor and needy people around?
If people say they venerate (by giving) for the sake of the good qualities (guṇa) of the monk—monks have a
higher condition than the laity or householders, they have sīla, virtuous conduct (kalyāṅa-dhamma), and the
like—then monks should show no reproachable behaviour. However, they are seeing the bad behaviour with
their own very eyes. So these people who place offerings in the monks’ alms bowls in the morning, venerate
the monk on account of what? Such behaviour displays the sort of person who ought not to be venerated. This
shows how much ignorance is involved in this subject of giving to the monks, because people think that once
they have offered to a monk it means they got a lot of merit, consequently they are very diligent to do it. To
make it short, they are merely wishing for merit, which means that greed (lobha) is what is guiding the way:
The people who place offerings in the monks’ bowl are greedy for merit, the monks who sell back to the
woman vendor are greedy for money—all the same.
“Wise attention” regarding dāna
How can one adjust one’s heart/mind appropriately to have wise attention (yoniso-manasikāra)17 in regards
to the performance of dāna, turning the act of giving to actually be dāna or merit? If dāna didn’t have any
subsequent results (ānisamsa) as to happiness or well-being, as to the prevention of danger in the round [of
death and rebirth] (vaṭṭa), as to helping to reach a favourable destination [either human or celestial], in all
probability nobody would be doing it because they’d be getting nothing in return, it would be wasting time. But
if one wants a result then it is greed, not merit—in that case one should just go ahead and do it not caring
whether there’s a result or not, well… this again is not correct. Then how should one adjust one’s heart/mind so
that it becomes meritorious?

16
Nibbāna: Sanskrit form: Nirvana. It is the unconditioned reality which is freedom from suffering. Departure from the
entanglement of craving—for as long as one remains entangled in craving one remains bound in saṃsāra, the cycle of birth
and death, but when all craving has been extirpated, one attains Nibbāna, deliverance from the cycle of birth and death:
“This, O monks, truly is the peace, this is the highest, namely the end of all formations, the forsaking of
every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of craving, detachment, extinction, Nibbāna”
17
yoniso-manasikāra: wise or thorough attention to the object, proper consideration. The five causes for the arising of
yoniso-manasikāra: 1 To be in a place where there are wise people (who know the path that puts an end to rebirth). 2 “To
sit next to” the wise person. 3 To listen to the Dhamma from the wise person. 4 To put into practice what has been heard—
as opposite to “throwing it away.” 5 Pubbekatapuññatā: the state of having formerly done meritorious deeds, to have
prepared oneself with a good background, in this way yoniso manasikāra can arise easily. The first four are present causes;
the last one is a former cause. Proper consideration arises from the factor of confidence (saddhā) until it becomes Right
View (sammā-diṭṭhi).

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The Lord Buddha states that the subsequent results of dāna are manifold, as well as the harmful effects of
not yielding to give or donate. He refers to people who don’t give up or donate as stingy people who will be
reborn poor and needy, etc., and in plenty of discourses he speaks about dāna pertaining to favourable
destinations. By speaking this way, The Lord Buddha does not mean to persuade people to become greedy
about the subsequent results of dāna. The Lord Buddha is pointing out that performing dāna has a result -and
not that it does not have a result. As one type of wrong doctrine (miccha-vāda), within the ten kinds of wrong
view, which states that dāna does not have results, for example that the act of veneration (pūjā) does not have
results, etc. Once one has understood this, one keeps the knowledge within, but at the time of actually
performing the act there’s no need to focus in advance on the subsequent results (ānisamsa). Supposing
that at that time one is giving to a person in need, then one does it only with compassion (karuṇā), without
aiming at the subsequent results or advantages as [if they were] something substantial (sāra). One knows [one
is aware there are advantages] but one just knows [there’s no need to put the attention at the result]. Lastly, one
contemplates the dāna that has been performed as anicca,18 dukkha19 and anattā.20 Dāna doesn’t have any
higher meaning (sāra: essence, purpose, importance) other than helping us walk life smoothly in all planes of
existence in subsequent births. It is not capable of taking us beyond birth, aging, sickness and death. One
contemplates in this way in order not to get overly attached to dāna thinking it will grant us with this and that
superb benefit in the form of happiness.
Recalling the subsequent results (ānisamsa) of dāna causes the arising of interest, and therefore of energy, to
do good kamma, from the most elementary level which in turn becomes an aiding condition to go up to the
highest level. But that’s all, nothing else—in the long run dāna also falls under the power of the Three
Characteristics: anicca, dukkha and anattā.21 While it is true that dāna helps us reach a favourable destination,
to be reborn as a male or female deity (deva), ultimately even a deity still has to age and die according to
natural law like beings reborn in other realms of existence; the only difference is that after being born in a
favourable destination one has the opportunity to do more and more merit until reaching that condition which
puts an end to dukkha;22 but that’s all—nothing else.
[The Lord Buddha taught the Dhamma step by step considering the listeners’ dispositions. To some people
he had to explain the subsequent results of dāna first to have them exert themselves in dāna. Next he would
point out that even dāna is devoid of any essence (sāra). He organized his method of teaching step by step. He
did not teach people to focus only in the subsequent results of dāna and stop there.
Giving which is not dāna
One should not misunderstand that just giving anything to anyone is that meritoriousness which is classified
as dāna. There are some things that, even though one has actually given them to someone, the giver is not
regarded as performing dāna. The scriptures mention five types of giving which are not considered as dāna:
(1) Giving things that build up drunkenness or intoxication, such as alcohol and addictive drugs like
tobacco, etc.
(2) Giving entertainment, like dancing, singing or games of all kinds
(3) Giving women to men to employ for pleasure in sexual intercourse
(4) Giving a cow to a bull; this means to provide animals for breeding
(5) Giving obscene pictures
Each point can be explained as follows:
(1) We normally are intoxicated to begin with, that is, the misleading power of defilement (kilesa) exists
within our heart/mind already. And yet we add more by drinking intoxicating substances (surāmeraya). In this

18
anicca: transient, momentary, impermanent, inconstant, unstable. Impermanency of things is the rising, falling and
changing of things, or the disappearance of things that have become or arisen. The meaning is that things never persist in
the same way, but that they are vanishing, dissolving from moment to moment.
19
dukkha: (1) Suffering (in its deepest sense); the unsatisfactoriness (and/or imperfection) of conditioned realities; the
inherent stress of existence, revealed by the impermanence, suffering and perpetual incompleteness, intrinsic to all forms of
life. The characteristic of suffering is the mode of being continuously oppressed by rise and fall—happy or pleasurable
states (sukha) are also considered dukkha because they are all impermanent and fall back into dukkha. (2) Pain, stress,
unpleasantness, conflict, ill, unease, oppression. It’s both physical & mental. Sukha and dukkha are ease and des-ease.
20
anattā: not-self, no fundamental entity; impersonality; uncontrollability. The anattā doctrine teaches that neither within
the physical or mental phenomena of existence (nāma-rūpa), nor outside of them, can be found anything that in the ultimate
sense could be regarded as a self-existing real ego-entity, soul, or any other abiding substance.
“Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found; The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there;
Nibbāna is, but not the man that enters it; The Path is, but no traveler on it is seen”
21
“Whether Perfect Ones appear in the world, or whether Perfect Ones do not appear in the world, it still remains a firm
condition, an immutable fact and fixed law: that all formations are inconstant, that all formations are subject to suffering, that
everything is without a self”
22
“The condition (dhamma) that puts an end to suffering” = Nibbāna.

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way we become confused and misguided. Misunderstanding allows the defilements to increase too much, so at
the right time they’ll destroy mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati-sampajañña) in connected order: the
more one drinks, the more mindfulness and clear comprehension are destroyed. People established in
drunkenness lack awareness of good and bad, they are ready to do bad kamma right away at the moment they
get drunk. Therefore, people who give intoxicating substances are not considered as performing dāna. This is
regarded only as “to give” according to worldly language. It is not merit. However, there are exceptions, as
when giving for other purposes: like when alcohol is part of a medicine as in the various traditional medicines,
which is certainly dāna because it consists of a wholesome state of mind [or skilful-consciousness: kusala-citta]
that intends to assist someone to recover from sickness.
(2) Giving in the form of entertainment, dancing, singing and all sorts of games is not regarded as dāna,
because it’s a condition that furthers lust, anger and delusion (rāga, dosa and moha) which abound in our
hearts/minds. Adding the entertainers’ defilements, only multiplies ours excessively. These defilements (kilesa)
can create suffering later on. There are some cases that are excluded though, such as in the story of the monk
Sīvalī who in a former life was born as a devada (male celestial being). Seeing the Buddha caused extreme
faith and devotion to arise in his heart. He intended to venerate the Buddha but couldn’t find anything but to
offer an act of dance for veneration. Therefore, he went with his retinue of fairies (female devas) to an audience
with The Lord Buddha. The devada and the fairies danced together gracefully in a beautiful cadence. While
they danced the intention in their mind was to make use of such action as a form of veneration to The Lord
Buddha. This can be classed as dāna because the intention was not to have The Lord Buddha see the
performance for enjoyment caused by defilements (lust, etc.). They all knew he was a Sammā-sambuddha,23
that is, a being completely devoid of lust, anger and delusion.
(3) An example of giving a woman to a man to employ for pleasure in sexual intercourse is when some
lower-ranking government officials provide a pleasure-service woman to higher-ranking officials greedy for
sex when they are sent to inspect the (lower) officials of the other provinces. It’s already too clear that this is
certainly not dāna, and it’s definitely not merit—there’s no (state of) mind (citta) with any wholesome (kusala)
characteristics whatsoever.
This point is not included in such cases as when parents look for a suitable spouse for their children to build
a good standing and responsible family life, a task that those who are father or mother ought to do. The Lord
Buddha praised this by saying that it is one mangala (auspicious act) among the 38 mangalas. This can be
classified as dāna because it arises from a virtuous wish, it has the characteristics of wholesomeness (kusala),
and its significant aim is not about indulging in sexual intercourse.
(4) and (5) As for providing animals for breeding as well as giving obscene pictures or images, if one
observes the condition of the heart/mind, the quality of intention of the one who is giving this away, it will be
clear that no purification of mind which is wholesome (kusala) can be found in any way. Undoubtedly this is
not regarded as dāna, and it’s none of the other kinds of meritorious deeds either.
2. Sīla – Restraint of body and speech
The word “sīla” comes from “sira” or “siara”; which means “head.” Because its nature is like a head,
namely, to preside over all wholesomeness (kusala-dhamma), is called sīla. If one is lacking a head it means
sīla is broken, destroyed, and the rest of the wholesome conditions (kusala-dhamma) are not able to stand. It
doesn’t matter if it’s tranquillity (samādhi) or understanding (paññā), or any of the greater special virtues, they
cannot possibly arise in an immoral person, a person who breaks the precepts, because such valuable conditions
(guṇa-dhamma) stand together with sīla.
The simile of the snake
This point can be compared to a person caught by a constrictor snake which is coiling around and squeezing
him tight. As he wants to set himself free, he tries various ways to pull out the snake’s trunk. This is a heavy
and hard job to accomplish. The easy way is to demolish the snake’s head by beating it with a hard object.
When the head has been destroyed the trunk will loosen off by itself. This can be compared to a person who
observes the various good qualities (guṇa-dhamma) by having sīla as the head or as the most important part. If
sīla is destroyed, all the other good qualities will naturally untwist, i.e. they will also be destroyed leaving
nothing left.
The twofold division of virtue (sīla)
Sīla is one kind of merit among the various kinds of merit. It is divided into two groups: (1) avoidance-
morality (vārita-sīla), which consists of the precepts governing prohibition which makes us abstain from

23
Sammā-sambuddha: a being fully or perfectly self-enlightened, i.e. one by whom the liberating law (Dhamma) which
had become lost to the world, has again been discovered, realized and clearly proclaimed to the world.

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unwholesome behaviour; and (2) performance-morality (cārita-sīla), which is the kind of behaviour which
ought to be practiced and the tasks worthy of doing that one should be energetic to do.24
- Avoidance-morality (vārita-sīla)
The avoidance-morality of the layman (or householder: gharāvāsa) consists of the Five Precepts (normal
sīla),25 and the Eight Precepts (uposatha-sīla). Some people find the observance of sīla too difficult, exceeding
their capacity. Other people find it very easy because there are only five precepts to observe. In this event, one
should first study in order to understand the nature of abstention—abstaining from taking life, etc.—thereby
one can observe the precepts conveniently so it’s neither too hard nor too easy.
Uposatha-sīla
It is said in the scriptures that the Eight Precepts, called “uposatha-sīla”, are the layman’s sīla observed or
undertaken for a single day, that is, on uposatha day only—on the 8th and 15th day of the lunar calendar, or on
the 14th day if it is a shorter month. This is not a kind of sīla that can be observed every day with regularity
because the life of the layman/woman is mingled with sensual pleasure, with objects of sensual enjoyment
(kāma-guṇa), and he/she has several worldly tasks, big and small, to do. The scriptures offer an opportunity for
a single day only.
Regarding uposatha-sīla none of the eight precepts can be broken by any means. If any of the eight precepts
is broken it means uposatha-sīla is finished. When undertaken it has to be taken for the whole day. The normal
practice is to begin to undertake this sīla just when the sun is rising; from here onwards for the entire day
uposatha-sīla is observed. If one cannot begin at that time it can also be undertaken tardy but must be
compensated until the following day. If undertaken at dawn it will end at dawn of the following day. If we
speak about hours it should complete twenty four hours to be correct. Some people become aware that it is
uposatha-day just as they have finished eating lunch—it’s still possible to observe it but it has to be
compensated until the next day.
An example about observing uposatha-sīla tardy: One morning, a new worker of Anāthapindika, the
wealthy man,26 went out to work. When he came back to the farmland’s living quarters to have his meal he was
puzzled to see that none of his fellow workers were touching any food. They let him know that it was an
uposatha-day, and right away he wished to observe uposatha-sīla too, thus he didn’t eat his meal. His stomach
had never missed a meal before so he became intensely hungry and this caused him to die. After dying he went
to heaven by the power of the uposatha-sīla. This shows that uposatha-sīla can be undertaken at any time; it
doesn’t have to begin always at dawn, but one must complete a whole day and undertake it in an uposatha-day.
Summarizing, vārita-sīla (avoidance-morality), which consists of the prohibitions for the laypeople, is
normally the Five Precepts, which can be increased to the Eight Precepts on uposatha-day. The third precept of
the uposatha-sīla is stricter than that of the Five Precepts. The Five Precepts’ third precept is to abstain from
kāmesumicchācāra, that is, improper sexual behaviour, which is within the various ways of sexual intercourse;
simply speaking, it’s not to transgress that which pertains to sexual intercourse within the twenty categories of
women whom are not one’s wife or are under somebody else’s protection. As for the third precept within the
Eight Precepts, or uposatha-sīla, it is to abstain from those things that are not strict chastity (brahmacariya), i.e.
not to indulge in sexual intercourse even with one’s own wife. The last three precepts—the sixth, seventh and
eighth—which are added up to make uposatha-sīla are: (6) to abstain from eating at the improper time, that is,
from midday until the sun rises on the next day; (7) to abstain from dancing, singing, playing music and [any
other form of] entertainment, also to decorate or embellish oneself with flowers, perfume and cosmetics; and (8)
to abstain from sitting and sleeping on a tall and big chair or bed.
As a final note, regarding The Lord Buddha’s four assemblies, which consist of monks, nuns, and male and
female lay disciples (bikkhus, bikkhunis, upāsakas and upāsikās), now there are no more bikkhunis because the
continuity of the succession was broken. Bikkhunis are not the ordained women that [in Thailand] are called

