功徳の積み方
How to accumulate merit
2024-04-20 18:00:00
<translator’s note: the word with all capital letters is a Japanese word.>
"The earnest seeker, striving for tranquility, accumulates merit step by step, until finally, the opportunity for enlightenment arises, leading to becoming a Buddha."
This is the complete picture of the path to enlightenment.
Therefore, practitioners naturally seek to understand how to accumulate merit. That is a perfectly natural course of events.
Now, the Buddhas who have already attained enlightenment know the circumstances under which they achieved awakening, which they refer to as "SHIKUMEI-TSUU (pratyekabuddhi): The Power of Knowing Past Lives."
On the other hand, even Buddhas themselves are uncertain about how they accumulated merits during their time of practice.
Of course, they understand that becoming a Buddha is a result of merits, but it's common for them not to recall the specific actions.
However, as a general rule, it can be said that "bringing other beings (sentient beings) closer to Nirvana leads to accumulating great merits."
Therefore, it follows that the accumulation of merits by practitioners of the Buddhist path occurs through all actions performed in accordance with this principle.
The specific details are for the practitioner of the Buddhist path to discover and implement on their own.
It should be noted here that the actions should neither hinder others from accumulating merits nor cause sorrow to others.
As long as there are no issues in that regard, practitioners are free to engage in any actions to accumulate merits.
And for the Buddhist practitioner who has found specific ways to accumulate merits, it can be said that they have already attained significant happiness just by that.
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