As for the results of practicing Dharma, in general, if we are a qualified practitioner of Dharma, we should have two primary objectives: to consider others more important than ourselves, and to consider future lives more important than our present life. Furthermore, although the ultimate result is the attainment of Buddhahood, because people have different dispositions and inclinations, they will have different goals and results. The result attained does not depend so much upon the type of Dharma practices, Hinayana or Mahayana, but upon the motivation of the practitioner, ourselves. Therefore, our motivation plays a crucial role.
The best objective of Dharma practice is to attain the state of Buddhahood ourselves in dependence upon a stainless path of Dharma, and to henceforth act for the benefit of sentient beings. We might wonder–could an ordinary, deluded person like myself accomplish something like that? If we practice with perseverance, we will definitely attain Buddhahood. Why? Because Buddhas beyond number have done it in the past.
ཆོས་ཀྱི་འབྲས་བུ་དེ་ལ་སྤྱིར་ཆོ
ཆོས་ཀྱི་འབྲས་བུ་དེ་ལ་སྤྱིར་ཆོ
Written by Khenpo Karten Rinpoche, an excerpt from his book Precious Teachings, the chapter “Purpose and Benefits of the Holy Dharma,” page 89 in the paper book, and page 96 in the online pdf. Image is Amoghasiddhi with Eight Boddhisattvas.
