Dedication of Merit
Offering the positive energy of practice to all beings.
Dedicating merit prevents it from being destroyed by anger and multiplies it infinitely. By dedicating to all beings' enlightenment, personal practice becomes a gift to the world.
May all the merit accumulated be dedicated to the enlightenment of all beings.
Dedication is essential at the end of every practice session.
Various
Written about in
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about service
Every session ends by giving away whatever good came of it. The library notes this also protects the merit from being burned off by anger.
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about grief
Merit from any practice is given away rather than kept, and the texts warn that anger destroys merit left undedicated. Mourners dedicate to the dead person by name, which gives grief a direction: it becomes something you send rather than something you sit in.
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about envy and comparison
Dedicating merit to all beings is said to multiply it and to shield it from being destroyed by anger. The practical effect is that a practitioner who has just given away everything they earned is left holding nothing to compare.