Merit to Carry With You: What Have You Prepared for the Realm of Death?

Try to imagine this: one day, you must set off on a very long journey. You do not know the date or the hour, but the journey is certain to come. What will you bring with you? What will accompany you throughout the journey? In the dharma talk "Merit to Carry With You," Venerable Thích Chân Quang posed this question from an utterly practical angle, cutting straight to the worry within each of us: blessings from merit are our luggage, the only wealth we can carry across to the other side.

Three types of people at death: just enough merit, too little merit, and surplus merit

Venerable Chân Quang classifies people as they cross over to the other realm into three types. The first type is the person with just enough merit to live one lifetime: while alive, they live in comfort and abundance, but when they close their eyes, their merit runs out precisely. They fall into the realm of death with no one to make offerings on their behalf, and must dwell there in hunger and hardship. The second type is even more frightening: their merit is not enough for a lifetime, so in old age they are abandoned by children and grandchildren, illness clings to their body, and they suffer with nowhere to turn for refuge. Only the third type is the person with surplus merit: they have accumulated wholesome merit all their lives, so after death they are still honored with offerings, remembered fondly by the living, and may be reborn into a wealthy family to continue living in ease and joy.

"There are three types of people: first, the person with just enough merit to live one lifetime, which runs out at death; second, the person whose merit is not enough for a lifetime, which runs out in old age; and third, the person whose surplus merit is carried across to the other realm."

This classification makes us startle and ask ourselves: which type am I? And if we are the second type, the calamity does not only come after death—it already appears right here on this earth: the days of sickness, hunger, cold, and loneliness, without anyone to love us.

Do not be complacent: youth is the time to accumulate merit

Who worries most about having merit left to carry over? You might think it is the elderly, but Venerable Chân Quang says the opposite: the elderly have run out of opportunities, for their years and strength are no more. It is the young who need to worry the most, because they still have time to practice and create merit. Yet sadly, young people often think that death is far off either way, so they simply pursue pleasure and entertainment and trivial matters. Then when old age arrives, they look back and see that time has slipped away, while their merit amounts to little.

So from this very moment, remind yourself that you may not yet have enough merit. Do not be complacent and assume you are someone with merit to spare.

"Do not think that you already have enough merit. Whoever thinks they already have enough merit will see it run out within five years."

It is precisely this humble attitude that keeps us striving, keeps us creating merit without pause. But if we become complacent, our merit will quietly drain away without our knowing.

Three golden principles for keeping merit to carry with you

So how do we accumulate merit? Venerable Chân Quang points out three things that are extremely simple yet decisive:

"First, contribute and give much to the world and to the Dharma. Second, consume and enjoy little. Third, practice diligently with zeal."

Contributing much to the world and to the Dharma means not caring only for ourselves. At work, give more than what your salary pays for. When joining community service, offer your energy enthusiastically. Each act of contribution, however small, accumulates into a mountain of merit. The Venerable recalls the soldiers of old who marched without pay, dedicating their entire youth; because of this, their character became beautiful and rich in merit.

Consuming little means knowing restraint, living simply, and not demanding more than we need. Those who live lavishly and spend money wastefully will exhaust their merit quickly. Remember that money and possessions cannot be carried along, but merit can. Whenever we feel tempted to make a luxurious purchase, we should remember that we are drawing down the luggage for our final journey.

Diligent practice means entering the spiritual world, where the mathematics is entirely different from the earthly realm. In this world, two plus two is four; but in the spiritual realm, three and three may become nine, twenty-seven, an exponential multiplication. Every hour of reciting the Buddha's name, every day of sitting in meditative concentration, every recitation of the sutras multiplies merit beyond measure. This is the most effective way to multiply blessings from merit compared to the earthly realm.

Signs of one who still has merit to carry over

At death, if the funeral is grand, the tomb is large, people make offerings in full, and—most importantly—people speak of us with praise and reverence, that is the sign that merit remains. But if the great stupa still stands while no one remembers, no one speaks well of us, then the merit is exhausted.

"A grand funeral, a large tomb, people making offerings in full, and people constantly singing our praises. These four are the signs that our merit still remains in the other realm."

True merit does not lie in outward splendor, but in what remains within people's hearts. When we die, will anyone remember us, praise us, still burn incense and make offerings? This reflects our blessings from merit in the other world. Therefore, do not concern yourself only with building grand tombs and arranging lavish funerals; instead, ensure that when you pass away, people still think of you with affection and gratitude.

Begin today

Do not wait until you are old or ill to start worrying. Begin right now—while you are still young, still strong, still have time. Give more, consume less, and practice with diligence. That is how we prepare our luggage for the final journey.

Remember: blessings from merit are the only wealth that follows us to the other side. Let each day we live be a day we grow richer in merit. Then we will no longer fear death, for we know we will not go empty-handed. We will carry our blessings, carry the light of our own heart, and step into the eternal realm with a serene smile.