Ngowa or dedication is the final part of the seven-part practice (ཚོགས་གསག་ཡན་ལག་བདན་པ་ ). When one has done the first six of the seven-part practice, one has already accumulated a great deal of merit. In addition, there are also merits or virtuous karma one has accumulated through other actions at other times. One has accrued a lot of good deeds during one’s existence and these must be secured in the mindstream. In order to make a positive and lasting imprint on one’s mind, one must carry out a dedication of these merits or good deeds. If one does not dedicate the merits, Buddhist texts state that a moment of anger or regret can fully erase them. It is like a monetary saving, which can be lost to thieves or robbers if not secured properly through methods such as deposit in a bank or smart investment. Thus, any meritorious deed must be promptly secured through dedica- tion. Besides, dedication also helps the merits to grow perennially, just as financial deposits grow with interest.

Buddhist masters state that one should dedicate the merits to all sentient beings in general but one may also have a particular per-son such as a parent or deceased person as the primary beneficiary. Even when one dedicates the merit to a specific person, it is important to include all sentient beings and dedicate the merit for their happiness in order to have greater impact. If the dedication is done properly, it is believed that the merit of a good deed can be transferred to another person. Thus, the intended beneficiary such as the deceased person will receive the merit and the resultant benefit from the merit. By doing the dedication, one allocates the merits to the recipient and gives up the sole ownership of the merits. In this way, the merit cannot be used up or destroyed by a sudden anger or remorse because it does not just belong to oneself.

Dedication is also a practice of giving and in carrying out dedication the practitioner engages in the perfection of giving, which will eventually lead the practitioner to supreme enlightenment. One’s good deeds may be dedicated to a special cause such as alleviating hunger, curing an illness or elongating life. If one earnestly prays for one’s merits to give rise to such results, it is believed that through power of the mind, the merits will lead to such results. However, the most overarching and effective mode of dedication is to wish the in- tended beneficiary and all other sentient beings to reach perfect Buddhahood – the ultimate state of happiness – and also obtain happiness in the interim period while they are on the path, as a result of one’s merit. If a merit is dedicated to the enlightenment of all sentient beings, such a merit is said to remain unexhausted until the sentient beings have reached enlightenment.

In Mahāyāna Buddhist practice, it is important to selflessly give away one’s merits without any attachment. Many people mistakenly view merits as precious spiritual assets, which should not be shared and forget that the more one shares the merits the more they grow. One must do the dedication of merits, however little it may be, with a sense of uninhibited generosity. It is also crucial to dedicate the merit to the highest cause of reaching perfect enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. If one does not know how to dedicate, there are many standard verses which can be used to carry out a dedication. One can also think that one is dedicating the merits in the same manner

Buddha Śākyamuni or Mañjuśrī dedicated their merits for the sake of the sentient beings. The following stanza is a very popular verse for dedication of merit.

བསོད་ནམས་འད་ཡས་ཐམས་ཅད་ གཟགས་པ་ཉད།།
ཐོབ་ནས་ཉས་པའ་དག་རམས་ཕམ་བས་ཏ།།
ས་ར་ན་འཆ་ར་རབས་འཁགས་པ་ཡ།།
སད་པའ་མཚོ་ལས་འག་ཀན་གལ་བར་ཤོག།

By this merit, may all attain omniscience. May it defeat the enemy, wrongdoing. From the stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death From the ocean of samsara, may I free all beings! In the pure form of dedication, one also needs to understand the illusory nature of things that one does not exist, the beneficiary does not exist and the merits also don’t exist. All are illusory in the ultimate state of emptiness. By having such an awareness of the illusory nature of things, one will be able to over- come attachment and fixation on the merit. Dedication of merit with a fixed clinging to the merit and to the persons giving and receiving merit is said to be a toxic form of dedication (བས་བ་དག་བཅས་). Thus, it is important to let go of conceptual clinging and attachment to the merit, the person involved or the act of dedication.

In Bhutan, dedication of merit is often carried out through a specific ritual in which the person who has accrued the merit through actionssuch as making a cash or tea offering kneels in front of a congregation of priests after making six prostrations. The presiding priest chants standard words of dedication while the others in the congregation join in with words of benediction. Such dedication rituals are conducted for both the living and the dead and form an important part of aspiration and dedication prayers (བས་བ་སོན་ལམ་) during funerals.

Source:
Karma Phuntsho is spiritual
thought leader, Buddhist teacher,
and the Writer-in-Digital-Residence
for the Buddha Nature project at
Tsadra Foundation.