Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

their general good; therefore, his merit is great.
The follower of the Hinayana lays more stress on
samatha, keeping the silas very seriously, so that often
his merit may be insufficient to benefit all beings. For
instance, on an occasion when evil must be used to
convert beings, he would be unable to help them,
adhering strictly to the rules of morality. Or again, a
Bodhisattva following the Mahayana might well decide
that it was for the good of five hundred to kill one, and
he could do this, but a Hinayanist could never do such a
thing. Hinayana merit, therefore, is small compared with
that of the Great Way.
Tsong-khapa said in his great work on the Tantra that
the difference between these two is only a matter of
merit, but I cannot agree with him. The venerable
teacher says that both in Hinayana and in the Mahayana
the doctrine of sunyata has been taught, so that in this
respect they are equal, but practitioners of the latter
perform many good works for sentient beings and so
acquire much merit: they are contrasted with the
practitioners of the Hinayana who have not done so
many meritorious deeds and have in consequence not
enough merits to attain Buddhahood.
There are few points here for comment:
i. It is said in the Yogacarya Bhumi Sastra of Maitreya
that "the wisdom of sunyata is a good source for the
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