The Perception of Hardship | 我们对艰苦的观念
（译文请往下阅读）
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
What is hardship? Is there really a definitive way of classifying a certain situation as hardship? What may be difficult for you and I may not be a problem for another person. I have been a Dharma teacher for more than 25 years and during this time, I’ve encountered many people who face obstacles when they try to engage in spiritual practice. Many times, these obstacles are self created… and the answer is instant if they choose to view things differently.
I recently read an article about a group of ascetic nuns in China and it reminded me of how many people often give excuses when it comes to practicing the Dharma although there is every reason to practice. The article described the lifestyle of these ascetic nuns during their annual two-week pilgrimage. They travel on foot, live outdoors, and beg only for food. They give no excuses, no complaints… they are just focused on their spiritual practice and it shows their sincerity and devotion.
I want to share this article in hopes that it will inspire all Dharma students to realize and understand that Dharma is worth ‘sacrificing’ for. There is nothing to fear in dharma. The fear is if you don’t have dharma. So the next time you feel like skipping Dharma class because you don’t want to get stuck in traffic, or because you want to do something else, think about these sincere ascetic nuns, and reflect… sincere practitioners go all the way for Dharma.
Tsem Rinpoche
Ascetic Nuns’ Life Of Pilgrimage (女性苦行僧的行脚生活)
Daoyuan Temple of Haicheng, Liaoning is a nunnery in China that upholds strict discipline. This temple is comprised entirely of women. The nuns practice Buddhism at the Dabei Temple in Haicheng, Liaoning and belong to the same Guiyang School of Zen Buddhism as the Dabei Temple.
辽宁海城道源寺，是国内一所戒律严明的尼众寺院。该寺院僧人全部为女性，僧团依止辽宁海城大悲寺修行，与大悲寺同为禅宗沩仰宗法脉。
According to reports, in the Haicheng Daoyuan Temple, much like the Haicheng Dabei Temple, money is forbidden for all the nuns. They must abide by the Buddha’s precepts and never touch nor collect money. This photo shows [the nuns] holding a monk staff, carrying an incense burner, walking outside in the early dawn.
据报道，海城道源寺与海城大悲寺一样，全体僧人持不捉金钱戒，僧人依照佛陀戒律终身不摸钱，不储蓄。图为执持锡杖，手捉香炉，身披霞光，行脚野外。
Their temple does not have a donation box and they do not deal in business. All the nuns eat only once a day at noon and sleep four hours a day. They meditate for the length of time it takes to burn five incense sticks. This photo shows them walking in the rain.
寺院无功德箱，不搞经营买卖。全体僧人日中一食，过午不食，每天睡4个小时，日打坐时间为“五支香”(禅宗术语：燃烧五支香的长度)。图为雨中行走。
Every year after the mid-autumn festival, they must go on a two week pilgrimage (Angya). During this journey, they practice begging, only for food and not money.
每年农历八月十五后，要外出“行脚”半个月左右，行脚途中托钵，只乞食物，不乞金钱。
During the journey, they do not live in hotels, people’s homes, or temples. They live outdoors. This photo shows the nuns at rest, with bystanders watching.
沿途不住旅馆、不住人家，不住寺院，露宿野外。图为途中休息，路人围观。
Daoyuan Temple nuns began their pilgrimage tradition in 2000, begging for food on their journey each year for the past 15 years.
道源寺僧团从2000年起开始行二时头陀，行脚乞食，至今已有15年历史。
Today, Daoyuan Temple nuns have already walked across Liaoning, Hebei, Jilin, Heilongjiang and other provinces. This photo shows the nuns on the road, braving the winds.
目前，道源寺僧团已经走过辽宁、河北、吉林、黑龙江等省份。图为行脚路上，忽遇大风。
On the road they meet faithful worshipers.
路遇信众顶礼。
This photo shows the nuns on the pilgrimage as curious pedestrians stop to watch.
图为僧侣正在“行脚”，好奇的路人止步观看。
While on the road, when the nuns find animals killed by traffic, they will pick it up and bury it, so that they can put an end to its resentment, and cultivate compassion.
路上遇到被过往车辆碾死的众生，僧人用随身携带的方便铲将众生铲起，就近掩埋，以息其怨气，长养慈悲。
The nuns stand dignified, holding refuge taking and animal liberation ceremonies.
僧人们威仪具足，为众生进行三皈依等放生仪式。
The believers they meet on their journey will bring them animals saved from being butchered, and the nuns will hold ceremonies to liberate these animals. The Daoyuan Temple abbot conducts the ceremony.
