The Buddha gave eighty-four thousand different teachings, all of them designed to subdue ego-clinging. This was the only reason why he set them forth. If they do not act as an antidote for our attachment to self then all practice is in vainas was the case with the Buddha’s cousin Devadatta. He knew as many sutras as an elephant could carry on its back but because he could not shake off his clinging to self he went to hell in his next life.
The extent to which we have been able to overcome our self-attachment will show the degree to which we have used the Dharma properly. So let us try very hard.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven-Point Mind Training

translated by Padmakara Translation Group


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Further quotes from the book Enlightened Courage:

• The degree of self-clinging
• Morning pledge
• The impurity of our perception
• Using illness on the path
• Antidote to our ego-clinging
• Taking advantage of suffering
• Always be sustained by cheerfulness
• Signs of realization
• Failing to use the instructions as an antidote
• Anger is an illusion
• The three essential factors on which the accomplishment of the Dharma depends
• The vows of the Mind Training
• Well rewarded
• Begin the training sequence with yourself
• Bodhicitta practice
• Give up hoping for results
• Delusion
• Forsaking all self-centeredness
• Honest examination