I can’t exactly recall the moment in conversation, when the hole in the bottom of the Laughing Buddha’s hemp sack came up. It could have even been a Taiwanese indigenous twist to the story.
But in general - the idea of ‘collecting merit’ & then ‘counting one’s merit points’ and holding onto them is very unappealing to me.
So, the organizer of the Taoist group said that the sack/bag had a whole at the bottom of it (perhaps for my benefit?), which was a mood changer & brought on the laughter and agreement ....
The merit a contented monk accumulates is what is constantly being let go, which might lead to the inexhaustible source of that ‘merit’.
Quote:
The mind of letting go ~ Mingyur Rinpoche
Grasping and fixation arise from the mind, and therefore cannot be eliminated through body and speech alone. The mind of letting go has the capacity to cut the root of ego-clinging; the activity of letting go accumulates merit. And by letting go, we gain access to our own immense inner wealth, which has never been depleted. We begin to glimpse our own treasures, and this initiates the accumulation of wisdom.
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