Dhamma talk "Offering Merit" – 86th Seven-Day Retreat

In the morning of Sep 16, 2017 (Jul 26, lunar calendar), based on the invitation from the Retreat Organizer, Venerable Thich Tri Minh, lecturer for HCMC Buddhism Study Institute, came to deliver the Dharma talk on the topic “Offering Merit” to practitioners.

Offering means giving out things. To have a full-fledged offering, it is necessary to have three following factors:

1. Donor: there are two kinds of merits for donor depending on how the donation is carried out:

·Small merit: when donor offers things with discrimination and expectation, for the sake of fame or wealth in this secular world, for example. This kind of donation generates small merit to giver.

·Large merit: when donor offers things with compassionate mind without any expectation or discrimination. This is a kind of fulfilled donation that can generate immeasurable merit.

2 / Donation: there are three types of donation including material/Dharma/fearlessness donation. We should also note that some kinds of offering/items may create bad karmas instead of merit as poison, drugs, cigarettes, weapons, women, offerings to Gods, superstition, or paganism, ...

3 / Recipient: varied recipients may create varied merits. Offering to the sage or virtue people (large field) will generate larger merit to offering to normal/evil ones (small field).

Offering is a kind of practice bringing great merits to donor within this life and the after-lives. It is the vital luggage for us on the Path discovering inner Buddhahood. Hence offering is the foremost and integral practice method for practitioner on the Path to happiness and liberation.

Following are recorded photographs:

BBT Website