24
“cāritta-vāritta” means doing and avoiding (Do and Don’t). The twofold division of sīla has morality consisting in
performing (good things), cāritta, and morality consisting in avoiding (evil things), vāritta. One is commitment to the
wholesome, the other abstinence from the unwholesome. At the outset of training the Buddha stresses the aspect of
avoidance. He does so, not because abstinence from the unwholesome is sufficient in itself, but to establish the steps of
practice in proper sequence. The steps are set out in their natural order (more logical than temporal) in the famous dictum of
the Dhammapada: “To abstain from all evil, to cultivate the good, and to purify one's mind – this is the teaching of the
Buddhas.”
25
The basic sīla consists of the Five Precepts: abstinence from taking life, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and the
use of intoxicants (alcohol and drugs).
26
Anāthapindika: Chief lay disciple of Buddha, his name means “feeder of the orphans or helpless.” He was extremely
wealthy and a patron of the Buddha. He gave Jeta Park to the Buddha having purchased it from Prince Jeta. He honoured
the Buddha with laying out 1.8 million gold pieces in the grove. Anāthapindika upon death entered Tusita heaven. He was
known as the “foremost disciple in generosity” as well as character.

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“chi”, which in that case would be an extra assembly. When “chi” is to be classed, it’s classed as upāsikā,
which is regarded as a layperson (gharāvāsa).
- Performance-morality (cārita-sīla)
As to the layperson’s performing-sīla, if one is to ask just how many precepts it has, one might not be able
to stipulate how many because it consists of things that should be done depending on the immediate
circumstances which are encountered; for example, when one sees a little boy that is about to cross the street
and one proceeds to help him cross the street. This is a kind of incident that one doesn’t know in advance when
it is going to happen. There is this one case of this very kind gentleman who saw a young boy trying to ring the
doorbell of a house, so he went to help him enthusiastically. Just when the bell rang, the boy told him: “Now
it’s every man for himself! Or isn’t it grandpa?” and he ran away. This is why one should be careful and use
one’s intelligence.
However, there is performance-morality to be done regularly. For example, to look after our parents, or to
help our senior relatives, who are our family members living in the same house with us and render the
necessary support to each individual accordingly; this is all performance-morality. The Lord Buddha praised
performance-morality as wise person’s inner qualifications (guṇa-sampatti), because is hard to do fully, well
and painstakingly. One has to restrain oneself. One has to act contrary to the defilements. Sometimes one
doesn’t want to do it, or someone might say something so discouraging that the intention to do it disappears. If
one cannot defeat the defilements, one will give up observing performance-morality. Not being able to restrain
oneself causes one to give up. At such a moment, performance-morality, the wise person’s goodness, is
deficient due to lack of restraint.
An example of performance-morality in which patience has to be applied: Elderly people are likely to
feel slighted, they usually think far too much. They go on thinking all sorts of things that make them agitated.
Like when an offspring comes to visit them and they receive special treatment, instead of admiring them, they
turn to mistrustfulness: “my children and grand children may want to get my inheritance, that’s why they come
to do good [to give me this special care].” Sometimes this causes their children or grandchildren who have a
pure and grateful heart to become so disappointed to the point that they may even give up their good intention,
discarding what they prepared and brought to serve and take care of them, or they just hurry to go away as soon
as possible.
Therefore, when these kinds of things happen, anyone wanting to practice performance-morality fully and
completely would have to calm down, be patient, and have restraint. Doing performance-morality requires
more perseverance and effort than avoidance-morality; if it isn’t done in this way it cannot be fully completed.
The ability of keeping the five precepts fully and completely, not faulty in any form, and for a long time, is a
result of always having complete performance-morality, because performance-morality supports avoidance-
morality.
The Monks Sīla
The sīla of the monks’ community (bikkhu-saṅgha) consists of much more vārita- and cārita-sīla
(avoidance- and performance-morality) than that of the laypeople. As for avoidance-morality, which consists of
prohibition, if the monk violates the discipline, he commits a transgression (ābati) and he has to confess and
atone for the infraction of the discipline. It’s the same for the performance-morality that The Lord Buddha
advised, if it’s not done the monk makes a transgression of the discipline and he has to confess it. There are
great many performance-morality rules and regulations for the monks. For example, if the monk’s preceptor is
sick and the monk doesn’t take care, look after and serve him appropriately, he commits a transgression, etc.
3. Bhāvanā – Mental Training or Development
Bhāvanā is training the mind by way of concentration (samatha) and insight (vipassanā). To develop the
mind with samatha (samatha means tranquillity or calm) is to make the mind calm and unwavering by
developing the contemplation-object (kammaṭṭhāna) that is called samatha-kammaṭṭhāna, consisting of paying
attention to the in and out breath, focusing on the kasiṇa circle, 27 or etc. Insight-training (vipassanā-
kammaṭṭhāna) is training the mind with vipassanā, the understanding that sees mentality and materiality
(nāma-rūpa) as they really are—momentary, suffering and void of self. This understanding comes about by
contemplating the kammaṭṭhāna objects, that is to say, by contemplating nāma and rūpa themselves.
Tranquillity-training (samatha-bhāvanā) is for pacifying the defilements (kilesas), called “the hindrances
(nīvaraṇa).” The hindrances become pacified through pressing them down (repressing) so they do not recur. If
one is able to progress in this kind of training until reaching absorption (jhāna) and maintain such absorption
without declining, at the moment of death one will be reborn in bhrāma-world.28

27
It’s the name of a purely external device to produce and develop concentration of mind and attain absorption (jhāna).
28
bhrāma-world: the fine-material and immaterial world (rūpa- and arūpa-loka).

