In Mahāyāna Buddhist practice, it is important to selflessly give away one’s merits without any attachment. Many people mistakenly view merits as precious spiritual assets, which should not be shared and forget that the more one shares the merits the more they grow. One must do the dedication of merits with a sense of uninhibited generosity. It is also crucial that the merit is not dedicated to just an inferior or small causes such as getting rich or living long. The best mode of dedication is to dedicate one’s merit, however little, to the cause of reaching perfect enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. A person must think “I dedicate the merits from this deed and all other merits I and others have accumulated in the past, accumulate in the present and shall accumulate in the future to the sentient beings so that they reach the perfect enlightenment, the state of ultimate happiness, and also attain happiness in the interim period of their worldly existence.”

If one does not know how to dedicate, there are many standard verses which can be used to make a dedication. One can also think that one is dedicating the merits in the same manner Buddha Śākyamuni or Mañjuśrī dedicated their merits for the sake of the sentient beings. In the ultimate form of dedication, one also needs to understand the illusory nature of things that one does not exist, the beneficiary does not exist and the merits also don’t exist. All are in an illusory state of emptiness. By having such awareness of the illusory nature of things, one will be able to overcome attachment and fixation on the merit.

Dedication is the final limb of the seven-part practice and is a fundamental concluding procedure in Mahāyāna Buddhist practice. All positive deeds must conclude with prayers of dedication so that the merits are secured and enhanced for perpetuity. It is an exceptional practice of giving.

Karma Phuntsho is the Director of Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research, founder of the Loden Foundation and the author of The History of Bhutan. The piece was initially published in Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel in a series called Why We Do What We Do.