A List of Difficulties and an Exhortation to Cultivate

It is difficult to give when one is poor.
It is difficult to study the Way when one has wealth and status.
It is difficult to abandon life and face the certainty of death.
It is difficult to encounter the Buddhist sutras.
It is difficult to be born at the time of a Buddha.
It is difficult to be patient with lust and desire.
It is difficult to see fine things and not seek them.
It is difficult to be insulted and not become angry.
It is difficult to have power and not abuse it.
It is difficult to come in contact with things and have no thought of them.
It is difficult to get rid of pride.
It is difficult to practice equanimity of mind.
It is difficult not to gossip.
It is difficult to meet a Good and Wise Advisor.
It is difficult to see one's own nature and study the Dharma.
It is difficult to see a state and not be moved by it.
It is difficult to have a good understanding of skill-in-means.

- Sutra in Forty Two Sections