At the very beginning of the path to Enlightenment there are twenty difficulties for us to overcome in the world, and they are:
- It is difficult to practice generosity when one is poor.
- It is difficult to study the Way when one is wealthy and/or occupying a position of great authority/status.
- It is difficult to surrender life and seek Enlightenment at the approach of death or at the cost of self-sacrifice.
- It is difficult to hear the teachings of the Buddha and to listen to his sutras.
- It is difficult to be born during the time of a Buddha.
- It is difficult to keep the mind pure and to bear lust and desire without yielding to them.
- It is difficult to see something attractive without desiring it.
- It is difficult to bear insult without making an angry reply.
- It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.
- It is difficult to come in contact with things and yet remain unaffected by them.
- It is difficult to study widely and investigate everything thoroughly.
- It is difficult to overcome selfishness and sloth, and not despise a beginner.
- It is difficult to avoid making light without having studied the Way enough and keep oneself humble.
- It is difficult to keep the mind evenly balanced and not be disturbed by external conditions and circumstances.
- It is difficult to refrain from defining things as being something or not being something, being right or wrong.
- It is difficult to come into contact with a good and wise advisor/friend/teacher.
- It is difficult to perceive one’s own nature and through such perception to study the Way.
- It is difficult to help others towards Enlightenment according to their various needs.
- It is difficult to see the end of the Way without being moved.
- 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.”