途中信众送来从刀下抢救回的众生，僧人为其做三皈依等放生仪轨，道源寺住持释妙融法师主法。
Meditation during rest.
休息时打坐。
According to Buddhist precepts, they only beg for food, not money.
依照佛制出家戒律，乞食时只乞食物，不乞金钱。
After completing their alms rounds, the nuns will put all the food together and give it to the “jingren”.
乞食归来，所有僧人将乞到的食物倒出，交给“净人”。
After completing their alms rounds, the nuns will sit down, fast and chant in accord with the number and duration outlined in the precepts.
乞食结束后，僧人们依照受持戒律的条数多少和受持戒律的时间长短，依次而坐，等待过斋。僧人诵经。
Nun reading the Sutras
僧人诵经。
Journal writing
写日记。
Repairing torn robes. After a long period of time, their robes are full of patches.
缝补破了的僧服，久而久之，僧服便成为“百衲衣”。
Drawing pictures and writing Sutras on leaves
捡起枯叶，画上漫画，写下法语。
The Buddhist implement that must be brought along during pilgrimage: the monk staff.
行脚需要携带的佛门法器——锡杖。
Journal writing
写日记。
Setting up the sleeping bags and preparing to rest.
铺好睡袋，准备休息。
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Amazing nuns who are so sincere and determined. They brave through whatever it takes to reach their pilgrimage site. Every struggles in life develop our strengths and without them we will never grow and never get stronger. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for such a meaningful sharing. 🙏😊
Daoyuan Temple of Haicheng Liaoning is a strict discipline nunnery in China. Where the temple composed entirely of women, nuns living a life of hardship . The nuns practice Buddhism at the much like other temple, money is forbidden for all the nuns.Woa….they stick to the strict discipline that they must abide by the Buddha’s precepts and never touch money, never collect money. First time coming across this, new to me. Inspiring looking at those pictures tells us more about them. They will be carrying incense burner, walking outside in the early dawn, rain or shine walking , sleeping along the path as they continue their pilgrimage. Spend most of their time in meditation, walking and only slept out in the open air for 4 hours a day. They only beg for food, not money , that’s truly inspiring. Along the way they do cultivate compassion , buried dead animals found on the road and freeing animals from the slaughterhouse.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article showing us the hardship of nuns.
Truly inspiring and very challenging hardship journey on dharma practice nuns. Thank you for the wonderful sharing. Every struggles in life develop our strengths and without them we will never grow and never get stronger. In this article every obstacle that they come across in the journey has an opportunity to improve, learn and tackle the situation because of the disciple.
We never know the struggles of a person is going through behind every smile they keep moving forward no matter how difficult it may be, always continue to belief its possible.
Everyone wants a comfortable life and don’t want to suffer. We work very hard in our lives to look for that comfort. Very often, it means to have a house, a car and some savings in the bank. We don’t really welcome hardship.
However, it is the hardship that helps us to grow mentally. Without hardship, it is hard to develop good qualities in us. For example, if we have experienced hunger before and we have received help from other people, it will help us to develop kindness in us. When we experience hardship we will work hard to get out of it, we will examine what causes the hardship and how do we change for better so we can be out of it. We force ourselves to be determined and not to give up, many other good qualities can be developed as well such as humility, integrity, honesty, etc.
Some people who don’t take hardship as a positive experience will run away to avoid it. The more they run away, the more negative experiences they are going to create for themselves. Why? Because when they run away, they are refusing to look at their problem and how can they solve it. Without solving the problem, they will have the same negative experience over and over again and it will make them unhappy and angry.
It’s how we being selective & lazy to not find ways to break through the self created obstacles. If it is really important, we will find ways to go all the way.
As long as we are unenlightened, we all have our perceptions, and the degree of it varies between person to person. For some, we are controlled by our perceptions, for some, we let out intentions dominate us regardless of our perceptions and feelings.
A spiritual path is no doubt hard, because it removes you and your mind from falling deeper into the crevasses of samsara, something instilled to you and compounded onto you by society. The hardship arises when we think it impossible, and we let ourselves choose not to battle our fears and comfort. But at the end, victory is sweet when one perseveres because, not only do you battle the hardship you limit yourself with, but you overcome the obstacles you create for your spiritual growth.
These nuns are inspiring. They shine so much brighter with the dullness that surrounds them.
