The Goal of Cultivation and the Essence of Precepts, Meditation, and Wisdom

The purpose of practice should not be fixated on the stages of attainment; the stages of attainment are merely by-products. Take as your goal the subduing of afflictions and the elimination of ignorance, take as your goal the attainment of great wisdom and immeasurable wisdom, and take as your goal the salvation of sentient beings—then this goal is pure and free of obstruction.

Precepts, samādhi, and wisdom are in essence the mind of precepts and the mind of samādhi, causing the mind to give rise to wisdom. Precepts mean eliminating afflictions, eliminating the nature of self-clinging, and eliminating obstructions—this is the fundamental function of precepts. Only when obstructions are eliminated and the mind does not give rise to wrongdoing can there be samādhi, so that one's contemplation becomes deep and thorough, thereby giving rise to wisdom.