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Insight-training (vipassanā-kammaṭṭhāna) has the function of giving up the defilements which are termed
“anusaya” 29 —which lie dormant in the continuity of consciousness—by way of occasional giving up
throughout the time when insight-knowledge (vipassanā-yāna) has arisen. However, as one is able to advance
forward progressively one will reach path and fruition (magga-phala) [and Nibbāna, which completely cuts off
the latent defilements (anusaya-kilesa), the root-basis of the cycle of death and (re)birth (vaṭṭa), 30 and causes
the going beyond the dukkha of the perpetual wandering in the cycle (saṃsāra31-vaṭṭa), which consists of birth,
aging, sickness and death.
4. Apacāyana – Reverence
Apacāyana means reverence to those worthy of reverence. Here one must consider appropriateness—for
example, when one goes to a meeting one has to show respect to the leader of the meeting; however, if the
meeting has already started and irrespective of that one makes one’s way through the crowd to show respect
and greet, “Hello teacher, how are you? What about the medicine I gave you the other day, did it work?” this
will interrupt the flow of the meeting and might spoil the benefit it could have probably yielded either for
oneself or for others—at the very least it would cause annoyance. This is the kind of reverence one wouldn’t
wish for.
An example of reverence being appropriate: One day His Majesty Pasenadi King of Kosala went to
attend upon The Lord Buddha. As he arrived late, The Lord Buddha was already giving his sermon by the time
he arrived. Thus first he hid himself behind a pillar so that nobody would see him. Because if he had gone to
pay homage to The Lord Buddha at that moment, everyone would have become agitated knowing the king had
arrived and their concentration on The Lord Buddha’s teaching would have been interrupted; they would have
in turn also paid homage to the king, and so naturally everything would have become chaotic. Everyone was
listening to the Dhamma, understanding justification or cause-and-effect (which cause leads to which result), to
the point that even understanding of insight knowledge (ñāna-paññā) could arise progressively until reaching
path-and-fruition instantly. To stop short to wait upon the king would have definitely interrupted the process of
the talk. The benefits of the talk would have probably just passed by, or the additional understanding that the
talk ought to yield would have come to a sudden halt, thus the listeners would miss the opportunity to piece the
ideas together. The king had to see this in advance in order to decide to hide behind the pillar. In this way King
Pasenadi becomes the best example of an individual who has apacāyana (reverence).
An example of reverence with no sense of time and place: There was a person who wanted to pay
homage to the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha) with no consideration of suitability in terms of time
and place. He accepted an invitation to preside over the opening ceremony of a new building; and so at the
association’s committee members’ meeting, which was international, when the time came he asked everyone to
stand up and press their hands together in respect, he then expressed words of reverence to the Triple Gem:
“Araham Sammā Sambuddho Bagavā…” This stunned the foreigners who professed other religions. Doing
something like this is not having a sense of time and place, because reverence to the Triple Gem is something
which is done specifically within a Buddhist society [or community] only. This caused the younger generation
of this man’s family to feel ashamed and not happy to go listen to the Dhamma at the monasteries. Because
when people see their father or uncle doing things like this they feel afraid to become like him. Not having a
sense of time and place causes people to misunderstand that everyone who goes to monasteries to listen to
Dhamma-talks must be like that. Therefore, is important to apply good judgment and intelligence to consider
suitability.
5. Veyyāvacca – To exert oneself in the duties that ought to be done
Veyyāvacca means to exert oneself in the duties that one ought to do without procrastinating, “I’ll do it
tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.” Supposing one is sitting down and a person comes into the room looking
for a place to sit; there happens to be no place and one sees a chair leaning on a wall nearby, so one brings it
and unfolds it for him—this is called accomplishing the meritorious deed of veyyāvacca. But limits have to be
fixed too—up to which point should one do it. Some people exceed the limits. For example, if one is sitting
down studying Dhamma and a person comes in, and one hurries enthusiastically to ask him if he has a place to
sit and so on, this creates the sort of confusion that spoils the benefit of studying by oneself, as well as for the
others.
If we summarize the ten meritorious deeds into only three—dāna, sīla and bhāvanā (giving, morality and
mental development)—reverence (apacāyana) and service (veyyāvacca) would be classed within sīla because
they have the characteristic of performance-morality.

29
for anusaya see footnote no. 9
30
vaṭṭa: round; the rounds of existence, cycle of transmigration.
31
saṃsāra: literally “perpetual wandering”; coming and going again and again. It is the continuous process of ever again
and again being born, growing old, getting sick and dying. It has no end and no beginning.

