20 Difficult Things
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The Buddha said :
"There are twenty difficult things which are hard for human beings:
(From: The Sutra of 42 Sections, Kinh Tu+' Tha^.p Nhi. Chu+o+ng) -
1) It is hard to practise charity when one is poor.
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2) It is hard to study the Way when occupying a position of great authority.
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3) It is hard to surrender life at the approach of inevitable death.
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4) It is hard to get an opportunity of reading the sutras.
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5) It is hard to be born directly into Buddhist surroundings.
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6) It is hard to bear lust and desire without yielding to them.
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7) It is hard to see something attractive without desiring it.
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8 ) It is hard to bear insult without making an angry reply.
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9) It is hard to have power and not pay regard to it.
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10) It is hard to come in contact with things and yet remain unaffected by them.
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life as animals are miserable and survival of the fittest, as the fittest only survive, life as a human are just as difficult, abeit different circumstances.
In all, existences entail sufferings. -
yes definitely life as animal is much more suffering if u look at us humans are suffering badly enough.
it ain't easy to be a human yeah? look at the number of animals and insects they are more than human beings around.
now that so many couples in the new generations are not really willing to give birth, wonder how many can have chances to reborn in human realm. can't possibly cultivate in animal or insects forms..... -
Thank you for sharing with us this important dharma... truly we must transcend the most difficult, in our spiritual cultivation.
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11) It is hard to study widely and investigate everything thoroughly.
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12) It is hard to overcome selfishness and sloth.
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13) It is hard to avoid making light without having studied the Way enough.
(frankly i don't quite understand this, can someone enlighten me please?) -
14) It is hard to keep the mind evenly balanced.
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15) It is hard to refrain from defining things as being something or not being something.
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Hi thanks paperflower for the 20 difficult things.
It is hard to meet an enlightened being.
It is hard to admit own mistake.
It is hard to be persistent in cultivation.
It is hard to remains clean in a dirty environment.
It is hard to convince people to believe in buddhism.
It is hard to let go an achievement and move on.
It is hard to put your understanding in dharma into action.
wah, so many difficult things, no wonder we are still in human realm...
In fact, it is becoming harder and harder to free ourselves from life cycle in this dharma ending age. If we miss this chance, next round may be even tougher to be born as human buddhist. -
it is hard to be born as a human, it is even harder to know the Dhamma and reborn in a Buddhist country. also it is hard to meet an arahant.
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it is hard to be enlighten without having studied the Way enough.Originally posted by paperflower:13) It is hard to avoid making light without having studied the Way enough.
(frankly i don't quite understand this, can someone enlighten me please?) -
Ren Shen Nan De Jin Yi De
(hard it is to attain human birth, but I have attained it)
Fo Fa Nan Wen Jin Yi Wen
(hard to find the dharma, but I found it)
Ci Shen Bu Xiang Jin Shen Du
(if we dont deliver ourselves in this life)
Gen Xiang He Shen Du Ci Shen
(when will we be delivered?)
Consider ourselves the most fortunate among the world! Liberation is at hand, if we choose to walk the path.
cheers -
16) It is hard to come into contact with clear perception of the Way.
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17) It is hard to perceive one's own nature and through such perception to study the Way.