In general in East Asian Buddhist schools, our objective is to become a Buddha.
But in Hua-yan the most esteemed state of being is to become a bodhisattva, which inhabits the space between the Buddhas and the phenomenal world we live in.
According to Hua-yan, what the Buddha taught is not removal from the world in eternal nirvana, but rather helping others to reach that goal (= Mahayana).