The benefit of supplicating the Buddha or merit field is that it diverts our attention away from whatever destructive emotion has arisen. That’s also why, when we’re dwelling on some unhappy incident, people tell us something like “you’re thinking too much!” or “stop thinking about it!” In fact, it’s not that easy, and we usually keep on thinking about it. So we need an effective way of shifting our attention. Whenever a negative emotion has arisen, instead of trying to simply stop thinking about it, it’s more effective to shift your attention to supplicating the Buddha or merit field, since doing so diverts your attention away from the negative emotion.
~Khangser Rinpoche~
