{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn55.41/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn55.41","id":"suttacentral_sn55.41","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn55.41/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"\u201cMendicants, there are these four kinds of overflowing merit, overflowing goodness that nurture happiness. What four? It\u2019s when a noble disciple has experiential confidence in the Buddha \u2026 the teaching \u2026 the Sa\u1e45gha \u2026 Furthermore, they have the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones \u2026 leading to immersion. \u2026 These are the four kinds of overflowing merit, overflowing goodness that nurture happiness. When a noble disciple has these four kinds of overflowing merit and goodness, it\u2019s not easy to count how much merit they have by saying that this is the extent of their overflowing merit, overflowing goodness that nurtures happiness. It\u2019s simply reckoned as an incalculable, immeasurable, great mass of merit. It\u2019s like trying to count how much water is in the ocean. It\u2019s not easy to say how many gallons, how many hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of gallons there are. It\u2019s simply reckoned as an incalculable, immeasurable, great mass of water. In the same way, when a noble disciple has these four kinds of overflowing merit and goodness, it\u2019s not easy to count how much merit they have by saying that this is the extent of their overflowing merit, overflowing goodness that nurtures happiness. It\u2019s simply reckoned as an incalculable, immeasurable, great mass of merit.\u201d That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say: \u201cHosts of people use the rivers, and though the rivers are many, all reach the great deep, the boundless ocean, the cruel sea that\u2019s home to precious gems. So too, when a person gives food, drink, and clothes; and they\u2019re a giver of beds, seats, and mats\u2014 the streams of merit reach that astute person, as the rivers bring their waters to the sea.\u201d","title":"Overflowing Merit (1st)","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":289}