Someone asked: what blessing comes from dedicating merit to a great revered teacher?

Dedicating merit is a way of connecting ourselves to goodness. When we dedicate merit to the teacher, the teacher's own stream of merit flows through us in turn. This depends on what we aspire to — we may make an aspiration with the teacher, wishing to attain what the teacher has already attained. Mutual support then arises easily, because the merit we dedicate clears away obstacles to that mutual support. Wherever we go, the teacher goes with us; wherever we stay, the teacher's presence stays with us too. This mutual support continues without interruption — whenever something arises, we think of the teacher, and the teacher, in turn, holds good thoughts toward us.

When we're in trouble, the teacher is already helping us — but sometimes we simply fail to think of the teacher in the moment. Dedicating merit to the teacher often means that, when trouble does arise, the teacher is the very first thing we're able to recall, because the merit clears away the defilement that would otherwise block us from thinking of the teacher — like someone drowning in a mass of suffering. When difficulty and trouble strike, we're able to recollect the teacher, and once we do and ask for help, the teacher is already helping. And when our time comes to close our eyes for the last time, the teacher comes to guide us back — though in truth, every student receives this guidance already. But dedicating merit to the teacher often means that, upon seeing or recollecting the teacher, we feel joy, ease, and happiness, recalling the merit born from doing good and from dedicating merit to the teacher — and this keeps reinforcing that happiness and ease whenever we encounter or recall the teacher.

The teacher's body, speech, and mind are already, at every moment, working for the benefit of the students. But dedicating merit to the teacher is another way for us to repay that kindness.