Puṇya

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puṇya (P. puñña; T. bsod nams བསོད་་ནམས་; C. fu 福). Translated as "karmic fruitfulness," "fruits of good actions," "merit," etc.[1][2][3] Puṇya refers to the accumulation of wholesome karma that results from wholesome actions of body, speech or mind. Puṇya (merit) carries over throughout one's life or into future lives, and contributes to a person's growth towards spiritual liberation.

The accumulation of puṇya through the practice of giving (dana) and so on is emphasized in all Buddhist traditions.[2]

Generating puṇya (karmic fruitfulness)

Generally speaking, puṇya ("karmic fruitfulness") is generated through any positive action of body, speech or mind.

Overview

Peter Harvey states:

Good actions are said to be ‘beautiful’ (kalyāṇa) and to be, or have the quality of, puñña (Skt puṇya), which term is either an adjective or noun. As an adjective, Cousins sees it as the ‘fortune-bringing or auspicious quality of an action’ (1996b: 153), while as a noun ‘it is applied either to an act which brings good fortune or to the happy result in the future of such an act’ (1996b: 155). Thus we see:
Monks, do not be afraid of puññas; this, monks, is a designation for happiness, for what is pleasant, charming, dear and delightful, that is to say, puññas. I myself know that the ripening of puññas done for a long time are experienced for a long time as pleasant, charming, dear and delightful. (It.14–15, cf. A.IV.88–9)
Puñña is usually, rather limply, translated as ‘meritorious’ (adjective) or ‘merit’ (noun). However, ‘meritorious’ implies being deserving of reward, praise or gratitude, but puñña refers to something with a natural power of its own to produce happy results; it does not depend on anyone to give out what is due to the ‘deserving’. In Christian theology, ‘merit’ refers to a good deed seen to have a claim to a future reward from a graceful God, an idea that ill fits Buddhism. A puñña action is ‘auspicious’, ‘fortunate’ or ‘fruitful’, as it purifies the mind and thus leads to future good fortune (McDermott, 1984: 31–58).
The Sanskrit word puṇya may derive from the root puṣ, meaning ‘to thrive, flourish, prosper’, or pū, ‘to make clean or clear or pure or bright’, hence a Theravdin commentary explains puñña by saying ‘it cleanses and purifies the life-continuity’ (Vv-a.10; Bodhi, 1990). A further reservation on ‘merit’ for puñña is that, in normal English usage, to say something ‘has merit’ is often to damn it with faint praise, while in Buddhism, acts of puñña are seen as uplifting and admirable. The effect of the translation ‘merit’ is to produce a flattened, dispirited image of this aspect of Buddhism. Admittedly, puñña alone will not bring awakening, as wisdom is needed for this, but it does help prepare the ground for this.
As the noun puñña refers to the power of good actions as seeds for future happy fruits, an appropriate translation is "(an act of) karmic fruitfulness", with "karmically fruitful" as the adjective. The Sangha is described as the best "field of puñña", that is, the best group of people to "plant" a gift "in" in terms of good results of the gift, hence "like fields are the Arahats; the givers are like farmers. The gift is like the seed, [and] from this arises the fruit" (Pv.I.1).[1]

Three bases for generating puñña

Early texts of the Pali tradition emphasize "three bases for generating puñña" (Pali: puñña-kiriya-vatthūni):[2][1][4]

Additional bases for generating puñña

Later texts in the Pali canon add seven additional specific activities for generating puñña, for a total of ten "bases" or "grounds":[1]

  1. giving (dana)
  2. virtue (śīla)
  3. mental development (bhavana)
  4. honoring others (apacayana)
  5. offering service (veyyavacca)
  6. dedicating (or transferring) merit to others (pattidana)
  7. rejoicing in other's merit. (pattanumodana)
  8. listening to Teachings (dhammassavana)
  9. instructing others in the Teachings (dhammadesana)
  10. straightening one's own views in accord with the Teachings (ditthujukamma)

Ten wholesome actions

See also: kuśalakarmapatha

The Sanskrit tradition emphasizes a list of ten wholesome actions:

Acting with a pure motivation

Peter Harvey states:

Any act of giving is seen as karmically fruitful, even giving in the hope of some return, or giving purely to get the karmic result of giving. A purer motive, however, is seen as leading to a better karmic result. Thus it is particularly good to give from motives such as the appreciation of a gift as helping to support a holy way of life, or of the calm and joy that giving naturally brings (A.IV.60–3). While a large gift is generally seen as more auspicious than a small one, purity of mind can also make up for the smallness of a gift, for ‘where there is a heart of calm and joyful faith (citta-pasāde), no gift is small’ ( Jat.II.85). Indeed, a person with nothing to give can act auspiciously by simply rejoicing at another person’s giving. In Theravāda lands, this is expressed by uttering of the ritual expression sādhu, meaning ‘it is good!’, when others give. The same principle, of course, logically implies that if one verbally or mentally applauds someone else’s unwholesome action, one is performing an unwholesome action oneself.[1]

Transfer of puṇya and rejoicing in other's wholesome actions

Two common practices related to generating merit are:

These practices are believed to help develop a generous state of mind in the practitioner. Rupert Gethin states:

The practice of the transference of merit—the giving of one’s merit—is an ancient and extremely widespread and common Buddhist practice. What it indicates is that spiritual practice is to be entered into in a generous spirit, not for the sake of acquiring merit exclusively for oneself but for the benefit of others too. Indeed, only acts undertaken in this spirit are truly meritorious in the first place. The rejoicing in the merit of others also indicates that, in undertaking meritorious acts, it is one’s state of mind that is crucial: thus if one gives grudgingly, with an ungenerous heart, the auspiciousness of one’s acts is compromised; on the other hand, if one gives nothing at all but is deeply moved by another’s act of generosity, then that in itself is an auspicious occasion, an act of merit. Thus for many Buddhists it is customary at the end of Buddhist devotions and rituals to offer the merit generated during the ceremony for the benefit of other beings—either specific beings such as dead relatives, or all sentient beings—and in so doing to invite all present (whether they have directly participated in the ceremony or not, whether they have physical presence or are unseen ghosts or gods) also to rejoice in the merit of the ceremony.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Harvey 2013, Chapter 2.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. puṇya.
  3. ↑ 福, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
  4. ↑ See for example: Puññakiriyavatthusutta, StudyBuddhism; also: Thanissaro, Bhikkhu (2001). The Group of Ones §22 (Iti. 1.22)
  5. ↑ Gethin 1998, pp. 109-110.

Sources

External links

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