What is Meritorious Karma with Outflows? What is Meritorious Karma without Outflows?

Merit is divided into leaky merit and non-leaky merit. Leaky merit cannot reach the shore of liberation; only non-leaky merit can escort the practitioner to the shore of liberation. Merit cultivated while seeking something within worldly phenomena is leaky merit. Merit cultivated with a utilitarian mindset oriented towards worldly phenomena is leaky merit. Merit cultivated with a sense of self is leaky merit. Merit cultivated to gain rewards in the mundane realm is leaky merit. Non-leaky merit is merit cultivated with a mind free from seeking and attachment, merit cultivated without a utilitarian aim, merit cultivated not for the self nor for worldly rewards. 

Leaky merit can be exhausted; when enjoyed within the mundane realm, it vanishes, requiring constant cultivation of merit to have blessings to enjoy. Non-leaky merit is inexhaustible; once cultivated, it remains until the attainment of Buddhahood, because non-leaky merit is connected to virtue (gongde), and since virtue does not diminish, the merit does not diminish. Leaky merit corresponds to worldly afflictions, while non-leaky merit corresponds to the pure, great vow of attaining Buddhahood and liberating sentient beings. The greater the vow, the greater the merit; making the vow generates merit. Leaky merit reinforces a person's self-view and self-attachment, whereas non-leaky merit does the opposite; it supports practitioners in eradicating self-view, eliminating self-view, and enhancing various levels of realization and wisdom. 

Beginner Buddhists all start by cultivating leaky wholesome actions and leaky merit. As the mind becomes increasingly empty, increasingly non-active, and increasingly free from seeking, success will naturally follow, and ultimately, they will be able to cultivate non-leaky wholesome actions and non-leaky merit. This is the process of practice. In the initial stages of learning Buddhism, one must first cultivate leaky wholesome actions and merit, because when sentient beings harbor unwholesome dharmas in their minds, wholesome dharmas must be used to counteract them. Only when cultivation reaches a considerable level does the mind correspond with emptiness, and only then can the unwholesome dharmas in the mind completely disappear. At this stage, one should no longer cling to wholesome dharmas; clinging to wholesome dharmas prevents the mind from being empty and prevents it from corresponding with the Way. 

We are currently all in the stage of diligently practicing the Four Right Efforts, striving to abandon the unwholesome and cultivate the wholesome. Only after all unwholesomeness has been abandoned, and wholesome actions no longer need to be deliberately cultivated—when the mind clings to neither good nor evil—is it truly non-leaky. The Four Right Efforts: to prevent unarisen wholesome states from arising and to promote arisen wholesome states; to prevent arisen unwholesome states from arising and to abandon arisen unwholesome states. Everyone must go through this stage. The more diligently one practices, the faster one can complete the Four Right Efforts and thereby attain the non-leakage state.