Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

76. “You may ask: If there is no sentient being, whose is the goal? We grant that desire [for liberation, etc.] is indeed delusive. Still, in order to eradicate suffering, effective delusion, whose result [is understanding of the ultimate] is not prevented.”–Shantideva

Objection: If sentient beings do not exist, who is it that attains the fruition of the spiritual path–full awakening? And while on the path, for whom does one cultivate compassion?

Response: Sentient beings do exist. It is for them that compassion is felt, and compassion is cultivated by existent people. Whatever is designated by delusion is to be acknowledged. Due to cultivating compassion while on the spiritual path, the fruition of full awakening is attained. Who attains awakening? That, too, is to be established conventionally, without [ultimate] examination or analysis. In order to pacify the suffering of oneself and others, impure appearances that arise due to ignorance are not to be rejected.

–from Transcendent Wisdom by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated, edited and annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications

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