Transfer of merit
Scholars have discussed how the doctrine of transfer of merit can be reconciled with the individual nature of karma in Buddhism.
[6] In the Sanskrit tradition, the word pariṇāmanā is used for transferring merit, meaning 'change, alternation; ripening, bringing to maturity; development; diversion'.
[12][13][14] Merit-making is important to Buddhist practice: merit brings good and agreeable results,[15] determines the quality of the next life[16] and contributes to a person's growth towards enlightenment.
[18] Transferring merit is a widespread custom in all Buddhist countries, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna and Theravāda,[19][20][21] and is often practiced at ceremonies and festivals in honor of the dead.
According to early Buddhist texts, if dead relatives are reborn in a place that is too high or too low, as a deva (deity), as a human, as an animal or in hell, they cannot receive the merit.
[11] 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.
[48] 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 (Mizuko kuyō) is often held after an abortion, to dedicate merit to the spirit of the deceased child.
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.
[54] Scholars argued that it was discordant with the early Buddhist understandings of karma,[20][54][55] and noticed in the Kathāvatthu text that the idea is partly refuted by Theravādins.
[35][56] Theologian Tommi Lehtonen quotes historian Wolfgang Schumann [de] stating that "the Mahāyāna teaching of the transfer of merit breaks the strict causality of the Hinayānic law of karman (P. kamma) according to which everybody wanting better rebirth can reach it solely by his own efforts".
[19] Or as Buddhologist D. Seyfort Ruegg notes,[57] An idea that has posed a number of thorny questions and conceptual difficulties for Buddhist thought and the history of the Mahāyāna is that often referred to as 'transfer of merit' (puṇyapariṇāmanā).
Yet such dedication appears, prima facie, to run counter to the karmic principle of the fruition or retribution of deeds (karmavipāka).
Generally accepted in Buddhism, both Mahāyānist and non-Mahāyānist, this principle stipulates that a karmic fruit or result (karmaphala) is 'reaped', i.e. experienced, solely by the person—or more precisely by the conscious series (saṃtāna)—that has sown the seed of future karmic fruition when deliberately (cetayitva) accomplishing an action (karman).Scholars have suggested the practice of transference may have developed due to influence of Mahāyāna Buddhism, in which beings aiming to become a Buddha (bodhisattva) can share merit with devotees and thereby save them.
[58] Ruegg also argues that the related idea of receiving (Pali: patti, Sanskrit: prāpti) merit through rejoicing, expressed through terms such as pattānumodanā and pattidāna, may have developed due to Mahāyāna influence.
[58][66] 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.
[70] However, according to Buddhist Studies scholar M. M. J. Marasinghe, the concept of the transfer of merit in early Buddhism is different from pre-Buddhist ideas in several respects: merit is not donated in literal, measurable parts; meritorious acts in relation to the Saṅgha are emphasized; devas do not take any part in it; and it is often a compassionate act towards living beings in the next world who are in suffering.
The word peta, literally, 'gone forth', is used in early Buddhism to refer to one's dead relatives in the context of merit transfer.
[9] In the period preceding the arising of Buddhism, it was believed that when somebody died he had to be transformed from a wandering preta to the state of the blissful world of the pitṛs.
[76] Through the monk's role as a field of merit, lay people were able to adhere to the high standards of Buddhism and its aim on renunciation of the world.
[78] In later centuries, in many schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism, it was believed that celestial Buddhas or bodhisattvas could transfer merits to devotees to help relieve their suffering.
[87] Author Sree Padma Holt and scholar Anthony Barber note that merit transfer was well-established and a very integral part of Buddhist practice in the Andhra region of southern India.
[89] In addition, inscriptions at numerous sites across South Asia provide evidence that the transfer of merit was widely practiced in the first few centuries CE.
[95] In some Buddhist countries, certain days have been considered especially suitable for transferring merit, for example on Wan Sart (Thai: วันสารท) in Thailand.
[1][71] In East Asian Buddhism, the doctrine of merit transfer through offerings to the Saṅgha became widely known through the story of Mulian Rescues His Mother.
[14][103] In some Theravāda countries, for example Sri Lanka, merit transfer is done at the end of a Dharma teaching service.
