พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าเมื่อเรานึกถึงครูบาอาจารย์และอธิษฐาน แท้จริงเป็นการเหนี่ยวนำบุญของเราเองผ่านศรัทธาที่มีต่อท่าน ไม่ใช่การไปใช้บุญของท่าน จะเป็นการใช้บุญของท่านจริง ๆ ก็ต่อเมื่อบุญของเราไม่พอและขอให้ท่านช่วยเท่านั้นThe teacher explains that recalling a revered teacher and making an aspiration actually draws out our own merit through the faith we have in him, rather than depleting his merit. It only becomes borrowing his merit when our own merit isn't enough and we explicitly ask for his help.
One student asked: the teacher once said that when we make an aspiration asking for things from a revered teacher, we're drawing on that teacher's merit to make it happen. Does that mean, if we don't want to trouble him or use up his merit, we should avoid thinking of him while making an aspiration? Or could we instead ask him to draw on our own merit rather than his?
Nibbana Holds All Beings Within It, but Whether We Shine Depends on Us
The teacher explained that Nibbana holds all beings within its center, watching over and protecting them, but beings fall into two kinds: those who shine bright within its center, and those who dwell there without shining. The kind that shines is the kind dwelling with wholesomeness — because they dwell in system, a current of merit flows through them, making them bright. Notice that everything is really the result of the being's own doing: even while held within the center of Nibbana, merit flows through us only because we ourselves dwell rightly and perform good deeds. This is exactly why it's said that oneself is one's own refuge.
Recalling the Teacher Draws Out Our Own Merit — Not a Loan From His
It's the same for us. As students of our teacher, we dwell within his center, and whenever our mind turns wholesome, a current of merit flows through us. Every successful aspiration relies primarily on our own merit. When we recall a teacher — a representative of the Sangha Jewel — in truth the Triple Gem is already shining within him. We revere him as a member of the Sangha, filled with faith; the sphere of faith arises, the sphere of wholesome states arises, and merit flows through us. Recalling him and making an aspiration is really him appearing at the center of our being as an object of faith, causing the wholesome to arise at the same time — merit flows in, and the Triple Gem shines brightly within us. This is entirely the use of our own merit.
When It Actually Becomes Asking Him to Use His Own Merit
There is a separate case: when our own merit isn't enough, and we ask him to help — that is when we're genuinely drawing on his merit to bring something about. But if we don't want to trouble him or use his merit at all, simply recalling him as an object of faith is enough — merit will flow through us regardless. This is exactly why our teachers taught us to recall them often, even constantly, since the more we recall them, the more merit flows through us: we appear bright within them, and they appear bright within us. The thought that we should avoid recalling him is, in truth, nothing but the voice of unwholesomeness steering us away from him.