Expert: Buddhis8 - BuddhismIS.com - 4/28/2009

Question
I would like to know what exactly are the Buddhist teachings on transfer of merit.  I understand it is not as literal as it sounds, but more of someone rejoicing in someone else's merit? Also, how does this compare to the Jain teachings - or does transfer of merit not occur there?

Answer
Dear Claire,

Maybe try "Sharing of Merits" ....

I think it's safe to say that really, the sharing of merits is done more for the person sharing than the person that is "receiving" them, and as with anything(everything), has largely to do with one's state of mind.

Merits - Can they be transferred? - By Ven Aggacitta
....in Nandamata Sutta (AN 7:53). One early morning, Nanda’s mother was happily chanting some verses from the Sutta Nipata when she suddenly heard a voice saying, “Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu!” She looked around in surprise. At that moment, Vesavana, King of the Yakkhas was actually passing by. When he heard the melodious chant, he stopped to listen and was so delighted that he cried, “Excellent!” When Nanda’s mother discovered that it was King Vesavana, she happily told him to let her chanting be a visitor’s gift to him. In return, King Vesavana informed her that the Venerables Sariputta and Moggallana will be arriving this way tomorrow with the whole community of monks and advised her to prepare breakfast for them. She should then dedicate the merits accrued to him.

The next day, after the dana, Venerable Sariputta asked Nanda’s mother how she knew that the monks were passing this way. She told him the story of King Vesavana, after which she dedicated the merit and its fruit for the happiness of the king. In this sutta it would seem that merit could apparently be 'transferred' for Venerable Sariputta did not object to Nandamata’s dedication, unlike the case of Culasaccaka.

There appears to be some sort of inconsistency here. In the end verse of the Kaladana Sutta (AN 5:36), the Buddha said that all those who either gave dana or offered their services as well as those who were not involved at all but witnessed the offering and then rejoiced in it, share the same amount of merits. It is clear now that while merit cannot actually be shared or transferred (for each of us is the heir of our own karma), it can be gained when a person rejoices in the good that is done. Merit is thus 'shared' in this way.
http://sasanarakkha.org/dhamma/2007/03/ ... erred.html

SHARING OF MERITS By Ven. Sayadaw U. Sumana
http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhis ... Merits.htm

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn...than.html#khp-7

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe36/sbe3606.htm
(Scroll down to "Offerings to the Dead")

Hope this Helps
Shozen, Metta
http://www.knowbuddhism.info