Blessings Radiate in Three Directions

The truck driver jerked the steering wheel. The brakes screeched with a sharp sound. Oh, the power of the mind! In Hai Phong, there was a devout Buddhist woman who frequently practiced releasing animals from captivity, saving countless lives day after day. One day, her nephew was driving her on a motorbike when they suddenly crashed under a parked truck at a sharp curve.

Her head struck the rear tire of the truck hard. I remember her recounting that moment. It felt exactly as if an invisible hand had grabbed her head and held it back. The truck’s tire only grazed her scalp with a soft thud. She did not call for an ambulance or go to the hospital. Instead, she asked her nephew to help her sit against a wall on the sidewalk, where she entered meditative concentration immediately.

She sat in meditation for two full hours. Naturally, she felt her brain slowly recovering. The severe headache gradually faded until it disappeared completely. The next morning, she went for a scan and a CT shot. The result showed nothing wrong; she was perfectly healthy. People said that when the tire hit her head, there was a distinct popping sound, and then the wheel stopped right there. Had it rolled just a little further, she would surely have died.

She told them, "I sat in meditation, relying on the Buddha's heart." For two hours, she remained motionless on the sidewalk, indifferent to the noisy traffic passing by. This story illustrates the immense power of accumulating merit through good deeds. But making merit is not limited to releasing animals. There are many other ways. For instance, if a road is damaged, we repair it so others can travel safely. At my temple, a two-kilometer stretch of road deteriorated, turning small potholes into massive craters. The local village chairman complained, "Soon I will have to paddle a boat instead of riding a vehicle." My temple raised funds, bought concrete, mixed it, and filled every hole along those two kilometers, connecting one hamlet to another.

People were overjoyed. However, I believe that leaving a pothole in front of your own house unrepaired for too long shows a lack of responsibility and an ignorance of how to make merit. As Buddhists, we must diligently cultivate blessings. Whatever helps society and aids others, we should do without regretting our effort or energy. Why? Because our presence in this human life is brief. When we are young, ages like fifty or sixty seem distant. But once we reach sixty, we look back in shock: "It happened in a blink." We never expect time to pass so quickly.

In the short span of a human life, we should seize the opportunity to perform many acts of merit. Why? Because there is a next life. After death, we go somewhere. If that place is not peaceful, lacking shelter, food, or rice, we suffer great hunger. The sensation of going three or four months without putting anything in one's stomach is the experience of hungry ghosts. When spirits starve for a long time, they eat whatever they find edible. Even rotten fruit falling to the ground becomes appealing. Eventually, seeing excrement, they feel craving and consume it too. This manifests animalistic karma. Being so hungry that feces seems delicious indicates extremely heavy negative karma. Why does this happen? Because during their human life, they did not know how to make merit, did not care for others, and ignored the suffering of hunger in fellow beings.

Therefore, whenever I meet people, I imagine their journey and wonder if they have eaten. I worry about this first. So, when anyone visits, I hurriedly ask, "Have you had lunch?" In Northern Vietnam, most Buddhists give the same answer: "I have already eaten." I reply, "In my life, I have two types of enemies. The one I hate most is imperialism. The second is someone who says 'I have eaten' when asked." I have learned that in the North, if a Buddhist says they have eaten, I must insist they eat more. Surprisingly, they often manage to finish three more bowls. That reveals what their heart truly desires. Their mouth says they are full, but their heart proves otherwise. Reflecting on this, I think that when I die, I will not become a hungry ghost because I always ensure others do not go hungry.

I share this to remind us to care for one another, paying attention to each other in every small detail. We should constantly wish for the peace and happiness of those around us. This is living a life overflowing with merit. For those who live such a life, blessings radiate in length, width, and distance. Length refers to ourselves. When we leave this body, these merits extend through many future lives within samsara (cycle of rebirth). We enjoy abundant blessings from merit, being born in fortunate realms, either in heavenly worlds or as noble, intelligent humans. If we continue practicing, we gradually ascend to the status of saints. If we merely enjoy the rewards, we eventually decline.

Width means our blessings influence everyone around us. Good fortune follows. Do not say, "Each person enjoys their own merit and suffers their own sins." That is incorrect. Merit affects all. Consider an official whose children benefited from his position. Relatives claimed kinship and gained respect and social advantages. They shared in his merit. When the king discovered the official's crimes and executed him, he also punished those relatives. While modern laws hold individuals accountable, invisible spiritual merit still radiates outward. In a family, if one person makes merit, the whole household encounters luck and overcomes disasters. Families are linked by cause and effect (karmic law) across many lifetimes. One practitioner brings joy and fortune to the entire family. If their merit is vast, even the whole village benefits. Like a saint residing in a region, the area shares in their blessing. Thus, merit spreads widely.

