Wheel of Merit

It is not our fame or fortune, or popularity amongst friends, our reputation in society or our loved ones that we take with us when we die. It is our field of merit. This and this alone travels with us at all times, and whether it is to our favor or detriment depends upon the benefit we have brought to ourselves and others with our lives.

Most of you who read this are fortunate enough to be enjoying the rarest of opportunities in this human life. That is;  to be well supported, born in a place without strife, physically and mentally able and with access to and opportunity to learn the Dhamma.

The chances of us ever coming into such good fortune again are so remote as to be almost negligible for it is almost inconceivable what must be our past accumulation of merit and good fortune to have brought us to this point. I wonder how many of us can look at our lives and say we have renewed our field of merit in this life, for our well-faring in the next. Ask yourself; if you are born in the top five percent of the fortunate, have you lived among the top five percent of the virtuous in order to renew this extraordinary opportunity?

If you are reading this then the chances are you have made efforts already in this life to learn Dhamma. Or at least you are interested in doing so. I have urged you to practice sincerely in this life to free yourselves from suffering while you are well and able, and the opportunity is close to hand. Some of you do, others don’t.

Now I am inviting you to join me in setting in motion our group field of merit to stand alongside our efforts to practice Dhamma and seek an end to suffering. Unless you are ardently striving for enlightenment in this very life, then our practice is empty if it does not prompt in us the aspiration to make our lives a field of merit for the benefit of others. To live selfishly for our own ends alone while believing we are practicing Dhamma is little more than vanity.

Many of us are struggling to find meaning in our lives as we deeply question the values we have lived by. Until we are free from all ignorance and come to the fully awakened state of being, our sense of meaning might come from feeling that our presence here on this earth is of benefit and not a detriment to the planet and those around us.

On the left are listed some projects and charitable activities, we as a group have endeavoured to raise money for over the years in an effort to make a difference to the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves. I hope that some of these projects, retreats/workshops and teachings shared on this website will help you be inspired to join us in our field of merit.

-Burgs