บุญที่ผู้ล่วงลับได้รับขึ้นอยู่กับระดับจิตของเขาเอง ซึ่งเราไม่อาจล่วงรู้ได้ ส่วนบุญที่ตัวเราเองได้รับจากการทำทานนั้น ขึ้นอยู่กับคุณธรรมในใจเรา—ศีล สมาธิ ปัญญา และบารมีต่าง ๆ ที่บ่มเพาะ ยิ่งใจบริสุทธิ์มากเท่าไร บุญที่ไหลผ่านเข้ามาก็ยิ่งมีคุณภาพมากขึ้นเท่านั้นIn short, how much merit the deceased receives depends on the state of their own mind, which we cannot know. How much merit we ourselves receive from giving depends on our own virtue — sila, samadhi, wisdom, and the perfections we cultivate. The purer the mind, the more quality the merit that flows through.
Someone asked: when we make with our own resources and dedicate that merit to a deceased relative, how many percent of it does the deceased actually receive?
What the Deceased Receives Depends on Their Own Mind
Phra Ajarn answered that there is no fixed percentage, because it depends on the level the departed person's mind is at. Different people receive merit differently, even when they make the same offering together, because it depends on how much is present in each person's heart.
For example, making an offering without keeping precepts is different from making the same offering while keeping precepts. Precepts purify the mind, freeing it to move, layer by layer, from coarser states into more refined ones. The more refined the mind becomes, the more quality the merit that flows through it has. Conversely, if the mind is still coarse, less merit flows through — even though the merit itself is perfectly good merit. And if the mind still carries impurities, those impurities wear down its , its sanctity, and its finer qualities.
This is why, before making an offering, we are asked to first take and practice meditation to purify the mind, and only then recite the words of offering the meal. The more we cultivate renunciation, wisdom, effort, , truthfulness, resolution, , and the other perfections, the purer our mind becomes — and the more capable it is of receiving the stream of merit that flows through it with quality.
As for exactly what percentage the deceased receives, Phra Ajarn said he does not know either.
What We Ourselves Receive Depends on Our Own Virtue
How much merit we, as the giver, receive depends on how lofty and good the virtue in our heart is — whether we keep precepts, whether we have purified the mind through meditation, whether we have wisdom, whether we have effort and patience.
For instance, when we come to make merit at the temple: if we come with wisdom, understanding that what we are doing is truly meritorious; with effort and patience, staying even amid noise and disturbance; with genuine determination and truthfulness; with resolve, setting our heart on gaining merit; with , wishing to be of benefit — such as offering a meal to the monks out of loving-kindness; and with equanimity, not swayed by distractions like friends inviting us to the mall, a movie, music, or games, our mind staying steady and undisturbed while doing this good deed —
then the more of these qualities we have, the more purified our mind becomes, and the more sacred and pure the merit that flows through us becomes as well.