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6. Pattidāna – To dedicate merit

Pattidāna is to give to others the merit one has already achieved by evoking in one’s mind giving to
someone else the merit one has done as if they themselves had done it at that instant. The essence of this is the
dedication or sharing of wholesomeness (kusala). Pattidāna is classed within dāna because dedicating or giving
the merit one has done to others is the same as doing dāna, only that instead of giving any of the necessaries of
life, one gives merit. Usually we bring to mind ever-hungry ghosts (peta) who are our relatives. Also one can
dedicate merit to other beings—whether they’ll be able to receive it or not, that’s another story; however, it
doesn’t ruin the merit.
One should know that the only kind of beings that are able to receive the merit dedicated to them by others
are hungry ghosts, and is limited to only one kind of hungry ghosts—not all kinds—, those which in the
scriptures are called “paradattupajīvī,” which translates as “spirits who subsist (or sustain themselves) from
merit given by others.” Dāna is the main kind of merit one should dedicate to them, which is the key one for
ever-hungry ghosts because they suffer from extreme starvation related to the shortage of the necessaries of life,
which are in themselves the objects of dāna. Therefore, at the time of giving our wish should be to dedicate our
dāna to our relatives from previous life(s) who have been born as ever-hungry ghosts.
It is said that the merit one dedicates can reach down to the ever-hungry ghosts only when the following
three parts happen in unison:
1. On part of the dāyaka (the donor, the one who offers the gift), to have in one’s heart the intention to
dedicate in the manner of, “May the gift (dāna) which at this moment I am giving reach down to my
relatives who have passed away.”
2. On part of the patiggāhaka (the donee, the one who receives the gift), to be a person with inner
qualifications (guṇa-sampatti), that is, to be virtuous (have sīla), etc. Hence, usually when people make
merit to dedicate it to their hungry-ghost relatives, they often offer food and sweets to the community
of monks, because they regard the monks as being virtuous. But even by giving to a layperson who
keeps the precepts (sīla), although only the Five Precepts, and has taken refuge (saranagamana), that is,
he venerates the Triple Gem as his guide or refuge, the merit can also reach down to the ever-hungry
ghosts in the same way.
3. On part of the ever-hungry ghosts, to anumodanā (rejoice, approve, appreciate), that is, the ever-
hungry ghosts must be aware that merit is being dedicated to them, and feel pleased, happy and
cheerful in receiving it. If they don’t anumodanā they are unable to get it.
The unison of these three conditions gives the ever-hungry ghosts the opportunity to receive the merit, by
enjoying the necessaries of life which are celestial or supernatural, consisting of celestial food (ambrosia), etc.,
which are appropriate for the condition of an ever-hungry ghost in order to go beyond starvation and
deprivation.
One should set one’s mind to dedicate at the moment of actually performing the act of merit; for example,
when one is presenting food to a monk by placing it in his alms bowl, etc. That merit will thus have more
power to assist in reaching down to the ever-hungry ghost without difficulty. To dedicate the merit soon after
finishing the meritorious deed also works because it is still going on in the mind by way of recollection. But if
one forgets to do it, putting it aside for a long time because of doing other things, only to remember later on,
the dedication would not be powerful anymore, and there will no chance that the merit will reach down to them.
In saṃsāra, which is (very) long, one must surely have past life relatives who are ever-hungry ghosts by
now. So every time one performs meritorious deeds one should dedicate the merit to them. One can also be
generous with ever-hungry ghosts who are not our relatives, there’s no objection to that.
In The Lord Buddha’s Last Days Discourse (MahāParinibbāna Sutta) The Lord Buddha also recommended
dedicating the wholesomeness or merit one performs to devas (heavenly beings). Though devas subsist by their
own merit—they do not depend on others’ merit to subsist—one does it just to let them be aware that “there’s
that person who has performed some merit, and he has offered it to me.” This will give rise to care and
affection on their part, and, as much as their power can provide, they will use their might to protect and watch
over us in times of danger.
7. Pattānumodanā – Rejoicing in others’ merit
Pattānumodanā is when one learns that someone else has performed merit, and one rejoices with the news.
The word “rejoice” does not necessarily have to be spoken in terms of congratulations, to feel it in one’s heart
is enough—that would depend on time and place. To rejoice is to feel happy as if one had actually performed
the meritorious deed oneself, and one’s confidence or faith (saddhā) is just the same as that of the person who
actually performed it.

