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Someone said:"pursuit of merit is the Buddhist way to develop a wise sense of self"
Soh replied:
I would say it should be the other way round. Truly practicing without sense of self gives rise to the highest merit.
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Soh Wei Yu
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Sariputra: What is the worldly, and what is the supramundane perfection of giving?
Subhuti: The worldly perfection of giving consists in this: The Bodhisattva gives liberally to all those who ask, all the while thinking in terms of real things [that are unchanging and substantial]. It occurs to him: "I [who is unchanging and substantial give, that one [who is unchanging and substantial] receives, this is the gift [that is unchanging and substantial]. I renounce all my possessions without stint. I act as one who knows the Buddha. I practice the perfection of giving. I, having made this gift into the common property of all beings, dedicate it to supreme enlightenment, and that without apprehending anything [that is unchanging and substantial]. By means of this gift, and its fruits may all beings in this very life be at ease, and may they one day enter Nirvana!" Tied by three ties he gives a gift. Which three? A perception of self, a perception of others, a perception of the gift.
The supramundane perfection of giving, on the other hand, consists in the threefold purity. What is the threefold purity? Here a Bodhisattva gives a gift, and he does not apprehend a self [who is unchanging and substantial, nor a recipient [who is unchanging and substantial], nor a gift [that is unchanging and substantial]; also no reward of his giving [that is unchanging and substantial]. He surrenders that gift to all beings, but he apprehends neither beings nor self [who are unchanging and substantial]. He dedicates that gift to supreme enlightenment, but he does not apprehend any enlightenment [due t non-attachment to it, thus truly attaining it]. This is called the supramundane perfection of giving.
Pañcavimsatisahasrika, 263-64
Buddhist Texts Through The Ages
Translated & Edited By Edward Conze, I.B. Horner, David Snellgrove & Arthur Waley
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Soh Wei Yu
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https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/maha-prajnaparamita-sastra/d/doc225233.html
There is also mundane generosity (laukikadāna) and supramundane generosity (lokottaradāna), the generosity approved of by the āryas (āryavarṇitadāna) and the generosity disapproved of by the āryas (āryāvarṇitadāna), the generosity of the buddhas and bodhisattvas (buddhabodhisattvadāna) and the generosity of the śrāvakas (śrāvakadāna).
1) What is mundane generosity (laukikadāna)? Mundane generosity is the generosity of ordinary people (pṛthagjanadāna) and also the generosity used by the āryas with an impure mind (sāsravacitta). Some say that [only] the generosity of worldly people constitutes mundane generosity, whereas the generosity of the āryas, even though carried out with impure mind, is supramundane because their fetters (saṃyojana) are cut (chinna). Why? Because these āryas have obtained the concentration of non-thought (apraṇihitasamādhi).[1]
Furthermore, mundane generosity is impure (aviśuddha), whereas supramundane generosity is pure (viśuddha).[2] There are two kinds of fetters (saṃyojana): i) those that depend on craving (tṛṣṇāpekṣa); ii) those that depend on wrong views (dṛṣṭyapekṣa).[3] When these two kinds of fetters are present, the generosity is mundane; when they are absent, the generosity is supramundane.
When the three obstacles (āvaraṇa)[4] fetter the mind, the generosity is mundane. Why? Dharmas, resulting from causes and conditions (hetupratyaya) are truly without substantial self (anātmaka); nevertheless, we say: “I am giving and someone is receiving”; this is what is called mundane generosity. Besides, [the notion] of self (ātman) has no precise attribution (aniyatasthāna): sometimes it is the self that is taken as ātman and not as other; sometimes it is other that is taken as ātman and not as self.[5] As a result of this imprecision, there is no true ātman. Moreover, the thing given (deyadravya) exists solely as a result of the complex of causes and conditions (hetupratyayasāmagrī) and all the dharmas are in themselves nonexistent (anupalabdha). They are like a cloth (paṭa) that results from a collection of causes and conditions but which ceases to exist as soon as one pulls out the silken thread or threads of which it is composed. In the same way the dharmas have as sole characteristic the absence of own-characteristic [142b] (animittalakṣaṇa); they are eternally empty of self nature (svabhāvalakṣaṇa). But people have hallucinations (abhiprāya) and take them to be existent. This mistake (viparyāsa) and this error characterize the mundane generosity. – But when the mind is free of the three obstacles (āvaraṇa), the characteristic of dharmas (lakṣaṇadharma) is truly cognized and the mind is free of error (viparyāsa): then generosity is supramundane.
2) Supramundane generosity is the generosity approved of by the āryas (āryavarṇitadāna); mundane generosity is the generosity disapproved of by the āryas (āryāvarṇitadāna).
Moreover, pure (viśuddha) generosity free of stains (vimala) and conforming to the true nature (bhūtalakṣaṇa) of dharmas is the generosity approved of by the āryas; the impure (aviśuddha) generosity, mixed with fetters (saṃyojana), errors (viparyāsa) and obstinacy (cittasaṅga) is the generosity disapproved of by the āryas.
Finally, the generosity associated with the knowledge of the true nature (bhūtalakṣaṇaprajñā) is the generosity approved of by the āryas; in the contrary case, it is disapproved of by the āryas.
3) When one gives without seeking [the welfare] of beings or without wanting to know the true nature (bhūtalakṣaṇa) of dharmas, but only for the purpose of escaping from birth (jāti), old age (jarā), sickness (vyādhi) and death (maraṇa), this is the generosity of the śrāvakas. When one gives for all beings or again in order to know the true nature of dharmas, this is the generosity of the Buddhas or bodhisattvas.
When one is incapable of fulfilling (paripūrṇa) all the qualities (guṇa) [required for true generosity] but one is seeking to obtain a small portion of them, this is generosity of the śrāvakas. When one wishes to fulfill all the qualities, this is generosity of the Buddhas or bodhisattvas.
When one gives out of fear of old age, sickness and death, this is generosity of the śrāvakas; when one gives to acquire buddhahood, to convert beings and without fear of old age, sickness and death, this is generosity of the Buddhas or bodhisattvas.[6] At this point, the story of the P’ou sa pen cheng king (Bodhisattvajātakasūtra) should be told.
