By sharing merit, we cultivate gratitude for the opportunity to practice. It is an acknowledgement that we receive these teachings and practices as a gift and share them with others. Similarly, we understand that our wellbeing is bound up together and that we practice not just for ourselves, but for the benefit all beings. Here are some examples of how we remind us to share the merit.
Nguyện đem công đức này,
Hướng về khắp tất cả.
Đệ tử và chúng sanh,
Đều trọn thành Phật đạo.
1.
We dedicate the merit of our practice
to the benefit of all beings,
in full measure to each:
May all beings be well.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be peaceful.
2. (Adapted from Plum Village)
Opening our hearts wide to the Perfect Highest Awakening,
we are resolved: to attain Great Understanding;
to realize compassion and embody deep love;
to practice diligently, transforming our suffering
and the suffering of all other species.
We vow to share the fruits of this practice
for the happiness of people and all other beings.
We vow to offer tribute to parents, teachers, friends,
and numerous beings who give guidance and support along the path.
3. (Adapted from Amaravati Monastery)
May whatever living beings, without measure and without end,
partake of all the merit from the good deeds we have done:
those loved and full of goodness; beings seen and unseen;
beings known and unknown; those neutral and averse.
May all beings live at ease, in freedom from hostility.
May their good wishes be fulfilled and may they all reach safety.
4. (Adapted from Abhayagiri Monastery)
Through the goodness that arises from our practice, and through this act of sharing,
May our teachers and guides; parents and caregivers; relatives and friends;
unknown and enemies; and all beings and the universe itself
attain the threefold bliss and realize the Deathless.
Until all beings realize Nibbana, in every circumstance and in every kind of birth,
May all beings aspire to have an upright mind, with wisdom and compassion.
May all craving and clinging cease, along with all harmful states of mind.
May the forces of delusion not take hold nor weaken any skillful resolve.
The Buddha is the excellent refuge. Unsurpassed is the protection of the Dharma.
And unsurpassed is the support of the Sangha. Through the supreme power
of these Refuges, may all greed, hatred, and delusion be dispelled.
5. (from One Earth Sangha)
May all places be held sacred.
May all beings be cherished.
May all injustices of oppression and devaluation
be fully righted, remedied and healed.
May all who are captured by hatred
be freed to the love that is our birthright.
May all who are bound by fear
discover the safety of understanding.
May all who are weighed down by grief
be given over to the joy of being.
May all who are lost in delusion
find a home on the path of wisdom.
May all wounds to the Earth
be lovingly restored to bountiful health.
May all beings everywhere
delight in whale-song, birdsong, and blue sky.
And may all beings abide in peace and well-being,
awaken, and be free.
