Chapter 35. The Equation of Perfected Merits
The
Equation of Merit & Perfection
According to the
teachings of Lord Gotama Buddha, Buddhists learn that they can earn merit
energy from their meritorious deeds, and the repeated accumulations of merit
energy can be crystallised into perfection of virtues which can be sorted into
as many as 10 qualitative categories.
In Dhammonomics, we can
render definitions and equations to explain this phenomena which naturally
occurs to everyone regardless of belief, race, age, and gender.
Firstly, merit energy
itself is a kind of element or dhatu. The merit energy can be
very strong when it is condensed with more element or dhatu.
And one can quantitatively earn more dhatu in a volume of
merit energy when one strives more in physical, verbal, and mental meritorious
deeds whereas the merit dhatu from thinking alone is usually
‘light,’ with some exceptions.
As the thinking gives
rise to speeches and actions, the mental deeds become stronger and the more
merit dhatu can be earned upon the completion of mental,
verbal, and physical deeds based on the 10 ways to earn merit (punja-kiriya-vaddhu)
namely (1) generosity (2) morality (3) meditation (4) humble behaving (5)
helpful deed (6) sharing merit to others (7) appreciating others’ merit (8)
learning dharma (9) teaching dharma, and (10) correcting one’s view.
Thus, these can be
converted into the equation:
“y” = Merit
Element or Quantitative Merit or dhatu =
(Mental
+ Verbal + Physical) x (the Ten Ways to earn Merit)
Other than the merit
element, there is the merit essence or ‘punja dharma’ which occurs to
one’s mind. This is the quality of merit which can be distinguished into
three major categories as morality (sila), concentration (samadhi),
and wisdom (panna) whereas these qualities can be divided into the
84,000 categories of Dharma or dharma-khanda. However, we can
sort the merit essences according to the 10 virtues namely (1) generosity (2)
morality (3) renunciation (4) wisdom (5) perseverance (6) patience (7)
truthfulness (8) compassion (9) resolution, and (10) equanimity.
These are the quality of
virtues in one’s mind when making merit, and they are the merit essences which
coexist with the merit elements. Hence, these give rise to the
expressions and equations as follows:
Mentalmorality =
Purity
Mentalconcentration =
Mental Calm or Concentration
Mentalwisdom =
Knowledge & Understanding & Competency
As cofactors, they cause
the merit energy to be, more or less, (1) clean, (2) powerful, and (3)
abundant.
“x” = Merit
Essence or Qualitative Merit or Punja Dharma =
(Mentalmorality +
Mentalconcentration + Mentalwisdom )
x (The Ten Perfection of Virtues)
With the above equations
of merit element and essence, we can derive an integral equation of merit
energy where element equals to ‘y’ and essence equals to ‘x’ which occur within
a time frame of (a) before deeds, (b) during deeds, and (c) after deeds. Therefore, the integral equation can be used
to approximately calculate the merit element and essence of merit energy earned
before deeds (m1), during deeds (m2), and after deeds (m3).
Finally, the merit
element and merit essence are conjointly perfected to become the perfection of
virtues or parami based on the active processing of 5 mental
faculties or indriya (orientation of merit cultivation) namely
(1) wisdom (2) faith (3) perseverance (4) mindfulness, and (5) concentration as
shown in the equation below whereas "mindfulness" and
"concentration" coexist altogether with wisdom, faith, and
perseverance, causing the consistency of perfection (mindfulness) and intensity
in crystallisation or condensation (concentration).
As such, we can derive an
equation of ‘perfected merit’ where merit is to the power of “L” and within the
‘root’ of any or more of the mental faculties (i):
(A) Wisdom
= 2 (merit can be fully perfected more quickly and effectively, but less capacity)
(B) Faith
= 3 (merit can be moderately perfected with moderate time, efficiency, and
capacity)
(C) Perseverance
= 4 (perfection of merit required more time, less efficiency, but the most
capacity)
Perfection of Virtues or Perfected Merits or Parami =
[ i √ (Merit)L] x T
In term of the five
mental faculties or indriya which comprise of wisdom, faith,
perseverance, mindfulness, and concentration, all of these are mental faculties
whereas one or more of the wisdom, faith, and perseverance motivate the merit
cultivation, causing more or less of merit element and essence gained.
In addition, mindfulness
is the mental consistency or attention which can be accounted as the ‘processing
time’ to perfecting merit (t) whereas the overall period of lifetimes cultivation
(T) requires more or less ‘eons’ of time to achieve the completion of
cultivation where enlightenment is the end result. As such, the longer period of (T) signifies
the greater volume of perfected merit or perfection in multiplication whereas
‘wisdom’ takes the least period of time in cultivation, and faith takes
moderate time whilst perseverance takes the longest, in order to reach the
requirements to attain enlightenment and noble statuses with different capability
and capacity as follows:
(T) = 100,000 sub-eons
for a regular Arahat Buddhist Saint who achieves full enlightenment
= 1.1 eons for a
right-sided or left-sided chief Arahat Buddhist Saint
= 2.1 eons for a Silent-Buddha
who does not establish a religion
= 20.1 eons for a wisdom
oriented Lord Buddha
= 40.1 eons for a faith
oriented Lord Buddha
= 80.1 eons for a
perseverance oriented Lord Buddha
In parallel,
concentration, the last indriya, is how powerful the mind is
attempted in pursuit of perfections when it is wisdom-oriented (light),
faith-oriented (moderate), and perseverance-oriented (strong).
As such, the 5 faculties
or indriya perfect the merit element & merit essence
sorted into the 10 perfection of virtues to become the 5 powerful strength or bala which
are required for uprooting the lower and higher fetters or samyojana whenever
there is the unification of magga in compliance to the right
resolve, in order to enable the enlightenment or magga & phala,
which is the ultimate goal of Buddhism.
By Pirajak T. S. (formerly Pittaya Wong)
20 November 2020
8 January 2021 (First Revision)
www.meditation101.org
