In his explanation of the Ornament of Clear Realization , Patrul Rinpoche raised a crucial point. He said, “The goal of the bodhisattva is not to attain Buddhahood.” If that was not the goal, would the practitioners of Mahayana have any goal at all?

What he really meant is that if the aspiration to attain Buddhahood was simply due to one’s admiration for the Buddha’s greatness, his pure innocence and fulfillment of all virtues, yet no concerns for liberation of other sentient beings, it would not be in accordance with the doctrine of Mahayana. In other words, if liberation of others is out of the consideration, no matter how hard one works to keep the vow of attaining Buddhahood, those efforts will not be counted as Mahayana practice.

when there is cause, there is effect. Life’s sorrows and joys, separations and reunions, in fact, all phenomena come with their own respective causes. Some we can see, some cannot. Only very special kind of persons can grasp the whole picture. But cause and effect always go hand in hand, never alone. No cause, no effect, and vice versa. If one is in pursuit of happiness, one must sow happiness to reap happiness. The seed of happiness is virtuous action. To avoid suffering and misfortune, one must not give rise to their causes. The cause of suffering is doing evil. Being foolish and ignorant, ordinary people try to reap happiness by sowing suffering. For example, nowadays many people try to prolong their own lives by killing and eating all sorts of animals. Aren’t the means and the purpose completely contradictory to one another?

It is a conviction of suffering being the nature of samsara to such a degree that one no longer harbors any desire for samsara and wholeheartedly seeks liberation from it. At the same time, one must also cultivate the transcendent wisdom that is implicit in the ultimate liberation.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Three Differences"

What does the word “renounce” mean? First, to renounce is to forsake all worldly concerns. In other words, to renounce is not to have any attachment to worldly things and, at the same time, to be fully aware of the suffering nature of samsara. Second, one must endeavor to seek liberation from all suffering.

Similarly, after we have generated renunciation and bodhicitta, we do not have to immediately abandon all worldly activities such as working, handling family affairs and so forth.

As long as we do not develop attachment to those ordinary activities, we can practice and work at the same time. Generating renunciation and bodhicitta not only are not incompatible with daily work, but may even come in handy for a true practitioner faced with thorny issues or interpersonal conflict.

Theravada practitioners aim to free only themselves from samsara, while the bodhisattvas aspire to do that for themselves and all other sentient beings. Frankly, to single-handedly lead all sentient beings to liberation is an extremely difficult task, one that not even the Buddha could have accomplished in a single lifetime. But the infinite power and aspiration of the Buddha have continued to benefit all those who are receptive to his teachings until this day. Even so, he cannot deliver all sentient beings. What matters is not that everyone can be saved but that we all strive toward that worthy end.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Four Noble Truths—the Path Out of Samsara"

What needs to be overthrown is our steadfast clinging to the belief of distinct, self-existing phenomena, not the standpoints of the atheists or some other philosophies. Once that clinging is gone, nothing that others preach can impair our true view anymore. For no matter how eloquent they are, they cannot affect someone who has realized emptiness. The means by which one can thoroughly destroy clinging to the idea of self-existing phenomena is to generate renunciation, arouse bodhicitta and cultivate the critical view of emptiness.

Why is realization of emptiness so powerful? It is because the cause of our endless rebirth in samsara is not something external but our own views and attachment, a kind of thought actually. And thoughts can be overthrown, but not all of them. Those that are formed on a solid base with logical reasoning are very difficult to be overthrown.

Is clinging to the idea of a real self well grounded and sensible? Not so. Ever since birth, we have always had this notion of a self. Now take a look and see if this self truly exists. And how does it exist? If we examine closely, we will discover that it does not exist. But why do we have this compelling sense of a real self? The truth is that it is all just an illusion. Like when running a high fever, one may see hallucinations as real or have strange thoughts popped up in mind. This is because the causes for seeing hallucinations or having twisted thoughts are already formed such that whatever one sees or thinks is nothing but the illusions created by these causes.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Four Noble Truths—the Path Out of Samsara"

The cultivation of renunciation begins with the four general preliminaries: contemplating the rarity and preciousness of human birth, the impermanence of all phenomena, the law of infallible karma and the suffering of samsara. Upon successfullycompleting the general preliminary practice, renunciation will arise spontaneously. As for relative bodhicitta, it has two stages, i.e., aspiring and engaging. The practice of aspiring bochicitta is to cultivate the Four Immeasurables: loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy and equanimity through which unbiased, unlimited compassion for all sentient beings will arise. Once that has been developed, generation of bodhicitta will be just steps away. It is only when practice progresses in an orderly fashion, step-by- step that we can hope to reap any results.

This is because the attainment of Buddhahood is the ultimate way of freeing all sentient beings from suffering. Though we need various skillful means to achieve this goal, the most needed is not merely to offer others money, good reputation, enviable position or to establish charities to feed or treat the poor.

Instead, the most meaningful method is to propagate Buddhadharma from which others may find out for themselves the true nature of life. This is the only way that can really benefit others.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Three Supreme Methods"