Do I get more merits if I give more?

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SarathW
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Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by SarathW »

Do I get more merits if I give more?
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Jerafreyr
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by Jerafreyr »

If you practice the path of non attachment and non self, then yes. The purpose of merit is ease in body and mind which aids in the development of wisdom.
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by samsarictravelling »

SarathW wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 9:45 am Do I get more merits if I give more?
Link: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-subject.html#dana

Dana (giving; charity). See also Gradual instruction; Paramis.
"Generosity" in the Path to Freedom pages
As one of the greatest protections/blessings: Sn 2.4
As a fundamental requirement for success on the Path: AN 5.254
As a treasure: AN 7.6
As one of the ten Recollections: see Recollections, ten.
To whom should one give so as to reap the greatest fruit?: SN 3.24, AN 3.57
Eight persons worthy of gifts: AN 8.59
Giving to one who has abandoned the hindrances brings good results: SN 3.24
Never regret a generous gift you gave in the past: SN 3.20
Give while you're able, before your house burns to the ground!: SN 1.41
Giving is best done at the proper time: AN 5.36
The blessings inherent in the gift of food: AN 5.37
Giving even one's last meal: Iti 26
The fruits of giving that arises from various motives: AN 7.49
The fruits of giving that can be reaped in this life: AN 5.34
Two kinds of gifts: Iti 98, Iti 100
Gifts of Dhamma: Dhp 354, Iti 98, Iti 100
Citta the householder's final teaching on generosity: SN 41.10
Give to many; don't be like a rainless cloud: Iti 75
Giving is good, but there is still more to be done: AN 5.176
The dangers faced by unvirtuous monks who enjoy pleasures, homage and gifts of the laity: AN 7.68
The scale of good deeds: AN 9.20
See the suttas in the Devata-samyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya
"The Economy of Gifts" (Thanissaro)
"The Food of Kindness" (Medhanandi)
Dana: The Practice of Giving (Bodhi)
No Strings Attached: The Buddha's Culture of Generosity (Thanissaro)

SarathW,

Wanting to be born into wealth and high level of society -- like born as a prince/princess -- I think giving/generosity/dana would help.

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Laurens
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by Laurens »

Giving a small piece of food to a monk with a pure heart is better than giving a thousand dollars to a monastery for your own prestige.

Of course what you give does count, but so do the intentions behind the gift. Better to have good intentions than a big gift with impure intentions.
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Aloka
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by Aloka »

Laurens wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 5:55 am Giving a small piece of food to a monk with a pure heart is better than giving a thousand dollars to a monastery for your own prestige.

Of course what you give does count, but so do the intentions behind the gift. Better to have good intentions than a big gift with impure intentions.
Yes, intention is important, it isn't about collecting "Brownie points"!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_points


:anjali:
santa100
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by santa100 »

SarathW wrote:Do I get more merits if I give more?
Yes, but be careful with what you wish for. Practicing generosity alone without cultivating the Dhamma could actually impede one's progress on the Path. Simply look at Hugh Hefner, Jeff Bezos, Paris Hilton, etc., their worldly merits far exceed all of us here on DW, probably too much to even bother to learn the Buddha's teaching. And we're only talking about humans at the top of the food chain here on earth. Imagine how much more difficult it'd be to cultivate the Dhamma once one's made it to those Devas realms.
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bodom
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by bodom »

You wont get any if your expecting something in return.

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by SarathW »

bodom wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 3:47 pm You wont get any if your expecting something in return.

:anjali:
So, when I plant a tree, I should not expect fruits?
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by SarathW »

Laurens wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 5:55 am Giving a small piece of food to a monk with a pure heart is better than giving a thousand dollars to a monastery for your own prestige.

Of course what you give does count, but so do the intentions behind the gift. Better to have good intentions than a big gift with impure intentions.
Is it better to give $10.00 hundred times instead of giving $1000.00 at once?
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Laurens
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by Laurens »

SarathW wrote: Fri May 17, 2019 1:22 am
Laurens wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 5:55 am Giving a small piece of food to a monk with a pure heart is better than giving a thousand dollars to a monastery for your own prestige.

Of course what you give does count, but so do the intentions behind the gift. Better to have good intentions than a big gift with impure intentions.
Is it better to give $10.00 hundred times instead of giving $1000.00 at once?
Assuming the intentions are pure in both instances? I don't know...
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by DooDoot »

SarathW wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 9:45 amDo I get more merits if I give more?
It depends on what is given. If wrong view is given then obviously demerits rather than merits.
There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by Bundokji »

I think it is not the quantity of what is been given, but how attached are you to it. If you give a lot of something that has little value to you, then this is not generosity, and vice versa.
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
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bodom
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by bodom »

SarathW wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 9:05 pm
bodom wrote: Thu May 16, 2019 3:47 pm You wont get any if your expecting something in return.

:anjali:
So, when I plant a tree, I should not expect fruits?
If we do something wholesome in order to get something in return like merit we are acting with expectation of reward and that is a form of craving. Then all we get back is bad kamma. If we give in order to let go and free the mind from selfishness and practice generosity that is what brings merit. If you do it to get something and expect something in return that is bad kamma and would more rightly be called a transaction. We give and do good because that is the right thing to do not to get anything.

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
SarathW
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by SarathW »

“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Jerafreyr
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Re: Do I get more merits if I give more?

Post by Jerafreyr »

I like to think there's a difference between merit and kamma though I don't know a sutta reference for this distinction. The principle difference for me is in the way it is used. Good kamma may be used by ordinary "worldlings" for pleasure but merit has a dhammic mode in my mind. Like what Buddhists consider as the difference between wholesome desire and unwholesome desire.
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