Sharing in the merits of others

This weekend my friends at the Garden of 1000 Buddhas will be out cleaning a portion of highway in Western Montana. Such actions of voluntary service to improve the lives of others, both human and nonhuman, should be lauded. Or better yet, joined and repeated.

Volunteers and Sangha members needed! We will be doing the last Adopt-A-Highway clean up for 2011 this Sunday, October 9th.

Click here for the full details of this and other events in Buddhism in Western Montana.


In Buddhist ethics, I have been told that there is even a way of ‘sharing’ in their merits (good karma/deeds), simply by your own heartfelt appreciation for those deeds. Naturally, this merit that you gain in such appreciation will be pretty weak if you go ahead and toss some litter out your window next time you’re cruising down the road. But on the other hand, if it truly is heartfelt, then quite the opposite may happen: you might spontaneously stop and pick up some trash or forego purchasing a certain item (think of heavily processed foods or cheap electronics) because you can see that it is wrapped in needless layers of future landfill.


The link may seem a bit odd at first, but I know – having spent some time out cleaning highways, this is the kind of stuff I found (and fast food bags/containers, and cigarettes). Now I’ll gladly pass over those hyped-up, over-packaged foods – foods that I would typically buy only on an impulse.

So, kudos to you, Ewam/Garden of 1000 Buddhas and friends.