Daoyuan Temple of Haicheng Liaoning is a strict discipline nunnery in China. A group of Chinese nuns traverse the highways of China every year after the Mid-Autumn Festival on a two-week long pilgrimage . Wow….fantastic all the ascetic nuns live a life of hardship , travelled on foot and followed a strict and explicit discipline, spending most of their time in meditation. All the nuns obey the rule of never touching or saving money. Whereby they eat only once, at noon, and sleep only for 4 hours. They are truly compassionate , they will even buried any dead animals found on their way. For those saved animals, the nuns will hold ceremonies to liberate these animals. ( There is no success without hardship. For every dark night, there’s a brighter day.)….quoted. That’s what I do believe in life there will surely be hardship before a brighter day.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring article.
It really goes to show that what amounts to our hardship is really defined by our delusions as what is difficult to one might not be an issue for another. If we really think about it, it is actually our own neurosis that dictate how hard the hardship will be for us.
After all, every “hardship” that one come across when attempting to do or practice Dharma is actually reflection of one’s karma. The good news is that those “hardships” are also opportunities for us to practice Dharma. Having it easy doesn’t propel us to check our mind much less transform. And if we don’t weed out the poisons in our mind, how can one have the space for Dharma realisation to take root, much less grow there?
Granted, facing our hardship is painful but in life isn’t it the case where there is always a price to pay for wanting something? Even when you want to learn how to cycle, you have to keep getting back on no matter how many times you fall off in order to be able to ride a bicycle.
This also correspond with something I read before which states that one way towards opening the door of Dharma is the abandonment of the eight worldly concerns. One of the purpose of abandoning the eight worldly concerns is so you can develop a calm mind. If you always reacting negatively to hardships, there is no way you can develop stable meditation. So, the hardships do form the path. Guess that why the nuns admirably challenge themselves by forging on with those “hardships”.
At my current level of the mind all that the Nuns of Dao Yuan are doing and going through is hardship and at the end of such ordeal would be just relief.
However in the case of the Nuns, what they are going through is not hardship at all but to overcome their self and physical being in order to have attainments and enlightenment for the benefit of others.
Extremely inspiring.
Amazing nuns who are so sincere and determined. They brave through whatever it takes to reach their pilgrimage site. They don’t have any ego and only compassion as they do animal libertarian along the way to free the animals from suffering.
They go all the way for Dharma and they don’t give any excuse or complaint. It’s very inspiring to see them ‘sacrificing’ for Dharma while some of us have the perfect place and condition to do dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing as it had inspired me to do more dharma work while I still can.
Jill Yam
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for this article on the nuns of Dao Yuan temple. Firstly, I rejoice that these nuns were able to do their practice without necessary obstacles in China. China has gone a long way since their cultural revolution day in the 1960s. secondly, I am moved by the courage and compassion of these nuns. I have climbed mountains before and I know those bags were heavy (I used several porters to carry my things, but these nuns have to carry their belongings themselves). Although they must have been tired, they still pray for the animals and the corpses on the street. I can see real compassion radiated from their faces.
May these nuns always have the resources they need to carry out their work.
Valentina
Amazing Nuns who make so much effort and commitment in the Buddha’s footsteps.
In this modern day and age, there are still Buddhist practioners who go all the way with their practice. It is truly inspiring that they show such determination and resilience with so many modern day distractions. The nuns remind of the ascetics who practice renunciation.
Our karma to be attached to the desire realm is so strong that it is sometimes necessary to retrain the mind by putting ourselves through such training. As the saying goes,”The fish will not know its wet until it’s out of the water.”
So when we remove ourselves from the distractions of the 5 senses, we begin to realize that we are beyond our likes and dislikes. We are not restricted to the self limiting parameters that we have made up throughout the years. Hence, the realization is the beginning of our liberation from the “self”.
All this is easier said than done because of our negative karma and lack of merits. I believe the only saving grace is to be determined and not listen to our emotions. If we make a conscious effort to persevere, we will eventually see results by gaining wisdom and clarity of perceiving the truth.
Different individuals have different level of tolerance for pain, discomfort and difficulties. Hence hardship is a perception of the mind. In order to quantify and make sense of the world we live in, we create these guidelines that rate happiness, hardship, wealth, intelligence, etc. In reality it’s all in our mind.
What these nuns go through may be perceived generally by most as hardship but they could easily be more “happy” than a lot of people who are living in better physical comfort.
It is with the right mind that one can overcome anything. The right mind can be unaffected whether sleeping in soft mattress in an air-conditioning room in a 5-star hotel or sleeping on a hard rock out in the cold wilderness.
Many things exist in our mind. If we perceive that the poor corpse of the animal at the road side is dirty and disgusting, then it is. If we perceive that reading a book is tedious, then it is. If we perceive that holding vows is restricting, then it is.
