How to Give to Obtain the Greatest Merit?

When Śāriputra makes offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha, versus when Śākyamuni Buddha makes offerings to Śāriputra, who gains greater merit? If two people each give one dollar to the same person, who gains greater merit? If one person offers one dollar each to two different people, to whom should the offering be made to gain greater merit? How should such merit be measured? When one person, with different states of mind, makes offerings to the same person, when does he gain greater merit?

When practicing generosity (dāna), the more the mind is without contrivance and free of seeking, the greater the merit gained. When the Buddha practices generosity, His mind is the most empty and the most free of seeking, so He gains the greatest merit. Although what Śāriputra offers to is the Buddha, the most supreme field of merit, this still does not surpass the merit gained through an empty mind, for all sages and noble ones differ by means of the unconditioned dharma. The unconditioned realized through the Small Vehicle dharma and the unconditioned realized through the Great Vehicle dharma differ greatly in their levels of unconditionedness. Even among those who have realized the Great Vehicle dharma, because their degrees of wisdom differ, their levels of unconditionedness also differ. All the differentiated marks in the world are simply the differences of the mind. As long as one cultivates the mind well, nothing else needs to be attended to; everything is obtained naturally—the less one seeks to gain, the more one gains; the more one seeks to gain, the less one gains.