Strive to do good, and accumulate virtue through doing good, which is called merit. Merit is not equal to benefit. For example, many good believers mistakenly think that merit equals money, and how many volumes of scriptures they read and how many good deeds they do can be accumulated in the afterlife in exchange for corresponding blessings. This kind of merit is called fortune, not merit. The advantage is the experience gained through practice. Wealth equals money. Money can be used up, but experience will not disappear. Monks with great merit are more likely to realize Tao, so Taoism advocates accumulating virtue. Tao Te Ching said: "A saint does not accumulate because he thinks that the more he has, the more he has with others." The more you pay without return, the greater the return you get. Instead of being obsessed with returns, it is merit to always maintain inner peace.
-The original text is from the Taoist monk Sang Chu's One Hundred Questions about Taoist Knowledge.