BUT, if we think that the poor animal who died at the side of the road deserve a burial, then it is no longer disgusting. Then perhaps we will be have the heart to do something for it/about it. Similarly, if we believe strongly that the knowledge from the book can change our life and liberate us from perpetual suffering, then we will not find it tedious to read the book anymore. If we understand that by holding our vows well our tendencies to cause harm onto others and in turn lessen harmful effect on ourselves, then we will always want to hold our vows well.
Hence, it is our mind that we need to monitor and control and adjust.
Thank you Rinpoche for this wonderful sharing. It reminds me dearly to be mindful about what goes on in my mind.
With folded palm, head to Rinpoche’s feet,
Stella
These nuns show such amazing determination, discipline and devotion to the Dharma. I guess if one is truly serious in achieving liberation nothing could stop you.
It also made me realise how easy it is for us here in Kechara, Malaysia under Rinpoche’s care and guidance, we receive the Dharma with so much convenience. How fortunate and some what spoilt we are that sometimes we take things for granted. Looking at what these nuns have to go through, sleep outdoors in the cold, walk everywhere, eat whatever, it humbles me and makes me appreciate everything that I have so easily to do Dharma.
Their commitment is admirable. Their attitude gives me courage to face hardships, for hardships is what makes a grow stronger whenever we overcome it. With difficulties, hurdles, obstacles and hardships, realisation and wisdom arise. Hence we should have no fear for hardships… if it’s bitter at the start it’ll be sweeter in the end.
Thank you Rinpoche for this inspiring post about the Chinese nuns and their pilgrimage. It puts to shame for those of us who thought that we have ‘sacrificed’ so much for our work, dharma activities and so on. It made me look at the so called ‘work’ I have done all my life (whether paid or volunteer) and made me realize that there is always more that I can do to pursue my personal growth in Dharma. Om Ah Ra Pa Sa Na Dhi!
Thank you Rinpoche for this inspiring story! The way these wonderful nuns have renounced their wordly life to live as ascetics practicing Dharma puts my life into perspective. I am humbled by their devotion to Dharma.
This group of ascetic nuns in China -living outdoors, travelling on foot, and begging only for food over a two week pilgrimage period – do show us a form that true hardship can take. Looking at them, we are truly inspired to think that precious Dharma is worth all the hardship. It makes us feel ashamed of our own pettiness in thinking that being stuck in a traffic jam is such a big deal!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this account of such lovely people, who will brave all, including the elements, for Dharma.
佛法的保存與流傳有賴於精進不懈、全心全意學習與實踐佛法的僧眾。今天願意出家的人逐漸減少，更不用說願意苦行的。看到這則分享感到非常歡喜和欣慰，因為知道佛法因此得以繼續流傳下去。
I have tremendous respect for these nuns who are so utterly devoted to their spiritual journey. They have it so much tougher than most of us. I thank Rinpoche for this post as this will be a great reminder for me to keep going when the going gets tough. Be it in my spiritual journey or my worldly life in general.
With folded hands.
Such incredible devotion to Dharma! An uplifting and inspiring story that all Dharma students have to read. We are all so lucky being able to receive the Dharma so easily and yet we complain… that the traffic is heavy to go to the temple… when many Dharma students have to walk to the temple. We complain that reading the blog or a Dharma book is difficult… these nuns write their sutras on leaves! Some complain that eating vegetarian food is not nice, these nuns eat what they receive and are grateful for it. Some complain that they’re not used to live in retreat centres even if its for one night, these nuns sleep outdoors in the cold!
And now we see the results… those of us that only complain, how far have we gotten with our Dharma practice? Not much.
Such a wonderful story for us to reflect on… to be grateful for what we have, appreciate the simplicity in getting Dharma from where we are, and the meaning of determination to our spiritual path
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this valuable post. This had remind me to go all the way for Dharma, even to confessed myself over here, it is my laziness that caused an obstacles for myself. No more excuses anymore; what are my “hardship”, it is just a label and nothing more.
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SOHA _/|\_
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this inspiring post and always be there to encourage us not to give up in our spiritual journey. After looking at all these picture I really paid full respect to these nuns who are so devoted to the practice and going through so much hardship and obstacles I think for us to face some difficulty in our Dharma journey we should not complain is hard is difficult .
The journey of these nuns are incredible. A life dedicated for others. A life finding purpose and self-discovery. It shows that even ‘woman’ is capable of doing what a ‘man’ can do. Anyway, be it man or woman, it’s just a label in the end.
How can we be of benefits to others if we do not have the methods or skillful means? How can we ask the teacher to stay and teach if we do not preserver and journey on? When we expect others to practice, others will most probably expect the same thing from us. Hence, just pack up and keep moving forward, no matter how difficult it may seem.
Thank you Rinpoche for this blogpost.