Answer by the Law of Kamma :- The importance of a name

Knowledge of Making Merit

48. The Importance of a Name

Question from the audience:
    Does one’s name affect one’s life?  Will the fact that my father changed his name have any effect on his current life or on the lifetime to come?  How will it affect the merits and the wrongdoings that he has performed?  When I want to make merits and dedicate them to him, what effect will it have if I were to use his previous name versus his new name?
 
Answer:
    A name does not have any effect on a life, only actions do.  Therefore, the fact that your father changed his name will not affect his current life or his lifetime to come. Rather, it is dependent on the merit and wrongdoing that he has performed.  You can use either his previous name or his new name; what matters is your intent to dedicate merit to him.

By Khunkru Maiyai
June 12th, 2004

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