Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c24.s5.11

c24.s5.11

It is less certain if the transfer of merit (puṇya-pariṇāmanā) is to be deemed purely imaginary, or if it belongs to the realm of relative truth. For the transfer may be regarded as nothing more than the carrying to the logical extremity of the perfection of generosity; it is certainly no true gift that is given for one’s own advantage, and it is a logical result to conclude that the giver should will that the fruit of his giving, which accrues as the result of his unselfish gift, should pass to the recipient of the gift also.³ But a strongly religious aspect is introduced by the doctrine that by the transfer of merit one can best please the merciful Bodhisattvas and Buddhas; the sincerity of this belief in Śāntideva is unmistakable, and it is clear that the borderland between imaginary and apparent truth is reached in his view. The importance of the idea is capital; it is carried even to the grotesque;