Distance refers to the legacy left for descendants. If a person makes merit, their karmic consequences follow them through samsara, but the positive impact remains with their lineage for generations. For example, an ancient official named Nguyen Quy Duc lived virtuously and rose to high office. His descendants carried the character "Duc" in their names, and the clan flourished for dozens of generations. Although it has slightly diminished recently, the Nguyen Duc lineage prospered greatly for a long time. This is merit spreading far across generations.

Thus, when one person cultivates good blessings, the goodness multiplies significantly. Therefore, let us strive to make merit. But why do we know how to make merit, desire to do so, and endure hardship for it? It comes from the mind/heart. A good mind, one that understands the Dharma, leads us to value and practice merit. Those without inner goodness do not think about making merit or spiritual cultivation. They only focus on winning, competing, greed, hatred, arguing to be right, and seeking personal gain.

So, how do we improve our mind/heart? Once our mind is good, our entire life is filled with merit. Everything we do generates blessings. We view everyone with love and wish to help in any situation. Our life becomes a continuous flow of merit. Hence, we say: a good mind creates a blessed life. Is cultivating a good mind easy? No, it is difficult. When we meet someone and praise their good heart—gentle, polite, forgiving, generous, helpful—we must recognize that this person is not pretending. Such goodness is not achieved in one lifetime. To possess the admirable mind we see, that person has undergone fifty or a hundred lifetimes of practice. It is that challenging.

Are we like that yet? Are we very bad? Not really. Knowing to visit temples and release animals suggests we are not entirely wicked. Yet, we are not yet good enough to inspire deep admiration in others. Over many past lives, we have practiced, but not with sufficient determination or effort. Consequently, we remain average—not criminals facing legal prosecution, but not exceptional enough to be revered. Those whose kindness inspires admiration have spent decades or centuries in spiritual training. It is not easy.

Transforming the inner self from bad to good is difficult, yet it is the key to all problems. If we cannot change our mind, we continue wandering in samsara. We drift aimlessly: born, growing up, working hard, aging, dying, lingering as spirits, and being reborn again. The cycle repeats with struggle and fatigue, bringing no real change. Looking back, one feels exhausted. However, if we commit to spiritual practice to purify our mind, moving toward virtue and holiness, we gradually escape the suffering of samsara. We may temporarily reside in heavenly realms, avoiding the hardships of rebirth. Ultimately, we aim for nirvana, the eternal abode of the Buddhas.

Have you heard the saying, "Mountains and rivers may change, but nature is hard to shift"? This reflects the wisdom of ancestors observing how difficult it is to alter human temperament. If someone suddenly becomes good, do not trust it immediately. Often, such goodness lasts only five days. Life experience teaches us this reality, not pessimism. Seeing someone who is hot-tempered, greedy, deluded, narrow-minded, selfish, or deceitful suddenly kneel before you, crying in repentance and vowing to follow the path of light, do not naively believe them. Their remorse usually fades within days.

Conversely, if a person is already good, is it easy to make them bad? Also difficult. Once a good nature is established, it resists corruption. Similarly, transforming a bad person into a good one is hard. However, there is an imbalance: it is easier for good to turn bad than for bad to turn good. This is a disadvantage. For example, a gentle person rarely gets angry. Making them angry is possible but requires effort. Turning a chronically angry person into a patient, mild-mannered individual is extremely difficult.

Why? Because negativity is the natural instinct of sentient beings. When beings appear in the world, they carry deep-seated instincts that lean toward the negative. Selfishness arises without teaching. Greed emerges naturally. Lust exists inherently. Goodness, however, does not come naturally; it requires cultivation and discipline. It arises from reason. Only those who employ reason can maintain their minds in virtue. Without conscious effort, instinct drives us toward negativity.

Therefore, badness is natural, while goodness must be constructed. Simply spending time near bad influences causes us to absorb their negativity. A normally good person can slowly deteriorate after hearing bad advice for a while. Badness spreads quickly. Goodness spreads similarly but much slower. This is a significant disadvantage. A good person living among bad ones might adopt their habits within a year. A bad person living among good ones might take three years to begin absorbing their virtues. The speed differs greatly.

Thus, educating a person to become good is incredibly demanding. It requires immense societal commitment to transform generations. If we relax our vigilance...