Puṇya
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Puṇya (Sanskrit; Pāli, puñña). Term meaning ‘merit’, meritorious action’, or ‘virtue’. Sometimes also used to refer to the results or potential results of good karma such as a heavenly rebirth and a future blissful existence, the enjoyment and duration of which depends of the amount of merit accumulated in a previous life. Pāli sources mention three factors known as puñña-kiriya-vatthūni (grounds of meritorious action) which produce merit: these are dāna (generosity), sīla (Sanskrit, śīla, good conduct), and bhāvanā (contemplation).
See also puṇya-jñāna-saṃbhāra; puṇya-kṣetra.
