When is it proper to consider oneself a Mahayana practitioner?

We sometimes, somewhat pretentiously, declare ourselves to be Mahayana practitioners, because we feel that the Dharma we practice is Mahayana. But it is not enough that the Dharma is practice be Mahayana – the person practicing it must be Mahayana.

The question of what vehicle we are practicing is a question of how much responsibility, how much of a burden the person is willing to and can actually carry. Unfortunately, we tend to ignore that fact, and look only to the name of the tradition we espouse. This is a mistake.

His Holiness, 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

Ogyen Trinley Dorje

From teaching on Torch of Certainty
by Jamgon Lodro Thaye 

at 31st Kagyu Monlam

Session 4