Way to Practise

 How to practise:

1.       Begin by repenting all past wrongdoings sincerely, whether large or small, in front of the Buddha image.

2.       Write down wish and vow to complete a certain number of meritorious deeds to show gratitude towards ancestors, earth and heaven.

3.       Keep a daily record of all the kind and unkind acts. Bad deeds would neutralize the good ones. Prepare a small book to record merits and faults and called it the Book of Cultivating the Mind. Record every deed, good or bad, no matter how small. At night burned incense and report all deeds to the heavens.

4.       Recite the Zhun Ti Mantra.

namaḥ saptānāṁ samyak-saṁbuddha koṭināṁ
tad-yathā oṁ cale cule cundi svāhā

 Only with a pure and concentrated mind could what one wish for come true. Practice reciting the Zhun Ti Mantra continuously without counting the number of recitations and without interruption. When there is no wandering thought, the mantra will become effective and successful

5.       When one prays for and seeks for something or tries to change one’s fate, it is important that one does so without giving rise to a single thought. In this way, one will easily receive a response.

6.       Our cultivation has to reach a certain level before our destiny changes. This change depends on the accumulation of merits.

7.       Be very cautious and careful in thought and deed. Maintain this attitude even when alone, as there are spirits and heavenly beings everywhere who know every action and thought. Take insults and slander with a patient and peaceful mind.

8.       We need to be able to find one’s faults everyday and to correct them everyday. If we are unable to detect any faults in ourselves then we will think that everything we do is all right. Then, we will be unable to correct our faults and improvement will be out of the question.

Quoted from Mr Yuan:

 Those who have their hearts set on attaining success and fame, will surely attain success and fame. Those who have their hearts set on attaining wealth and position, will surely attain wealth and position. I am the creator of my own prosperity; if I truly want to create it, I will certainly succeed. I think it is the same for those who are seeking to improve their lives by changing their destiny. If people can expand the heart to diligently do kind deeds, accumulate merits, and put forth their best efforts into character improvement, then both destiny and prosperity will be theirs to create.

Scoring sheet on Merits as taught to Liao-fan by Zen Master Yun Gu

100 merits

1.       Save one life

2.       Save a woman’s chastity

3.       Prevent the drowning

4.       Help continue the family lineage

50 merits

1.       Prevent one abortion

2.       Resist temptation

3.       Provide for one homeless person

4.       Bury the remains of a homeless person

5.       Prevent one person from becoming homeless

6.       Prevent one person from committing a serious crime

7.       Clear one person of an injustice

8.       Give speech that benefits many

30 merits

1.       Donate cemetery land for a family without land

2.       Convert another to the virtuous way

3.       Facilitate a marriage

4.       Facilitate another in taking the religious vows

5.       Take in an orphan

6.       Help another accomplish a virtuous act

10 merits

1.       Recommend a virtuous persons

2.       Remove a source of trouble for another

3.       Cure a serious illness with one remedy

4.       Speak with virtue

5.       Treat servants properly

6.       Save the life of an animal that serves man

7.       Refrain from using power and wealth for one’s own self-interest

8.       Publish or edit the teachings of Buddha

5 merits

1.       Prevent one litigation

2.       Communicate over a lifesaving method

3.       Edit a book on lifesaving methods

4.       Cure one minor illness with a remedy

5.       Urge another to stop the spreading of ill words about others

6.       Make offering to one saintly person

7.       Pray for others

8.       Make a vow not to kill

9.       Save the life of an animal that does not serve man

3 merits

1.       Endure a mistreatment without ill-will

2.       Take slander without reaction

3.       Accept words that are not to one’s liking

4.       Urge silkworm growers, fishermen, hunters and butchers to change to another profession

5.       Bury an animal that died on its own

1 merit

1.       Praise another’s merit

2.       Hide another’s demerit

3.       Peacefully resolve an argument

4.       Stop another from making a mistake

5.       Feed one who is hungry

6.       Provide one night’s lodging for a homeless person

7.       Help another in the cold

8.       Offer one medication

9.       Give one article on helping others

10.    Chant one chapter of sutra

11.    Do one hundred prostration for repentance

12.    Chant Buddha’s name for one thousand times

13.    Speak on the truth to ten people

14.    Organize projects that help ten people

15.    Offer one meal to a monk

16.    Provide for one monk

17.    Do not turn away a beggar

18.    Provide relief for tired animals and people

19.    Comfort others when they are worried

20.    For meat eaters to be vegetarians for one day

21.    Do not eat meat from the animal one has seen heard it being killed or killed specially for oneself

22.    Bury a bid that has died on its own

23.    Release one life

24.    Save a minute life

25.    Help departed spirits to move on

26.    Give money and clothing to people

27.    Forgive a debt

28.    Return a lost article

29.    Do not take improper wealth

30.    Help other pay debt

31.    Offer land

32.    Encourage others to donate to charity

33.    Do not take goods stored for others

34.    Build grain storage facilities, bridges, roads, clear rivers, dig well, build and repair temples and statues of enlightened beings

35.    Make offerings of incense, lamp oil, tea

36.    Give away a coffin

37.    Save spiritual writings