Misunderstanding Regarding Pouring Water to Transfer Merit

... To pour water when making merit for the deceased came, from the Phra Malai story that he went to hell to bestow happiness to beings in hell and those beings implore him to tell their relatives to make merit for them as written in the Phra Malai literature that:

All of the hell beings, relieved of their suffering, were peaceful and content. They bowed down in respect, and asked, ‘Oh, Lord, where have you come from, bringing us such happiness?’

The Thera answered, ‘I have come from the human realm.’

Hearing this, the group in hell was overjoyed, and they asked him to tell [those in the human realm] about the conditions of the place where they were. ‘Please, Lord, we beg you to tell our relatives, wherever they may be.’ They named cities, towns, and regions far away. They told him the names of their fathers and where they lived, and the names of other relatives-sons, daughters, husbands, mothers, sisters, and brothers. ‘Have all of them hasten to make merit and transfer it to us. Have them worship The Buddha, the exalted Teachings, and the praiseworthy Community, teacher of morality. Have them practice generosity and send the merit to us by pouring the water of donation. Then each of us will be delivered from suffering’.

From the above story, people have believed that by pouring water while giving a donation, the merit will be transferred to the deceased. Thus, it has become a common practice to pour water when making merit to transfer the good deeds to the deceased and enemies from a previous life.

Notes:

The unreliable literature of Phra Malai teaches “wrong view” that Kamma is created by others. The Buddha taught for a person with “wrong view”, there is one of two destinations: either hell or the animal realm.

The Buddha taught that “…beings are the owners of their Kamma, the heirs of their Kamma; they have Kamma as their origin, Kamma as their relative, Kamma as their resort; whatever Kamma they do, wholesome or unwholesome, they are its heirs”.

Additionally, The Buddha also taught the harm of explaining what has not been stated, spoken, and prescribed by The Tathāgata as having been stated, spoken, and prescribed by him. Those are acting for the unhappiness of many people, for the ruin, they generate much unwholesome Kamma and cause the good Teachings to disappear.

References:

Prince Thammatibes. (2007). Phra Malai. Nonthaburi: Sukhothai Thanimathirat Open University.

Udomporn Khampiranon. (2008). A study of Buddhist Teachings as Áppeared in the Phramalai

Kamluang Literature Thesis for M.A. Program in Buddhist Studies Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University.

Bonnie Pacala Brereton. (1995). Thai Tellings of Phra Malai: Texts and Rituals Concerning a Popular Buddhist Saint.

The teachings from Phra Malai Kham Luang Buddhist literature do not appear in The Pāli Canon. The stories of Maitreya Buddha from this text are not considered to be accurate and can be disregarded and ignored.

It is not possible to transfer the benefits of practicing generosity from one Practitioner to another.

The benefit of practicing generosity is that it helps to train the mind of a Practitioner to eliminate craving/desire/attachment. By practicing generosity, among other Teachings, the Practitioner’s mind gradually eliminates craving/desire/attachment, the cause of discontentedness. To accomplish this goal, a Practitioner needs to practice generosity as described in The Words of The Buddha and available in the book “Generosity” (Volume 13) from this same book series.

Once a Practitioner has made an offering, which helps to eliminate craving/desire/ attachment, it is impossible to transfer that benefit to another being. Pouring water nor any other rite, ritual, ceremony, or worship will result in transferring beneficial results of training the mind from one Practitioner to another. Each Practitioner needs to earn their own Enlightenment through training the mind and doing the work to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings.