Merit Transfer

    Every time I facilitate the group meditation practice, I have made it a point to recite the transfer of merit prayer at the end of the session. I am not quite sure how it came about, or even how I was able to remember this prayer, since I have a poor memory for details. But somehow this prayer has always stuck with me and meant something to me as well, so I have always made it a point to use it in the closing part of the meditation practice.
    As I am reading about the subject of merit for the Buddhist foundations class, I do begin to wonder, how exactly does merit transfer work? It may seem quite simple to say that those who do wholesome deeds can dedicate the result to others, but does it not contradict the notion that everyone is alone in reaping the results of previous karma? To be honest, I haven't quite thought deeply about this subject. I have only been transferring merits because the practice feels right to me, like feeling so good about a practice that one can't help but want others to feel the same as we do.
     For me, I don't really even know for certain whether transfer of merit actually happens. But what I do know is that I myself feel complete after doing this kind of prayer. The feeling that I have is that, usually after meditation, I feel that there aren't that many boundaries between self and others, and that there is this one collective mental space occupied by all. I naturally feel that merit transfer is just an extension of that mind space and not thinking that it is even a 'transfer'. After all, a real transfer would have to be between very separate entities, and yet after meditation, one feels that in fact there is no real distinction between self and others.
    If I were to best describe transfer of merit, I would have to use the analogy of what happens at work. Let's suppose (and it's happened to me), there is an announcement on a Monday morning that there are mass layoffs expected at one's workplace, and everyone had better make their plans to look for work. That announcement, whether on purpose or not, triggers a kind of collective feeling that often hits everyone in similar ways, even though people's reactions may be somewhat different. This one action, in other words, generates an impact on others, and thus creates a ripple effect of suffering. Now, if one considers the opposite, the scenario changes. If I announce that everyone in the company is getting a raise, what happens? Everyone starts to celebrate and feel more relaxed, knowing that they are doing the right things to get that raise. So in that sense, there is a collective response to one person's generosity in providing everyone with a raise. I would have to say that this is a kind of merit transfer. I am taking my generosity and transferring it to those who most stand to benefit  themselves and others from it.
   This very mundane example might be a key to how one experiences merit transfer. When a person does something thoughtful or wholeheartedly and then extends that deed outward, it becomes a kind of gift that uplifts others in significant ways. It could be something as simple as deciding that because I have learned to be proficient in a language and benefit from the privileges of knowing that language, I should try to help others learn it. In fact, the more grateful I am for having that skill, the more inclined I will likely feel to want others to feel the same and have that benefit. There is nothing too metaphysical about this idea. It is just the dedication of one's personal benefit to other beings, through a kind of uplifting action that extends the personal benefit to others.