Count on Merit, Not on Luck
by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
 
On August 25, 2008, Rinpoche spoke at the Mahabodhi Society of the USA, in Cupertino, California. His talk was translated into Chinese for the largely Chinese-speaking Mahabodhi sangha. Here are a few notes from that talk, "How to Accumulate Merit."
 
In this age, people don't like to talk about merit--they talk about luck. From the Buddhist perspective, merit and luck are very different. Luck is accidental-- you can't really make luck happen. There are no books on how to create luck. Luck just happens.
 
Merit is very different from luck.
 
What do we mean by merit in Buddhadharma? The Buddhist interpretation of merit is always in reference to what is closer to the truth or farther away from the truth. Anything that brings us closer to the truth is merit. Anything that takes us farther from the truth is lack of merit. It's because of our collective merit that we still have the teachings of the Buddha today.
 
Here are some methods of accumulating merit:
 
Do prostrations to crush pride. Make offerings to go against stinginess.
 
Practice compassion to dismantle ego. Rejoice in other's successes to combat jealousy.
 
Turn the wheel of dharma by asking masters to teach. Pray or ask for the long life of masters.
 
Dedicate the merit.
 
Offering alms provides a great opportunity for ordinary people to create a karmic link, to practice generosity, to practice detachment, and to accumulate merit.
 --Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche