Queequeg wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 4:36 pm
Virgo wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 3:23 pm
Queequeg wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 2:20 pm
I may be wrong but as I understand, what we call merit is merely a latent effect that expresses as a manifest effect when the appropriate circumstances arise. Demerit can also remain latent until the circumstances arise for its expression. Positive and negative are labels we apply for pleasurable and painful states of mind, respectively.
Is merit not just positive karma?
Virgo
Yes. More succinct. Its not some "good vibes" rebounding around the world, is my point.
"The main concept of the field of merit is that good deeds done towards some recipients accrue more merit than good deeds to other recipients. This is compared with a seed planted in fertile ground, which reaps more and better fruits than in infertile ground."
in Salguero, C. Pierce , "Fields of Merit, Harvests of Health: Some Notes on the Role of Medical Karma in the Popularization of Buddhism in Early Medieval China", Asian Philosophy, 23 (4): 341–349,
Merit ledgers and merit-books (puṇyapustaka)
"In China, it was common for many centuries to keep record of someone's meritorious deeds in 'merit ledgers' (pinyin: gōngguò gé). Although a belief in merit and retribution had preceded the merit ledgers by many centuries, during the Ming dynasty, through the ledgers a practice of systematic merit accumulation was established for the first time. The merit ledgers were lists of good deeds and bad deeds, organized in the form of a calendar for users to calculate to what extent they had been practicing good deeds and avoiding bad deeds every day. The ledgers also listed the exact retributions of every number of deeds done, to the detail. Through these ledgers it was believed someone could offset bad karma. In the fourth century CE, the Baopuzi, and in the twelfth century the Treatise On the Response of the Tao and the Ledger of Merit and Demerit of the Taiwei Immortal introduced the basics of the system of merit ledgers. In the fourteenth century CE, the Tao master Zhao Yizhen recommended the use of the ledgers to examine oneself, to bring emotion in harmony with reason. From the fourth to the sixteenth centuries, many types of ledgers were produced by Buddhist and Tao schools, and the usage of the ledgers grew widespread. The practice of recording merits has survived in China and Japan until the present day. In Theravāda countries, for example in Burma and Sri Lanka, similar customs have been observed. In Sri Lanka, a 'book of merit' (Pali: puñña-potthaka, Sanskrit: puṇyapustaka) was sometimes kept by someone for years and read in the last moments of life. This practice was based on the story of King Duṭṭhagāmaṇi, and was mostly practiced by the royalty and rich during the period of the Mahāvaṁsa chronicle. More recent practice has also been observed, for example, as a form of terminal care, or as part of the activities of lay merit-making associations."
wikipedia