Forgetting Merit, Avoiding Arrogance: The Secret of the Diamond Sutra

Have you ever done a good deed, received praise from others, and felt joyful while imagining the beautiful karmic results awaiting you? According to Venerable Thich Chan Quang, that is precisely the moment you have grasped onto arrogance and inadvertently lost your merit. In the ninth lecture of this series on the Diamond Sutra, the teacher reveals the secret of a bodhisattva: performing all wholesome deeds as if they were nothing, so that the mind remains pure and merit becomes limitless.

### Is Praise Like Harm?

Venerable Thich Chan Quang shares the story of a Buddhist practitioner who served diligently in the monastery and was praised by the abbot: "You are a sincere and diligent follower; in the future, you will receive great blessings." That practitioner thanked him and then immediately forgot those words.

"If you hold that praise within your heart, what will arise? Arrogance appears instantly," he explains.

It is the act of clinging to praise, of keeping the image of good karmic results alive in the mind, that gives birth to arrogance. And arrogance destroys merit. He offers an analogy: if a child is told, "You will become a doctor one day," but keeps remembering it and boasting about it, they may lose the actual opportunity to study and achieve that goal.

### Adorning the Buddha Land in Daily Life

One practice of a bodhisattva is "adorning the Buddha land," which means supporting conditions for the Buddha to teach sentient beings. The teacher uses the image of a play: the Buddha is the main actor, while disciples, kings, and laypeople are the stage crew, creating every favorable condition for the dharma voice to spread.

Today, we too can do this: support teachers in giving dharma talks, contribute to organizing retreats, and share teachings with friends. This merit is immense, yet we must also... forget it.

"The merit of supporting the Buddha's teaching is very great. Why is that? Because when we assist the Buddha in teaching, the cause and effect leads to our own eventual enlightenment."

### Two Core Principles of the Diamond Sutra

Venerable Thich Chan Quang summarizes the entire Diamond Sutra in two points: first, exert full effort in performing wholesome practices; second, do not cling to merit to avoid arrogance. This is the essence of "Let the mind arise without dwelling anywhere" – generating a mind that does not fixate on any object.

"The Diamond Sutra teaches us to devote our whole lives to wholesome practices and not to cling to merit, so that arrogance does not arise."

Anyone who understands this sentence has learned the entirety of the Diamond Sutra. However, we still need to study each detail carefully to apply it correctly in daily life.

### Why Is Arrogance So Dangerous?

Arrogance is extremely difficult to eradicate, especially for those who create much merit and receive many compliments. The teacher recounts: a person who creates merit over many lifetimes ascends to heavenly realms, returns to earth as a great figure, and is admired by all. At that very moment, if one lacks mindfulness, arrogance arises, merit diminishes, and one falls back to start again from scratch. Therefore, the Diamond Sutra serves as a reminder: view all achievements as empty, so that merit opens up infinitely.

### Practicing the Smallest Step in Life

We are not yet bodhisattvas and cannot perform great deeds. But everyone can emulate the bodhisattva’s conduct in small ways: after doing a good deed, let it go. Contribute silently, without needing anyone to know. The Buddha always knows, and the devas always know. Thus, merit grows steadily, unbounded by the narrow sense of "self."

Let go of the walking stick of achievement when you step onto the summit, so that the summit itself no longer becomes an obstacle. This is the teaching of the Diamond Sutra – do everything, but hold onto nothing.