“All of you have the basis for generating conventional bodhichitta in your minds. All of you have some basis of compassion—but your compassion at the moment is extremely polluted by your biased ways of thinking. Your compassion is conditional and limited. However, it is this very compassion, this limited compassion of yours, that is the foundation upon which you will develop a more honorable, noble sense of feeling for the suffering of other beings. Since compassion constitutes the root of the spiritual path, particularly the Mahayana path, as you study the Dharma, as you study the Lamrim Chenmo, you should do so with compassion as your motivation. To make your activities of listening meaningful or effective for your spiritual path, your attitude should be rooted in the altruistic attitude of the Mahayana. And although you may have read or listened to many teachings that warn of the infinite failings of the self-cherishing mind, and you know about it, you understand it well, and although you can see that the mind that cherishes others is the basis of all positive qualities and the source of all of happiness, it is not sufficient to merely hear about these things, or even to meditate upon them in solitude. It is also very important for you to put these principles into practice as much as you can within your society or the community in which you live.”

Yangsi Rinpoche. Practicing the Path: A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003. (Kindle Edition)