There is fundamentally no difference between others in our environment and ourselves because we all equally possess the potential to become Buddhas. Our outward appearances, our social differences, our education differences and all the other ways we tend to differentiate ourselves from others are so minor, they are trivial when we get down to the most important thing in life – enlightenment – that for us to spend time making comparisons is pointless and wasteful of our time.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra