The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.
Question: Doing dāna is the practise of letting go of our self. But some centres or temples emphasize that doing dāna is for gaining merit, yet there is nothing to be gained, because practising dana is the practise of letting go. Is it wrong when they said that we are gaining merit by doing dāna?
Than Ajahn: You gain merit, which is the ‘good feeling’ from letting go. You will have no worry about the things that you’ve given away. If you gave your husband away, then you wouldn’t have to worry about your husband anymore.
Question: That’s a higher level of giving. I feel that there is a limit when letting go, because sometimes I feel painful. So, when you said that the more we give, the happier we will be, I think I haven’t reached that level yet.
Than Ajahn: Some people can let go all their physical possessions. Like the Buddha, he gave up his princely life and went to live in the forest.
Question: So, sīla is letting go of our craving, our greed, and bhāvanā is a higher level of letting go. Hence, the eight noble path is actually the path about letting go.
Than Ajahn: That’s right.
Question: Sometimes, when people explained them, they talked about gaining merit and it’s quite contradicting because what we are talking about is letting go instead of gaining something.
Than Ajahn: You gain something. You gain peace of mind every time you let go. This peace of mind is called ‘merit’.
Question: Some people in temple said that we would gain merit, so that we could get a better rebirth, is this wrong?
Than Ajahn: No, it’s right, because if you have merits, you will be reborn in a higher realm of existence.
“Dhamma in English, Mar 2, 2021.”
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Question: What does Ajahn mean by ‘merit is a good feeling’? What kind of good feeling is considered as merit? When I eat delicious food, I feel good. When I go travelling, I feel good. When I watch movie, I feel good. When it’s family time to play with my children, I feel good.
Than Ajahn: Those are not good merits because they become addictive. Once you don’t have that kind of good feeling, then you become sad. So, this good feeling [from sensual pleasure activities] is not similar to the merit you get by doing charity, keeping the precepts and practising meditation. The good feeling that you get from the practice of Dhamma will not make you sad when you don’t have it, but the good feeling that you get from sensual pleasure will cause you sadness when it disappears. So, the good feeling from sensual pleasure is not considered to be merit or to be the real good, good feeling.
The real good, good feeling is the feeling that you get from giving to charity, keeping the precepts, and practising meditation because this [real] good feeling, when it doesn’t appear, it will not make you sad.
That’s why we don’t call the good feeling from sensual pleasure as ‘merit’. We call it ‘merit’ when you have good feeling that you get from giving to charity, keeping the precepts, and practising meditation, because this kind of good feeling from practising the Dhamma will not hurt you. It will not make you sad when it disappears.
“Dhamma in English, Sep 5, 2021.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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