The Sutra in Forty-two Sections Spoken by the Buddha was the first sutra to be translated into Chinese and brought from India by the Venerable Elders Kashyapa-matanga and Gobharana around 67CE, during the reign of the Han dynasty emperor Han Ming Di.
This publication of Section 12 of the Sutra seeks to make Venerable Master Miao Lien’s guidance on the Buddha’s list of twenty difficulties more widely available. These twenty difficulties, while pertinent to all people, can be organized into two categories. Difficulties one to three describe the obstacles to secular cultivation while the rest explain the challenges of non-secular cultivation. Within the latter category, difficulties four to seventeen focus on the hindrances to self-cultivation, and the final three difficulties delve into the arduous task of delivering sentient beings.
Book Categories
20 Difficulties to Leading a Spiritual Life
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| Publication Year | 2016 |
| Pages | 159 |
| ISBN | 978177517702920 |
Content
- It is difficult to practice giving when one is poor. ……….8
- It is difficult to practice the Way when one has wealth and status………..14
- It is difficult to abandon life and face the certainty of death………..18
- It is difficult to encounter Buddhist sutras………..24
- It is difficult to be born at the time of a Buddha………..30
- It is difficult to resist lust and desire………..34
- It is difficult to see fine things and not seek them………..38
- It is difficult not to become angry after being humiliated………..42
- It is difficult to have power and not abuse it………..48
- It is difficult to come in contact with things and have no thought of them………..56
- It is difficult to be vastly learned and well-read………..60
- t is difficult to eliminate pride………..66
- It is difficult not to slight those who
have not yet studied………..70 - It is difficult to be impartial………..74
- It is difficult not to gossip………..76
- It is difficult to meet a good and wise advisor………..82
- It is difficult to perceive one’s True nature and practice the Way………..94
- It is difficult to teach and save people according to their potential………..98
- It is difficult to see a state and not be moved by it………..104
- It is difficult to have a good understanding of expediency………..114