To be able to practice the Dharma without great difficulties and to meet a teacher without going through hardship are signs of the ripening of karma in the West. If the fruits of this ripening are skillfully used, they will in the future produce greater fruits. But because of attachment to the self, the ego, people separate self from others, subject from object. From that separation comes the problems of hatred, jealousy, and anger. It is ignorance that produces these poisons, because we are attached to a self that is actually nonexistent.
Ignorance is the basic cause of all of our confusion.
We all have Buddhanature within us, but in our ignorance we do not recognize it. Dharma practice introduces us to our own nature, and through practice we can eventually fully realize it as Buddhanature. Because in our present state of ignorance and attachment we do not recognize our own nature, we try out of curiosity to obtain possessions, wealth, fame, and so forth. But in fact these things bring us suffering. Actually, everything and everybody are one, and realizing the oneness of everything brings eternal happiness.