We can go to the doctor, to a clinic or hospital for any of a number of reasons. If it’s some small, temporary problem, we would go to be treated for that. If it is something more serious, or chronic, we could go for example for an operation, or to a treatment facility for an extended period of time, until we were fully cured…

We could also go to a doctor, to or healer, or to a teaching hospital with the aim of becoming a doctor. Following the footsteps of those who cared for us, and being inspired by them, we can determine to support them, and to learn from them how to help others in the same way.

This has its parallel in the different reasons why a person would approach Buddhist study and practice. We can be seeking relief from some temporary problem or suffering of body or mind. This can be likened to taking refuge, practicing the precepts and meditation. Its purpose is to relieve the sufferings we experience, and to restore peace and harmony in our lives.

We can also approach Buddhist practice with an aim to become free from all suffering and its causes. This is a different level of motivation that may arise from the first. Not content with suffering repeatedly, time and again, across lifetimes, once we hear that liberation is possible, and have some faith that freedom from all suffering could be attained, we commit ourselves to that, out of far reaching compassion for ourselves. We renounce samsara, and practice the unified path of ethics, meditation, and wisdom to accomplish our aims.

As it is with someone receiving treatment for an extended period of time,
this level of concern and commitment is deeper, it goes much further, and is more focussed. It becomes our priority, excluding other matters for as long as needed.

We can also approach Buddhism to accomplish this path and help others in the same way. This is the Mahayana motivation. We see the necessity of becoming a capable and loving person in the world. What distinguishes the Buddha and all those with realization in any tradition is that they have the living knowledge of how to become free from suffering and how to realize true health, peace and fulfillment.

We can see the need for everyone to have this knowledge early on in our study, or after some time. Getting out of our own struggles to some extent allows us to see and feel and understand what others are going through. Naturally the strong motivation arises to help them in the best ways we can. I believe this is what happens with all noble ones. Great compassion is born from their being able to recognize the confusion and sufferings others experience, and from their knowing the way out.

It’s said that each level of motivation actually contains the others. So, for example, seeking to be relieved of some temporary difficulty actually includes in it the wish to be liberated from struggle and suffering forever, even if we don’t see it for some time. Our kind motivation towards ourselves is naturally onward leading;

And the wish to be permanently free from the miseries of samsara naturally includes within it the aim to become a fully capable being, living in this world, and caring for others with wisdom and compassion. We may not know all that is contained in this motivation to become liberated until we progress on the path, or we may glimpse it and forget it, but it is there.

It can be compared to the flower and the fruit that is contained within a seed. With the right conditions and cultivation, after some time, all that is held within becomes tangibly known.

In the same way, each motivation we can bring to Buddhist study and practice contains the previous ones. To be fully effective in helping others, for example, we need to be free from suffering ourselves, and to do that, we need cooperative conditions, each day’s health and strength and ability. We can find they are mutually inclusive.

A person aiming to be a doctor, or to accomplish a spiritual path in order to help others in the best ways will still have to care for themselves. They may have times of illness, a cold, or problems sleeping, for example, and certainly they will have their own afflictive emotions and ignorance to overcome, but as much as they do this, patiently, and gradually, they fulfill their purpose by that much.

Of course, out of great love and compassion having the aim to become a doctor, or a person with enlightened understanding living in this world goes far beyond just taking care of our own difficult conditions or accomplishing our own personal freedom. We would need to understand all of humanity and the hardships and sufferings in other realms as well. This would of course include many challenges and difficulties we have not personally known, but as we see the universal characteristics of suffering and the path to freedom from suffering, this is what we then encourage others to understand, and to practice, and to realize.

It is the most worthy aim to want to accomplish the path in order to help all others do the same. We could say it is a kind of awakening. It broadens our sense of responsibility and brings great dedicated energy and inspiration, compared to previous levels of motivation.

I think of a kind parent, or a teacher, or someone learning to become a doctor, waking early, and going to work, and diligently studying, to offer to their family and students the fruit of their labor and meditations. There is joy in that unlike any other.

The Mahayana path is like this.