Dana is the first thing taught to a new lay Buddhist, before ethics and long before meditation, and the sequencing is doctrinal rather than pastoral. A mind unwilling to give is understood to be too tightly closed for the rest of the path to work on. The classical analysis is unusually psychological: the merit generated depends on the state of mind of the giver before, during and after the act — a gift given generously and then regretted is diminished by the regret — and on the recipient. The whole monastic system runs on it, and dana is also the model for how teaching is given, which is why many Asian teachers and a growing number of Western ones refuse to charge fees.