Mark Cowie

How is it different from the idea of “De” (virtue) in the daodejing?

Merit in fact isn’t differnt from the idea of “De”. Your born with a set amount of merit. you can waste it or cultivate more of it just like Lao tzu said.

Lao zi does not seem to stress doing “good deeds” to accumulate merit in the daodejing, but seems to talk only about…[Read more]

Wow thank you guys so much for this information. the previous disscutions on Nan and Bodri had me confused. i’ve thought that the giving away the flesh joyfully of the skeleton meditation was the same thing as the inner smile. its just that on the outside it appears your forming an attachment to your flesh by loving it using the inner smile and…[Read more]

You guys are getting this all little garbled. Merit in its most easy to understand sense refers to an idea called utilitarianism. you dont have to read any eastern stuff to figure this out. utilitarianism is the idea that the just or most virtueous (meritous) action is that which does the greatest good for all. you dont need to beleave in anything…[Read more]