Transfer of merit
Transfer of merit is a standard part of Buddhist spiritual discipline where the practitioner's merit, resulting from good deeds, is transferred to deceased relatives, to deities, or to all sentient beings.
Such transfer is done mentally, and it is believed that the recipient can often receive this merit, if they rejoice in the meritorious acts of the person transferring. In Buddhism, merit transfer is seen as a better alternative than mourning.
Scholars have discussed how the doctrine of transfer of merit can be reconciled with the individual nature of karma in Buddhism. Some scholars believe that the idea originates with early Buddhism, whereas others suspect a later origin.
In Buddhism, such worship was given an ethical emphasis. The doctrine may also have been influenced by pre-Buddhist ideas of transference of powers. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, transfer of merit became an essential aspect of the ideal of the bodhisattva, the Buddha-to-be, who uses his merits to help all living beings.
Transfer of merit is widely practiced in all Buddhist countries, in ceremonies, festivals, and daily practice. In the present day, transfer of merit has become an intrinsic part of Buddhism and has an important social function.
Translations
In the later Pāli tradition, the word pattidāna is used, meaning 'giving of the acquired'. In the Sanskrit tradition, the word pariṇāmanā is used for transferring merit, meaning 'change, alternation; ripening, bringing to maturity; development; diversion'. The term 'transfer of merit' has become commonplace, though objected to by many scholars. Indeed, 'transfer of merit' does not render any term from a classical Buddhist language.Description
Merit is a concept considered fundamental to Buddhist ethics. It is a beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts. Merit-making is important to Buddhist practice: merit brings good and agreeable results, determines the quality of the next life, and contributes to a person's growth towards enlightenment. Alongside the concept of merit, in Mahāyāna, pariṇāmanā is also associated with the concept of 'roots of virtue'.Transferring merit is a widespread custom in all Buddhist countries, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna and Theravāda, and is often practiced at ceremonies and festivals in honor of the dead.
Transferring merit to another person, usually deceased relatives, is simply done by a mental wish. Despite the word transfer, the merit of the giver is in no way decreased during such an act. The traditional metaphor is a candle used to light another candle, of which the light does not diminish in the process.
The merit transferred cannot always be received, however. According to early Buddhist texts, if dead relatives are reborn in a place that is too high or too low, as a deva, as a human, as an animal or in hell, they cannot receive the merit. They can only receive the merit if they are born as pretas, that is, spirits or ghosts. They must also be able to sympathize with the meritorious act. The transfer of merit is thus connected with the idea of rejoicing. If the relatives do not receive the merit, however, the very act of transferring merit will still be meritorious for the giver himself.
This explains part of the definition of pariṇāmanā : when a giver gives merit, he also gains it in that way. The other person who rejoices in one's meritorious deeds, in that way also receives merit, if he approves of the merit done. Thus, rejoicing in others' merits, apart from being one of ten meritorious acts mentioned in Buddhist texts, is also a prerequisite for the transferring of merit to occur.
Because it is believed that merit can actually be transferred, transferring merit to deceased loved ones is seen as a better alternative than mourning. Also, since in the next life there is no such thing as making a living through some occupation, merit is what sustains living beings in the afterlife. Material things cannot be transferred directly to beings in the next world, but the merit accrued by making a donation to the monastic community can be transferred. In this way, a certain object donated appears in the next world for the recipient there, although this is through the strength of the intention of giving, not through the physical act of offering by itself.
The traditional example of the transferring of merit in the commentaries to the Pāli Tipiṭaka is that of King Bimbisāra, who the Buddha encourages to share his merits with his former relatives, reborn as pretas. In the story, during a visit of the Buddha to Bimbisāra's palace, Bimbisāra asks about some outside noise. The Buddha explains it is the noise of pretas, who in a previous life were the king's relatives.
The noise was the pretas crying out of hunger. The Buddha continues that the only way the king could help his former relatives was to transfer the merit from the gifts he had given to the Saṅgha to the pretas. The pretas are then seen to receive the objects given to the monks: Bimbisāra gives food and cloth to the Saṅgha, and the merit of the gifts allows the pretas to receive the objects given as well.
