{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"107 - Merit Making ","description":"In this episode, we look at creating merit by intentionally engaging in activities that are good karma. Merit, or good karma, propels our spiritual practice forward. Thus accumulating merit is a central activity of a bodhisattva, one striving for enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, as well as those who believe in the law of karma.    Ten merit-making activities    Giving (d\u0101na ) Observing the moral precepts (s\u012bla ) Meditation (bh\u0101van\u0101 ) Showing respect to one's superiors (apac\u0101yana ) Attending to their needs (veyy\u0101vacca ) Transferring merit (pattid\u0101na ) Rejoicing at the merit of others (patt\u0101numodana ) Listening to the Dharma, that is, the Buddha's teachings (dhammasavana ) Preaching the Dharma (dhammadesan\u0101 ) Having right beliefs (di\u1e6d\u1e6dhijjukamma )   Guru Padmasambhava said, \u201cMy realization is higher than the sky. But my observance of karma is finer than grains of flour.\u201d   One is not a mendicant  Just because one begs from others.  Nor does one become a mendicant  By taking on domestic ways. But whoever sets aside  Both merit and evil,  Lives the chaste life,  And goes through the world deliberately Is called \u201ca mendicant.\u201d (266\u2013267)*    Not by silence  Does an ignorant fool become a sage.  The wise person, who,  As if holding a set of scales,  Selects what\u2019s good and avoids what\u2019s evil  Is, for that reason, a sage.  Whoever can weigh these two sides of the world  Is, for that reason, called \u201ca sage.\u201d (268\u2013269)* \u2014Buddha, The Dhammapada   References Buddha.The Dhammapada. Translated by Gil Fronsdale. (Kindle). Shambala, Boston and London, 2011, pp. 69-70 (Link)   ","author_name":"Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox","author_url":"http:\/\/JoannFox.net","html":"