Merit
Making Merit
The system of Muay Thai Sangha teaches that when we die, there is only one thing we can take with us, our "merit". Merit is the accumulation of good actions that we undertake in our life. It is believed that your merit will decide the circumstances of your next life.
While I was a monk, my superior monk explained to me the three best ways to make merit.
1. Good Actions
The first way is to do good actions; help people, chant to the spirits, teach people about Dhamma (the teachings of Buddha) or give away material things that you don't really need (make donations).
2. Precepts
The second way is to keep the precepts. The precepts take two forms, a basic set of five precepts, and a more advanced set of eight precepts.
The Five Precepts
- Abstention from causing the falling away of life of living beings;
- Abstention from taking that which is not given;
- Abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse (sexual intercourse outside marriage);
- Abstention from harmful speech;
- Abstention from consuming alcohol or substances that lead to heedlessness.
The Eight Precepts
- Abstention from causing the falling away of life of living beings;
- Abstention from taking that which is not given;
- Abstention from unchastity;
- Abstention from wrongful speech;
- Abstention from consuming alcohol or substances that lead to heedlessness;
- Abstention from eating any meal at the inappropriate time (after midday);
- Abstention from dancing, singing or playing romantic music, attending entertainment, wearing perfume, cosmetics or flower-garlands;
- Abstention from sleeping on a high or large (luxurious) bed.
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of Page3. Meditation
The third way to make merit is through meditation which is also the most powerul of all three.
Meditation is 90% practise; you don't necessarily need to know a lot about meditation, you just need to practise and experiment.
Because the merit is so important to us to continue to become better in each of our lives, many years ago, Thai warriors became monks so they could repay the damage they had inflicted during battle. With their vision, knowledge and experience, these warriors helped to create the art of Muay Thai.
Around the world there are at least 40 different methods of meditation, and meditation can help anybody, regardless of background. The meditation that I teach differs in each situation but is more easily categorized as either "moving meditation" or "still meditation".
Still Meditation
"Still meditation" is performed inside the (boxing) ring, after the training session has finished. Every member of the class participates, and this practise helps each student to relax, and to retain and guard the energy that is created during the training session. The main objective of this meditation is to increase awareness of oneself until the next training session the following day.
Moving Meditation
"Moving meditation" is performed while we are training. The technique involves keeping attention inside of oneself (if possible in the center of ones body) whilst training hard; shadow boxing, doing bag work, even during sparring. By pointing our focus inside ourselves, we increase our awareness, and with this increased awareness we can correct our mistakes much faster. This focus also helps us to keep calm whilst sparring; if we get hit or we feel nervous, continued practise of this "moving mediation" will help us to deal with the situation, improving control of ourselves and making it easier to remain calm. Our energy levels are also improved, as is our behaviour and all the while we are "making merit", helping us to become better people.
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