The purpose of practice is to eliminate all ignorance and attain liberation

The purpose of cultivation 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 cultivation to other concerns, that itself is ignorance, and liberation will not be attained.

Moreover, to remove ignorance, eliminate the 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 for realizing the path of no-self, cultivates one's own liberated mind of no-self, and cultivates one's own bodhi mind 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 have mastered to gain worldly fame and gain, to gain others' reverence, to gain the power to dominate others, to obtain 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 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 time to enumerate it bit by bit, how many people would be astonished—things they could never have imagined themselves, that their minds are filled with ignorance. Nothing can be found that did 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 very difficult: when someone believes themselves to be clear-minded, that itself is ignorance. Foolish delusion fills the sky and covers the fields—from beginningless kalpas past, all the way to beginningless kalpas to come, it is far, far too much.