The Purpose of Spiritual Practice Is to Eradicate All Ignorance and Attain Liberation

The purpose of spiritual practice is to break through all ignorance (avidyā) and attain liberation. Without ignorance there would be no afflictions, no birth-and-death, no bondage; all afflictions arise from ignorance. If one ties spiritual practice to other worldly concerns, that itself is ignorance, and one cannot attain liberation.

Yet to remove ignorance, eradicate the view of self, and attain liberation, one cannot do without helping others attain liberation together. While helping others, one accumulates the resources of merit, gains all the resources of the path of seeing into selflessness, cultivates one's own liberated mind of selflessness, and cultivates one's own bodhicitta of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Therefore, helping others is helping oneself; the two are not opposed to each other—they are unified.

How many people study Buddhism merely to acquire knowledge, using the knowledge and theories they master to gain worldly fame and offerings, to gain others' respect, to gain the power to dominate others, to build a stronger self. In this way, ignorance is increased, bondage becomes greater, and liberation becomes even more distant—such knowledge and theory are themselves afflictions. But after genuine realization, it is not so: one's own mind gains a corresponding measure of liberation and tranquility, and at the same time one can bring coolness and peace to others, improve the surrounding environment, and benefit others—both self and others reap the benefit.

The ignorance of sentient beings could not be exhausted even if told over many great kalpas. If one had the leisure to enumerate it bit by bit, how many people would be astonished—they would never have imagined that their minds are filled with ignorance. One cannot find a single dharma that does not arise from ignorance. Everyone has ignorance; at every moment there is ignorance; in every matter there is ignorance—ignorance exists broadly and universally. Even finding "clarity" is extremely difficult; when someone believes themselves to be clear and enlightened, that itself is ignorance. Foolish delusion fills the sky and covers the earth, from beginningless kalpas past on through beginningless kalpas to come—too much, far too much.