How to Practice Dāna to Accumulate the Greatest Merit?

When Shariputra makes offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha, and Shakyamuni Buddha makes offerings to Shariputra, whose merit is greater? If two people each give one dollar to the same person, whose merit is greater? If one person makes offerings of one dollar each to two different people, to whom should they offer to gain greater merit? How should such merits be measured? When one person makes offerings to the same individual with different states of mind, at which time is the merit greater?

When giving, the more unconditioned (non-acting) and desireless the mind, the greater the merit obtained. When the Buddha gives, his mind is the emptiest and most desireless, thus he attains the greatest merit. Although Shariputra gives to the Buddha, the most supreme field of merit, it still does not equal the merit born of an empty mind. All sages and saints differ due to unconditioned dharma. The unconditioned state attained through the Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) and that attained through the Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) differ greatly in level. Even among those who attain the Mahayana, differences in wisdom result in different levels of unconditionedness. All distinctions in the world are distinctions of the mind. Simply cultivate the mind well, and there is no need to concern oneself with anything else. Everything is attained naturally—the less one seeks to gain, the more one obtains; the more one seeks to gain, the less one obtains.