How often is it that we do the right thing, but due to pride, self-righteousness, or for gain, rather than doing it with pure motives? Do we drive a Prius because it’s better for the environment than a 1956 Rambler, or because we want to show how environmentally conscious we are to all who behold us? Is our accumulation of merit and kudos part of our motivation?
Conversely, do we judge others who don’t live up to our expectation of righteousness? Do we scoff at the person who doesn’t return their shopping cart to the place where shopping carts are collected, without knowing what the reason for that may be? And do we secretly drive the Rambler and leave the shopping cart in the parking to when no one’s looking?
The Buddha said, “A Bodhisattva should practice virtue without regard to appearances, unsupported by sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations or mental attachments. A Bodhisattva should practice virtue without attachment to externals. Why? This is the way to being a Buddha….A Bodhisattva should practice virtue in this way for the welfare of all beings.”
Driving a Prius may indeed be a more environmentally meritorious choice than the Rambler. For animals, vegan, organic spaghetti and “meat” balls may be a more compassionate choice than Chef Boyardee. Putting a shopping cart back to where shopping carts are collected may be the more meritorious choice, but equally meritorious would be leaving it in the parking lot because someone earns a living by collecting them and returning it to where shopping carts are collected. Either of those choices is superior to leaving the cart in the parking lot out of self-conscious laziness.
There is positive, negative, and neutral karma. Actions are meritorious and non-meritorious. There is practice with no gaining notion, practice for the big payoff of enlightenment, and practice because we want to show other sangha members how pious we are, puffing ourselves up to show our non-existent spiritual achievements. And there’s just practice..”A bodhisattva practices virtue without regard to externals,” without the thought of a payoff, without the thought of gaining merit. The bodhisattva should do the virtuous thing without even thinking of themselves as a bodhisattva, or that they are saving all beings when performing this act. And the merit is not accumulated by the individual who performed the act, but is shared by all sentient beings, like the ripples in a pond flowing outward from one stone being thrown in.
When Bodhidharma met Emperor Wu, the emperor listed the all the things he performed to support Buddhism, temples, and monks, and how generous he was. He them asked Bodhidharma how much merit he had accrued by doing all there wonderful acts. Bodhidharma replied, “no merit whatsoever.” Had the emperor done these acts without thinking how wonderful they were, had he not assumed he would gain merit, or at least some validation from this Indian monk who’d come from the west, then there might have been some merit. The ripples of his actions undoubtedly improved the lives of the monks who benefitted from these actions. But once the emperor had the thought of just how meritorious his actions were, he was no longer thinking of them as “we” actions, but “I” actions. Just like when we drive the Prius to show how good we really are.