Zen

Q. What is the meaning of ‘Even if you make offerings to all sentient beings in the world for billions of years, its merit is not as much as that of realising the true-Self’?

A. No matter how many offerings you may make, it is no more than making good karma in the realm of form. This means that the merit of your offerings is supposed to run out with time since all things in the realm of form have a beginning and an end. No matter how much wealth you may possess at the moment, for example, it is yours merely whilst you remain alive; at most for one hundred and twenty years. However, realising the true-Self implies transcending birth and death, to realise that you are eternity itself. This is why the merit of making offerings to all sentient beings in the world for billions of years is not as much as that of realising the true-Self.

Regarding the offering, giver, and receiver as one, we should make offerings not as a means of making good karma but as part of our practice to realise the true-Self.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Leave a comment