20 Difficulties to Overcome

At the very beginning of the path to Enlightenment there are twenty difficulties for us to overcome in the world, and they are:

1. It is difficult to practice generosity when one is poor.
2. It is difficult to study the Way when one is wealthy and/or occupying a position of great authority/status.
3. It is difficult to surrender life and seek Enlightenment at the approach of death or at the cost of self-sacrifice.
4. It is difficult to hear the teachings of the Buddha and to listen to his sutras.
5. It is difficult to be born during the time of a Buddha.
6. It is difficult to keep the mind pure and to bear lust and desire without yielding to them.
7. It is difficult to see something attractive without desiring it.
8. It is difficult to bear insult without making an angry reply.
9. It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.
10. It is difficult to come in contact with things and yet remain unaffected by them.
11. It is difficult to study widely and investigate everything thoroughly.
12. It is difficult to overcome selfishness and sloth, and not despise a beginner.
13. It is difficult to avoid making light without having studied the Way enough and keep oneself humble.
14. It is difficult to keep the mind evenly balanced and not be disturbed by external conditions and circumstances.
15. It is difficult to refrain from defining things as being something or not being something, being right or wrong.
16. It is difficult to come into contact with a good and wise advisor/friend/teacher.
17. It is difficult to perceive one’s own nature and through such perception to study the Way.
18. It is difficult to help others towards Enlightenment according to their various needs.
19. It is difficult to see the end of the Way without being moved.
20. It is difficult to discard successfully the shackles that bind us to the wheel of life and death as opportunities present themselves/to find and learn a good method.”