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Ten Meritorious and Ten Evil Actions

A fortunate or unfortunate life depends on individual merits and demerits.

THE performance of good actions gives rise to merit (punna), a quality which cleanses the mind. If the mind is unchecked, it has the tendency to be ruled by evil tendencies, leading one to perform bad deeds and get into trouble. Merit purifies the mind of the evil tendencies of greed, hatred and delusion. The greedy mind encourages a person to desire, accumulate and hoard; the hating mind drags him or her to dislike and anger; and the deluded mind makes one become entangled in greed and hatred, thinking that these evil roots are right and worthy. Demeritorious deeds give rise to more suffering and reduce the opportunities for a person to know and practise the Dharma.

Merit is important to help us along our journey through life. It is connected with what are good and beneficial to oneself and others, and can improve the quality of the mind. While the material wealth a person gathers can be lost by theft, flood, fire, confiscation, etc., the benefit of merits follow from life to life and cannot be lost, although it can be exhausted if no attempts are made to perform more merits. A person will experience happiness here and now as well as hereafter through the performance of merit.

Merit is a great facilitator: It opens the doors of opportunity everywhere. A meritorious person will succeed in whatever venture he or she puts effort into. If one wishes to do business, one will meet with the right contacts and friends. If one wishes to be a scholar, one will be awarded with scholarships and supported by academic mentors. If one wishes to progress in meditation, one will meet with a skillful meditation teacher who guides one through one’s spiritual development. Dreams will be realised through the grace of the treasury of merit. It is merit which enables a person to be reborn in the heavens, and provides him or her with the right conditions and support for the attainment of Nirvana.

There are several rich fields of merit (recipients of the deed) which give rise to bountiful results to the performer of the good deed. Just as some soil can yield a better harvest (say black fertile soil compared to stony soil), a good deed performed to benefit some persons can give rise to more merits than if it is given to others. The rich fields of merits include the Sangha or holy people, mother, father and the needy. Good deeds performed to these persons will manifest in many ways and be the fountainhead of many wondrous results.

The Buddha taught ten meritorious deeds for us to perform in order to gain a happy and peaceful life as well as to develop knowledge and understanding. The ten meritorious deeds are:

1. Generosity (Dana)
2. Morality (Sila)
3. Mental culture (Bhavana)
4. Reverence or respect (Apachayana)
5. Service in helping others (Veyyavaccha)
6. Transference of merits to others (Pattidana)
7. Rejoicing in the merits of others (Pattanumodana)
8. Preaching and teaching the Dharma (Dharma desana)
9. Listening to the Dharma (Dharma savana)
10. Straightening one’s views (Ditthijju)

The performance of these ten meritorious deeds will not only benefit oneself, but others as well, besides giving benefits to the recipients. Moral conduct benefits all beings with whom one comes into contact. Mental culture brings peace to others and inspires them to practise the Dharma. Reverence gives rise to harmony in society, while service improves the lives of others. Sharing merits with others shows that one is concerned about others’ welfare, while rejoicing in others’ merits encourages others to perform more merits. Teaching and listening to the Dharma are important factors for happiness for both the teacher and listener, while encouraging both to live in line with Dharma. Straightening one’s views enables a person to show to others the beauty of Dharma. In the Dharmapada, the Buddha taught:

‘Should a person perform good,
He should do it again and again;
He should find pleasure therein;
For blissful is the accumulation of good.’

Dhammapada, 118

Think not lightly of good, saying,
It will not come near to me’—
Even by the falling of drops a water-jar is filled.
Likewise the wise man, gathering little by little,
Fills himself with good.’

Dhammapada, 122

Ten Evil Deeds

There are ten demeritorious deeds from which people are advised to keep away. These deeds are rooted in greed, hatred and delusion, and will bring suffering to others but especially to oneself in this life and later lives. When a person understands the Law of Karma and realises that bad deeds bring bad results, he or she will then practise Right Understanding and avoid performing these actions.

There are three bodily actions which are karmically unwholesome. They are: (1) Killing of living beings, (2) Stealing, and (3) Illicit sexual behaviour. These bodily deeds correspond to the first three of the Five Precepts for people to follow.

The effects of killing to the performer of the deed are short life span, ill health, constant grief due to the separation from the loved ones, and living in constant fear. The bad consequences of stealing are poverty, misery, disappointment, and a dependent livelihood. The bad consequences of sexual misconduct are having many enemies, always being hated, and union with undesirable wives and husbands.

The Four verbal actions which are karmically unwholesome are: (1) Lying, (2) Slander and tale-bearing, (3) Harsh speech, and (4) Frivolous and meaningless talk. Except for lying, the other unwholesome deeds performed by speech may be viewed as extensions of the Fourth Precept.

The bad consequences of lying to the one who performs the deed are being subject to abusive speech and vilification, untrustworthiness, and physical unpleasantness. The bad effect of slandering is losing one’s friends without any sufficient cause. The results of harsh speech are being detested by others and having a harsh voice. The inevitable effects of frivolous talk are defective bodily organs and speech to which no one pays attention.

The three other demeritorious deeds are performed by the mind, and they are as follows: (1) Covetousness, or eager desires especially of things belonging to others, (2) Ill-will, and (3) Wrong views. These three deeds correspond to the three evil roots of greed, hatred and delusion. The non-observance of the Fifth Precept of abstention from intoxicants can not only lead to the performance of these three demeritorious mental actions after the mind is intoxicated, but also the other demeritorious deeds performed by body and speech.

The undesirable result of covetousness is the non-fulfilment of one’s wishes. The consequences of ill will are ugliness, manifold diseases, and having a detestable nature. Finally, the consequences of false view are having gross desires, lack of wisdom, being of dull wit, having chronic diseases and blameworthy ideas.

A person should always perform good actions and restrain him or herself from doing evil actions. If, however, a person has performed an evil action, it is necessary to realise where wrong has been done and make an effort not to repeat the mistake. This is the true meaning of repentence, and in this way only will a person progress along the noble path to emancipation.

Praying for forgiveness is meaningless if, after the prayer is made, a person repeats the evil action again and again. Who is there to ‘wash away a person’s sins’ except oneself? This has to begin with realisation, the wonderful cleansing agent. First, one realises the nature of the deed and the extent of the harm incurred. Next, one realises that this deed is unwholesome, learns from it, and makes the resolution not to repeat it. Then, one performs many good deeds to benefit the affected party as well as others, as much as possible. In this way, the effect of a bad deed is overcome with a shower of good deeds.

No wrong doer, according to Buddhism, is beyond redemption or rehabilitation, especially with realisation and Right Effort. To be seduced into believing that a person can ‘wash away’ his or her bad deeds through some other ‘miraculous’ way is not only a mere superstition, but worse, it is also not useful particularly to the spiritual development of the person. It will only cause one to continue to remain ignorant and morally complacent. This misplaced belief can, in fact, do a person much more harm than the effects of the wrong deed which is feared so much.

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Редакция перевода от 29.09.2016 18:53