The main goal throughout the Hindu/Buddhist tradition:
Quest for deeply satisfying internal peace beyond the threat of deeply
disturbing change.
Deeply satisfying peace is associated with one particular feeling of
spiritual bliss gained in deep meditation. Unites one with Atman/Brahman. Atman
is in-active (a-karma), i.e. free from involuntary reactions to the world
(gunas acting on gunas) based on attachments to changeable
conditions, which make one vulnerable to the threat of deeply disturbing change.
But this should not lead to literal inaction, refusing to do
one's social duty (karma-yoga) and contribute to society.
Achieving a meaningful life through deeply satisfying internal peace should only
free one from needing to get meaning through worldly connections and
achievements, free one to relate to the world on a different basis, contributing
to society out of pure outgoing altruistic concern for others. ("Performing
actions [karma] without attachment to the fruits of action.") This general
principle was continued in Buddhist practice.
Criticizes BG Hinduism for tendency to turn away from the changeable external
world to seek freedom from change in some particular internal experience or
state. PC insists that all conditions you can directly experience inside are as
changeable as conditions outside. This is expressed by rejection of the BG
Atman. All Perceptual Objects (PO's) that one can directly experience are
changeable, so all (including BG "bliss") should be regarded as An-Atta
(= not-Atman). (The 5 khandhas = all perceptual objects, hence the
PC doctrine: Everything belonging to khandhas should be regarded as An-Atta.)
In the PC, becoming a person able to regard all P0's as An-Atta
is the same as becoming a Viññana (perceiving subject) not "seeking
support in"/"resting in"/"abiding in" any PO, external or internal.
The PC criticizes BG Hinduism for a dualistic attitude, a contrastive
mentality thinking that the goal of meditation is to achieve a particular kind
of experience ("bliss") that can be contrasted with other experiences (e.g.
being upset).
Mahayana teaching criticizes some parts of the PC liable to
mislead meditators into a different kind of dualism, thinking that the goal of
meditation is to achieve a certain other kind of experience, blankness or
mental emptiness, that can be contrasted with other experiences (e.g. a mind
full of feelings or preoccupied with thoughts.) This is the main characteristic
of what Mahayana Buddhists call "Hinayana."
This understanding could be avoided when reading the PC, if
one keeps in mind the principle that everything opposite of something belonging
to the khandhas also belongs to the khandhas. (If an empty mind is one mental
condition that is the opposite of a busy mind as another mental condition, then
both belong to the conditions-khandha.) Mahayana Buddhist writings emphasize
this ("anti-dualist") point, whereas the PC does not emphasize it. So for
example when the PC says "The noble student turns away from feelings," this
could easily be interpreted to mean "have no feelings, empty your mind of all
feelings." But it can also be understood in a way that avoids the Hinayana
mistake: Do not Cling to any particular feeling (anything belonging to the
feeling-khandha), or any other particular mental condition (anything
belonging to the conditions-khandha) including the mental condition of
feelinglessness.
Mahayana Buddhists tend to attribute the Hinayana mistake to all Theravada Buddhists, referring to them all by the derogatory term Hinayana (hina=lesser, maha=greater). But this is due to stereotyping, not the result of actual conversations or debates with Theravada Buddhists who explicitly defend this kind of dualistic understanding. (The Pali Canon was written long before Mahayana existed.) "Hinayana" dualism is a mistaken understanding persistent among all Buddhists (especially beginners), including those who officially belong to the Mahayana tradition. For example, in the Sutra of Hui-Neng, Shen-hsiu is a high ranking monk in a Mahayana Zen Buddhist monastery, but Hui-Neng criticizes him for his dualistic misunderstanding. Many passages in Shunryu Suzuki's book consist in correcting the dualism that he thinks his Zen Buddhist students are in danger of falling into.