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20   DIFFICULT   THINGS
The Buddha said : 
"There are twenty difficult things which are hard for human beings:
- It is hard to practise charity when one is poor.
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It is hard to study the Way when occupying a position of great authority.
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It is hard to surrender life at the approach of inevitable death.
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It is hard to get an opportunity of reading the sutras.
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It is hard to be born directly into Buddhist surroundings.
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It is hard to bear lust and desire without yielding to them.
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It is hard to see something attractive without desiring it.
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It is hard to bear insult without making an angry reply.
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It is hard to have power and not pay regard to it.
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It is hard to come in contact with things and yet remain unaffected by them.
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It is hard to study widely and investigate everything thoroughly.
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It is hard to overcome selfishness and sloth.
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It is hard to avoid making light without having studied the Way enough.
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It is hard to keep the mind evenly balanced.
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It is hard to refrain from defining things as being something or not being something.
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It is hard to come into contact with clear perception of the Way.
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It is hard to perceive one's own nature and through such perception to study the Way.
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It is hard to help others towards Enlightenment according to their various needs.
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It is hard to see the end of the Way without being moved.
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It is hard to discard successfully the shackles that bind us to the wheel of life and death as opportunities present themselves."
 
(From: The Sutra of 42 Sections, Kinh Tu+' Tha^.p Nhi. Chu+o+ng))
oOo