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Supposing there’s a person who, every time he listens to a Dhamma-talk, he anumodanā (rejoices) about it
regardless of who is giving the talk or listening to it. To anumodanā (rejoice) with whoever gives a talk—“s/he
is really generous, s/he takes all the trouble just to be generous to share his knowledge with other people, well
done (sadhu)! S/he is such a good person, isn’t s/he? May s/he prosper!”—it isn’t yet certain if it’s
pattānumodanā or not. The Lord Buddha states that when someone speaks or teaches Dhamma incorrectly, that
person is damaging the benefit of the Dhamma; thus whoever rejoices in that is counted as a fool. So if one is
afraid of being a fool, one better not rejoice right away with whatever is being lectured. First one should listen
and consider well what they are speaking about, if it’s appropriate to anumodanā then one goes ahead and does
it; in this way the opportunity for this meritorious deed to be classed under pattānumodanā can arise.
In the way we [Thai people] rejoice nowadays, no real rejoice is happening in the heart/mind—it’s just
seeing others doing merit and then thinking it is something that people must rejoice about, but most probably in
the heart there’s no faith or belief in the merit they are doing. (We say one thing but feel something else).
Actually, every kind of meritorious deed is worthy of rejoice.
Pattānumodanā, rejoicing in the merit that others have attained, is classed within dāna. How does it fit under
such classification? As we see other people performing dāna we rejoice about it as if we were also taking part
in the action—thus it’s classed as dāna because the scriptures generally mean dāna when referring to the merit
attained by others. However, even if the merit the other person does is not dāna, our anumodanā must surely be
dāna because it helps our own merit in the form of dāna to increase immensely.
8. Dhammassavana – Listening to the good teaching
Dhammassavana should not be interpreted as to listen solely to the Noble Dhamma, i.e. The Lord Buddha’s
words as they appear in the Canon or Tripitaka. Even harmless worldly knowledge for the benefit of the present
life32 [like science or technology] counts as listening to Dhamma as well. But when it’s actually listening to
The Lord Buddha’s Teaching, the scriptures state that it can be classed under mental development (bhāvanā)
because it is listening to a Dhamma entirely devoid of any harm in every respect, free of defilement in its
totality, whose function is that of scraping and polishing the heart/mind to purify it; it’s regarded as an initial
“device” for training the mind. Another meaning is that both the development of concentration and insight can
get accomplished only by listening to the Dhamma first. Since dhammassavana is the basis for mental
development, both for samatha- and vipassanā-bhāvanā, it can thus be classed under mental development.
9. Dhamma-desanā – Teaching the Dhamma
Dhamma-desanā involves explaining and advising others about The Lord Buddha’s Dhamma-Vinaya
(Doctrine and Discipline), as well as the Dhamma in the sense of mundane knowledge of technology that is
harmless, such as giving advice about making a living in an honourable and honest way which does not harm or
oppress other living beings, etc.
It is classified in two ways: (1) As dāna, that is, giving Dhamma. The Lord Buddha taught that: “Giving
Dhamma is superior to any other form of giving.” (2) As bhāvanā, this can be explained with the example of a
bikkhu teaching the Dhamma to other bikkhus who are listening attentively, and when finishing his exposition
he accomplishes path and fruition (magga-phala) becoming an Arahant. There are numerous examples in the
same vein, which appear in many discourses of the Sutta-pitaka. This shows that the aforementioned bikkhu
already had knowledge of the Dhamma he was explaining. However, it’s worth questioning why such
knowledge did not suffice to cause the attainment of Arahantship before, that is, at the time when he was not
actually teaching Dhamma. Why did such accomplishment have to happen at the time when he was teaching?
This is justified by the fact that the time of explaining such knowledge to other people and the time of already
possessing that knowledge but keeping it inactive are very different. At the time of teaching, the bikkhu had to
figure out how to explain the teaching clearly, which caused a thorough understanding to arise in his mind—an
understanding he did not have before. Although he had learned the various teachings before, now he had to
really penetrate into their meaning to make them clear and understandable to his listeners: How should it be
explained so that the listeners are able to understand? Because it had to make sense to himself first, before he
could actually explain it to others—especially in the case of the teaching regarding the supreme benefit.
Moreover, whenever the listeners had problems understanding they would ask questions, making it
necessary to think over or ponder the answer, which in turn led to a deeper understanding of whatever was
being explained. As soon as this real and deep understanding arose, the teacher would know it was the correct
answer because it would no longer display any vagueness or ambiguity; all the contents of the Dhamma would
arrange themselves accordingly within their proper sections—sections which the monk had thoroughly
understood before. Therefore, although the lecturer already had the knowledge to teach Dhamma, at the time of
teaching he needed to be especially self-possessed in order to consider the details and the meaning so that his
listeners would understand. This causes a profound understanding of the Dhamma’s rationale to ascend, and to

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The Scriptures speak of 3 benefits: the benefit for this life, the benefit for future life(s), and the supreme benefit: Nibbāna.

