Today's Word

Difficulty Is Also a Place of Practice

2026 . 03 . 27

We should not only wish for the body to be free from illness, for life in the world to be free from difficulty, or for practice to be free from obstacles.

A life with no difficulty at all may be comfortable, but it does not become a study that deepens the mind. Even afflictions and obstacles, misunderstandings and unfairness, can become places of practice depending on how we receive and govern them.

Today, rather than resenting what does not go as we wish, may we look into our own mind within it and spend the day learning the Dharma.

Do not only wish for a life without difficulty; cultivate the mind within difficulty itself.

Do not only wish for life to have no difficulty. Practice deepens not when there are no obstacles, but in how we govern obstacles. Today, may we choose reflection over complaint, and study over resentment.

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Difficulty Is Also a Place of Practice
Difficulty Is Also a Place of Practice cartoon
The main character stops before a thorny field, wishing only for an easy road.
Hyedal sunim shows small lotus steps hidden among the thorns.
Obstacles and afflictions become stepping-stones for governing the mind.
The main character chooses reflection over resentment and takes one step.
The thorny field becomes bright lotus steps, and the face grows calmly steady.
Do not only wish for a life without difficulty; cultivate the mind within difficulty itself.