Purpose
The purposes for merit transfer differ. Some Mahāyāna traditions believe that it can help deceased relatives to attain the Pure Land, a heavenly paradise in Pure Land Buddhist cosmology. In many Buddhist countries, transferring merit is connected to the notion of an intermediate state between death and rebirth, during which the wandering being's future destiny is still uncertain. The merit that is transferred to the deceased will help them to cross over safely to the next rebirth.Or if the spirit has already been reborn, but in an undesirable rebirth, the merits transferred will help to shorten the time that the spirit must spend there. On a similar note, when performing a ceremony to drive away a spirit that has possessed a devotee, devotees may invite a monk for a ceremony to transfer merits to the spirit. Another aim in transferring merit, apart from helping the deceased, is to dedicate it to the devas, the early orthodox view that they cannot receive merit notwithstanding.
It is believed that they are not able to do good deeds themselves, and their favor can be obtained in this way. Often, transference to deities is focused on deities that are considered protectors of Buddhism. Furthermore, merit is sometimes transferred to parents as a form of devotion or filial piety. Many Buddhists transfer merits to resolve a bond of revenge that may exist between people, as it is believed that someone else's vengefulness may create harm in one's life. Because of this reason, in Japan a special memorial service is often held after an abortion, to dedicate merit to the spirit of the deceased child. Finally, it is also a common practice to transfer merits to all sentient beings, though more commonly so in Mahāyāna Buddhism than in Theravāda.
The transfer of demerit or evil, the opposite of transfer of merit, has little to no role in Buddhism. It does sometimes take place in Hinduism, in which it is linked with the idea of pollution.
Historical analysis
Relation with karma
Initially in the Western study of Buddhism, some scholars believed that the transfer of merit was unique to Mahāyāna Buddhism and that it was developed only at a late period after the historical Buddha. For example, Indologist Heinz Bechert dated the Buddhist doctrine of transfer of merit in its fully developed form to the period between the fifth and seventh century CE. Scholars argued that it was discordant with the early Buddhist understandings of karma, and noticed in the Kathāvatthu text that the idea is partly refuted by Theravādins.Theologian Tommi Lehtonen quotes historian stating that "the Mahāyāna teaching of the transfer of merit breaks the strict causality of the Hinayānic law of karman according to which everybody wanting better rebirth can reach it solely by his own efforts". Or as Buddhologist D. Seyfort Ruegg notes,
Scholars have suggested the practice of transference may have developed due to influence of Mahāyāna Buddhism, in which beings aiming to become a Buddha can share merit with devotees and thereby save them. Ruegg also argues that the related idea of receiving merit through rejoicing, expressed through terms such as pattānumodanā and pattidāna, may have developed due to Mahāyāna influence.
Other scholars have argued that the doctrine of the transfer of merit can be found early in the Theravāda tradition, and that the doctrine is sanctioned by early texts. For example, Indologist Richard Gombrich placed its origins around the fourth century BCE. Buddhist Studies scholar Gregory Schopen states that the idea of merit transfer is part of all epigraphical findings that are related to a Buddhist belief in karma, even the earliest, in the third century BCE. Then there also scholars who propose that, although the concept of transfer of merit did not exist as such in early Buddhism, early doctrines did form a basis for it, the concept of transfer of merit being an "inherent consequence" of these early doctrines. Gombrich theorizes that early Buddhism focused on individual karma and responsibility, and that the teaching on transference of merit provided an "escape" to this strict doctrine of individual responsibility. He further argues that the term anumodana, in later Buddhism used for rejoicing as a way to receive merit, in the earliest Pāli texts meant 'giving thanks' and was used when the deceased gave thanks for transferred merit. Later commentators reinterpreted the term to mean 'rejoicing', to fit in with Buddhist orthodoxy. They explained that the deceased gained merit through simply rejoicing in the merits that their relatives made for them. In this way, there was no real transference of merit, but the deceased made merit by themselves, following orthodox doctrine on individual karma. This still is the explanation given by monastics and other notables in countries like Burma and Sri Lanka, when asked about the apparent contradiction between individual retribution of karma and the transfer of merit.