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clearly see the truth by insight-knowledge (vipassanā-ñāna) at the time of explaining allowing such knowledge
(ñāna) to develop progressively at the time of speaking so as to finally attain path-and-fruition by the time the
talk is over.
But concerning ourselves, if we want to do it as they did, we wouldn’t be up to it. It would not be
appropriate at all. We need to not talk as we are practicing in order to have the opportunity to practice well.
Because Dhamma-desanā is a foundation for the progress of mental development, it can therefore be classed
as such (as bhāvanā), aside from being classed as generosity (dāna).
10. Diṭṭhujukamma – Straightening our views
Diṭṭhujukamma translates as “the straightening of one’s views”, meaning “sammā-diṭṭhi”, i.e. right
understanding or right view. There are five kinds of right view (sammā-diṭṭhi):
(1) kammassakatā-sammādiṭṭhi: translates as “the right view that living beings have kamma as their
possession.” This implies that whatever kamma one performs, either good or bad, one has to reap the results of
such kamma; it cannot be delegated to someone else to reap it on our behalf.
(2) jhāna-sammādiṭṭhi: translates as “the right view comprising absorption consciousness (jhāna)”, that is,
the understanding which is related to jhāna. It arises together with the jhāna that has been developed.
(3) vipassanā-sammādiṭṭhi: the understanding that knows all conditioned things (saṅkhāra) as they really
are: momentary, suffering and void of self, which is termed “seeing the three characteristics.”
(4) magga-sammādiṭṭhi: the right view that is the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path; once it arises it
comprehends the 4 Noble truths as they really are.
(5) phala-sammādiṭṭhi: the right view which arises with the four noble fruitions (ariya-phalas): fruition of
stream entry (sotapatti-phala), etc., namely, the understanding which arises together with all the resultant
consciousnesses (phala-cittas) which are the outcome (vipāka) of the Noble Eightfold Path. Within the five
kinds of right view, this is the only kind which is not puñña-kiriya because it is not merit, but the fruit of merit.
The understanding that knows the cause and knows the result (of that cause) correctly according to reality,
which includes the knowledge obtained from the study of the scriptures (pariyatti-dhamma), although it’s not
classed directly under any of the five kinds of right view, is right view because it contains the principles (gati)
of right view.
Diṭṭhujukamma or right view is what controls or takes charge of action or doing, thus it can be classed
within the three sections of puñña-kiriya-vatthu—generosity, virtue and mental development—because it is the
right knowledge or understanding of generosity, virtue and mental development, which are known as “merit.”
In other words, knowing correctly what generosity is, what morality is and what mental development is,
depends on diṭṭhujukamma. This means that generosity is generosity because it relies on right view; virtue is
virtue because it relies on right view; and mental development is mental development because it relies on right
view.
The meaning of puñña-kiriya-vatthu
The ten kinds of merit are called puñña-kiriya-vatthu, a term which so far is wrongly translated as “the
basis for accomplishing merit”—it turns out that dāna, etc., are not yet merit, but only a basis for merit. This is
a condition that makes people misunderstand that merit is something apart from the act of giving, etc., and that
giving, etc., only lead to merit but are not in themselves merit. Actually “puñña-kiriya-vatthu” is the name of
one and the same intrinsic nature (sabhāva-dhamma), that is to say, such intrinsic nature or such deed is called
“puñña” because it’s the means for cleansing the continuity of consciousness to make it pure; it’s called
“kiriya” because it’s that which ought to be done; and it’s called “vatthu” because it’s the basis of
innumerable advantages (ānisamsa)—together it’s called “puñña-kiriya-vatthu.”
Hence, puñña-kiriya-vatthu is of ten kinds; there are no other kinds of merit apart from these. For example,
the attainment of absorption (jhāna) is still classed within mental development; even insight-knowledge
(vipassanā-ñāna) and path-knowledge (magga-ñāna) are classed within mental development. However,
attaining fruition (phala) is not considered accomplishing puñña-kiriya-vatthu because fruition is beyond
merit, it’s a result, a consequence (vipāka); and this consequence is in turn a subsequent result of merit.

Here ends this general exposition about “merit.”

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idha modati pecca modati katapuñño ubhayattha modati

so modati so pamodati disvā kammavisuddhimattano
he rejoices here, he rejoices in the hereafter still,
in both states does the merit-maker rejoice;
he rejoices and is happy having seen his own good deeds33
Khuddaka-nikaya Dhammapada

abhivādanasīlissa niccam. vud.dh.āpacāyino

cattāro dhammā vad.dh.anti āyu van.n.o sukham. bhalam.
for one who always respects and honours those who are older and more virtuous,
four benefits: longevity, beauty, happiness and strength,
will naturally increase
Khuddaka-nikaya Dhammapada: Verse 109

ādi sīlam. patit.th.ā ca

kalyān.ānñca mātukam.
pamukham. sabbadhammānam.
tasmā sīlam. visodhaye
virtue is the foundation,
the forerunner and origin
of all that is good and beautiful;
therefore virtue should be purified
(26/378)

purisassa hi jātassa
kudhārī jāyate mukhe
yāya chindati attānam.
bālo dubbhāsitam. bhan.am.
every man who is born
has an axe within his mouth
with which he cuts himself
through his malicious words
(25/387)

TRANSLATOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to deeply thank Phra

Wallop Dhammavaro for his support and advice concerning Dhamma and Thai language
issues as the translation was taking place. Also I am most grateful to Wiangchai
Watcharanirun for assisting and correcting parts of the translation. For sharing their time
and knowledge to improve the English language, I am very thankful to my friends Padma
Fischer-White and Alejandro Ramirez Lovering. Gratitude is also due to my older brother
Jaime for his help in making parts of the text more direct and easy to grasp.
The footnotes have references from the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, and from
dictionaries and/or books and/or texts from the Buddhist Publication Society, Pali Text
Society, Dhamma Study, Access to Insight, and other internet sources—for their
contribution to this gift of Dhamma, thanks are due to them also.
Anumodanā to them all.
May this book contribute to the well-being of the reader and every sentient being, and
eventually to the end of suffering,

Rodrigo Aldana
Round-free Insight Practice Institute
Hua Hin, Thailand
round.free@gmail.com
www.dhammagarden.jimdo.com
www.sites.google.com/site/roundfree/home
www.roundfree.org

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Commentary: If we commit good deeds, we will not only be happy in this life, having the satisfaction of doing good
deeds, but we will also obtain a favourable rebirth. So, when we see our good deeds, we rejoice in the knowledge thereof.

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