Yes, attaining greater distinction in the Dhamma, is worthy of great esteem! We express our faith in them!
Just showing that the recipient’s and victim’s mental state matters.
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Yeah, I see the link you want to make, but I’m not sure it holds: in the case of the animals’ suffering, that is something that the person is directly and knowingly causing, so is quite reasonably taken as that person’s kamma. The reference to AN 9.20, however, is a great one, and very much does speak to the point.
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It’s interesting, this gift of acknowledgment of another’s accuracy!
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I take merit to be wholesome kamma.
I take “overflowing of merit” to just mean a lot of merit for the donor - as in the metaphor “my cup is overflowing”.
I’m not sure how merit could transfer out more widely from the individual.
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Precisely my take on things! I’m just in the middle of going through a Dhp translation and came across the following which sums things up pretty well for me:
By oneself alone is a wicked deed done, by oneself is one defiled,
by oneself is a wicked deed left undone, by oneself is one purified,
purity and impurity come from oneself, for no one can purify another.Vs. 165
That said, turning it over, somewhere in the mix of my thoughts over the last few days (through a combination of a few of factors) at one point I had quite a pleasing sense of how the thought of contributing to the manifestation of the best and brightest of all possible qualities in the universe could certainly go some way to lifting one’s heart.
Thanks to all.
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