punya ［功徳・福徳］ (;  kudoku or fukutoku): Virtue, benefit, good fortune, blessing, meritorious act, good, or right. Punya is a component of a number of Buddhist terms. For example, the Sanskrit word punya-kshetra was rendered in China as “field of good fortune” or “field of blessing.” The seventeenth chapter of Kumārajīva’s translation of the Lotus Sutra is titled “Distinctions in Benefits,” and its Sanskrit title is Punya-paryāya. Paryāya means arrangement, disposition, or distinction. The Sanskrit title of the “Benefits of Responding with Joy” (eighteenth) chapter of the same work is Anumodanā-punya-nirdesha. Anumodanā means joyful acceptance, and nirdesha, description or explanation. Thus Anumodanā-punya-nirdesha indicates a description of benefits accruing from joyful acceptance. One of the eighteen heavens in the world of form is called Punya-prasava, which means increase of merit. See also benefit.