After making merit, one must diligently maintain the mind in a state of clarity and radiance throughout — for when merit arises, it continues to arise in an unbroken succession for at least seven days.
Throughout those seven days from the moment merit is made, do not allow the mind to be disturbed or agitated. In this way, merit will continue to accumulate without interruption — like heavy rain falling continuously for seven days and seven nights without ceasing. This is the teaching that has been passed down from the generations of our ancestors.
It is for this very reason that, from the time when the Great Master the Master Nun were still living, each act of merit-making in our tradition has been preceded by sitting in meditation — both in the morning and in the afternoon sessions — so that the mind may be clear and radiant, and the merit as refined and complete as possible. This is also so that the mind may be well maintained, and merit may continue to arise in unbroken succession for at least seven days thereafter. This is the origin of that practice.
June 24th, 2017
