Are You Wasting Your Blessings from Merit?

**Summary:** A lesson on waste: when we do not use or misuse our blessings from merit, that merit diminishes. Used correctly, blessings expand and life flows smoothly.

Have you ever wondered why many people seem to lose what they strive to protect—their wealth, status, or relationships? Or why some live in abundance, yet everything can suddenly vanish like smoke?

**The Principle of Heaven and Earth: Use to Expand, Hoard to Lose**

According to Thầy Thích Chân Quang, each of us carries blessings from merit acquired in past lives. When we have such blessings, we have the right to use them. However, if used incorrectly, those blessings will be lost. Some believe that hoarding is safe, but in reality, it causes blessings from merit to dissipate.

"If you have it but do not use it, it will also be lost. That is the principle of heaven and earth."

The Thầy recounts a temple with many vehicles, yet those vehicles are only used for Buddhist charitable work, never for leisure. Because they are used correctly, whenever the temple needs a vehicle, simply a thought brings one forth. That is blessings from merit expanding through proper use.

**Two Types of Waste: Not Using Fully and Using in the Wrong Place**

Waste is not merely throwing things away. Waste is not utilizing the full potential of everything. For example, drinking half a glass of water and leaving the rest; leaving food uneaten... Such seemingly small actions create karma: in a future life, one may be born into a place of water scarcity or fall into a state of hunger.

"Waste means things like this. It is not using the full productive capacity of something."

Furthermore, consuming in the wrong place is also waste. A hundred dollars given to a family in need to cover expenses is fine. The same hundred dollars given to someone buying drugs is waste; the accumulation of such waste will deplete one's wealth. A lavish dinner to entertain an important guest is necessary, but a dinner merely for showing off will immediately deduct from one's blessings from merit.

**Boasting Beyond One's Merit: The Path to Collapse**

Many think boasting creates trust and business success. But the Thầy teaches that when we display an appearance greater than our actual merit, we are committing a heavy karmic transgression, and our endeavors will soon collapse.

"When we consume, when we use an item or a possession with the intention of boasting, and that boasting already exceeds our merit, it is still called waste."

Those who understand the law of cause and effect (karmic law) live peacefully, knowing that heaven and the Buddha arrange things. Success or failure is not solely due to human schemes. They still strive but without arrogance or overconfidence, understanding that karma is the ultimate decision-maker.

**Wasting Affection and Wisdom: The Most Easily Lost Intangible Assets**

When someone feels goodwill toward us, that is an asset. If we constantly ask favors, exploiting them for personal gain, that affection will run out. To avoid waste, use that affection to guide them toward truth, or to ask them to help those in distress.

Similarly, intelligence is an asset. Using cleverness to deceive or play mischievous tricks will cause that intelligence to gradually fade. Using intelligence to study the Dharma and help others will develop wisdom to the point of understanding all phenomena.

"If we waste time, we need not live long. If we waste our minds, we need not have a mind anymore."

Time spent playing chess, games, or useless entertainment is a waste of both. Those who waste time will die early; those who waste their minds will become duller.

**Family Background is Also Blessings from Merit: Use it for Good and it Thrives**

Family background is an advantage, an asset. If one relies on it to be arrogant and disdainful, that background will collapse. Conversely, using the influence of one's family background to call for charitable acts, to donate and help the needy, will make one's reputation shine ever brighter.

"Relying on your family background to do good deeds will cause that background to expand."

Let us reflect on our lives daily: are we clarifying how we use what we possess? Do not let blessings from merit trickle away through trivial actions. Use every morsel of food, every idle hour, every word spoken, and every loving heart fully and completely. Then, blessings from merit will ceaselessly flourish—like flowers eternally blooming, like a stream flowing endlessly—and our life will be a spring garden with no end in sight.