Dedicating Merit

When we make merit for someone who’s passed away, we think of the goodness they’ve done. This is why we want to remember them, so that we can carry on some of that goodness ourselves. And when we want to dedicate some merit to them, we want to make sure that the merit is complete.

There are basically three ways of making merit: through generosity, through virtue, and meditation. All three, going together, make it complete. So we’ve given the food; we’re holding to the precepts; now’s the time for the work of the meditation. You want to make the meditation a high-quality meditation because, after all, you’re giving a gift to somebody else. You don’t want to give a shoddy gift. You want to give something that’s of high quality.

So. Make your mind one. The more the mind is focused like this, the more power it has. When you’re dedicating merit to someone, there’s something that the Thai ajaans talk about, which is the current of the mind. The power of the current of the mind is determined by how strong your concentration is, how solid your intention is.

So make your intention solid. Make your mind focused as best you can on the breath. And just keep it there. You don’t have to make an elaborate gift. Just make a really good gift—a gift that’s focused, a gift that’s strong. Create this current of the mind that that has the strength to take it to wherever it needs to go. If you were to make a picture of most people’s currents of their minds, they’re all over the place, very jagged, very ragged, very scattered. No wonder the world is such a mess.

So we’re trying to get a focused, good current—because that’s the other problem with a lot of the currents in the world. Some of them are focused, but they’re very bad. They may be harming other people, being cruel to other people. So to counteract that, we have to make a current that’s harmless. A current that wishes well to all beings. And the focus is the goodness of that wide attitude, to dedicating merit to someone who’s passed away.

In this way, we benefit and they benefit because what we’re giving is something of high quality.