Transference of merit
The transference of merit
An issue related to the doctrine of kamma is that of transference of merit. This is the idea that it is possible to do good and then ‘transfer’ the vipāka of that good to a person who has passed away. The possibility of transferring merit is now almost universally accepted by Buddhists despite not having been taught by the Buddha and, it would seem, being contradictory to some of the things he did teach. The idea of transferring merit was probably adapted from the Brahmanical śaddha ritual in which small balls or rice or barley were believed to be transmitted to departed loved ones so as to satisfy their hunger by means of chanting certain formula. Apparently at an early period some Buddhists adopted this idea and applied it to merit. The materialist Carvaka school quite rightly poked fun at the śaddha ritual saying: “If the śaddha can really satisfy beings who are dead, then in this world when travellers embark on a journey it would not be necessary to provide them with provisions because their relatives back home could eat for them.” Anyone with a good grasp of the Buddha’s teaching could think of quite a few more serious problems with the idea of transferring merit. For example, if it were possible to transfer merit to someone, logically it should also be possible to transfer demerit or evil to them too. This would mean that one could benefit from the good kamma one never did and avoid evil kamma one did do. This would undermine the whole notion of kamma. The Buddha made it clear that: “By oneself is evil done, by oneself is evil shunned, by oneself is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one can purify another” (Dhp.165). In the Sutta Nipāta he said: “When they are overcome by death and are going from here to the next world, the father cannot assist the son, any more than other relatives can” (Sn.579). Even the denizens of Purgatory have a better understanding of kamma than those who believe they can transfer their merit to someone else. The Buddha said that a person who dies and finds himself in Purgatory will be reproached by Yama like this:
“This evil deed was not done by your mother or father, by your brother or sister, by your friends and companions, by your kinsmen and relatives, by ascetics and brahmins, or by the gods. It was done by you yourself, and you yourself will feel its result” (M.I,179-180).
The Jātakas seem to represent a period when the early Buddhism was being influenced by the śaddha notion. True to the original Dhamma, one Jātaka says: “One makes one’s own good fortune. One makes one’s own misfortune. For good fortune or lack of it cannot be made for another by another” (Ja.III,263). But in another story a virtuous man says he will give all the merit he has accumulated to a man lacking virtue (Ja.II,112). By the time of the Dhammapada Atthakathā the notion had come to be believed that it was actually possible to buy someone’s merit from them or sell your own to someone else (Dhp-a.III,12a). But even after the transferring of merit had become widely accepted, there were voices still holding out against this popular superstition. In the 2nd century CE Aśvaghoṣa wrote:
“It is impossible for one to do good and then give it to another, even if one wants to the other cannot receive it. The result of one’s own acts are not destroyed, they are experienced by oneself, but that the effect of what one had not done can be experienced is not factual” (Buddhacarita XX,28).
It is not uncommon for religions to present believers with what is at first said to be an insurmountable problem and then offer them an easy way to avoid it. The Brahmanism of the Buddha’s time taught numerous ways to avoid the consequences of evil one may have done: reciting special mantras; praying to certain deities; bathing in sacred rivers; visiting certain sacred places; and so on. Unfortunately, some sects of Buddhism have not been immune to this sort of thing either. The well-known Tibetan teacher Lama Zopa has written: “Even the heaviest [karmas], the uninterrupted negative karmas, get purified through turning a prayer wheel. Even a fully ordained person [i.e. monk or nun] who has broken all four root vows will get purified. Negative karmas are completely purified, one collects merit like the sky, and one especially develops compassion.” The belief that performing some ritual can make a fundamental difference to a person’s life, especially by benefiting them spiritually, is completely contrary to the Buddha’s teaching.
Then why, it could be asked, do so many Buddhists accept the idea of transferring merit? I have asked a number of senior and learned Sri Lankan monks whether transferring merit is really possible and the responses have generally been the same: slight embarrassment; equivocation; and finally a reluctant admission that it is not possible. When I have further asked: “Then why do you do it and teach it?” The answer is usually this, that people feel the need to do something for the benefit of their deceased loved ones, that the Buddhist understanding of reality does not allow for that, and so out of compassion monks perform the merit transferring ceremony during funerals and on the successive death anniversaries. Doing things out of sensitivity for peoples’ feelings, particularly when they are grieving, is commendable. But explaining the Dhamma is even more commendable. Ultimately, the best consolation, the strongest armour against the vicissitudes of life, is the truth.
While it is not possible to transfer merit to another it is possible to give them the opportunity to rejoice in good and virtuous actions done on their behalf, a practice called puñña anumodana (Sinhala, pin anumodanaya). The two words in this term are puñña = merit and anumodana = to rejoice in or to feel joyful about, although Sri Lankan monks always say it means to transfer merit. Although such a thing is not directly mentioned by the Buddha it appeared in Buddhism at a very early stage and does not contradict the Dhamma. In this practice the family and friends of a recently deceased person do some generous or virtuous deed and then in a simple ceremony announce that what they did was done on behalf of the deceased person. If the deceased is still in the in-between state (antarabhava) they can sense or otherwise come to know of this and it can give them joy and comfort. Traditionally, the good deed was usually to provide a meal for a group of monks in the name of the deceased. But I know of cases in Sri Lanka where people have undertaken to provide meals for patients in one ward of a hospital or a home for the aged, have made a donation to a charity that was of interest to the deceased, or bought a set of encyclopaedias and donated it to the local school library. Puñña anumodana has a variety of benefits. It can uplift the deceased, gives consolation to the grieving, the recipients of the good deed benefit from it, and of course it is in harmony with the Dhamma.