Finding Difficulty in Your Dharma Practice?

[Zeba Minor]

Unfortunately, most people allow themselves the belief that they are true practitioners. Samsara is way to triky and advanced to allow you to practice properly and gives you the illusion that you are sincere and true practitioner facing 'difficulty' and how good you are that you are struggling.

How can you win a struggle with an imagined foe that you make stronger every time you imagine it?

This post is very encouraging and I applaud you for it but it is honestly unrealistic and self-defeating.

How many people have found a true guru and left behind samsara to follow the guru? How many people have completed the purification exercises? How many people really believe in enlightenment?

Practicing dharma is not hard. It is logical and joyful. Trying to practice dharma while the heart hangs on to samsara is hard.

[vajra-NMD]

I strongly believed Dharma practices is all in our mind, if we lack of Dharma knowledge and the most important is lack of merits. we'll find out or think that to practice Dharma is hard, especially mind transformation.  we generated all of ours bad habituation for countless lifetimes, and the bad habituation ( Desire, Hatred and Ignorant ) "Stick" with us till now.

For now, if we're "Lucky" to meet a ( Dharma teacher ) Gurus in lifetime, we should grab the chances and appreciate to stay, to help, to follow instructions, to be loyal and be honest  our Gurus. Only our Gurus can show us the path of enlightenment, if not, who else?   

[SabS]

I've once walked up a a stony and steep hill with a person whom I highly respect for his wisdom and understanding about life. He said something that stuck with me until today. While trying to catch his breath he asked, "Gee.. it is really hard going up isn't it?". I replied, "Yes". Then he said, "Well, it is the same with Dharma, going UP is HARD. But it is definitely WORTH IT. It will be so EASY to go DOWN. But what is the point? Everyone can go DOWN."

His words touched me deeply and stayed with me as a reminder each time a difficult situation arises .

This is so true. Even with my children I would always say that to do good is hard and to do bad requires no effort but the end results will matter terribly. We come into Dharma to find the way out of our sufferings and our Guru will always push us to reveal the causes for our sufferings. If we do not confront the causes and wish to hide then it is pointless to wish for true happiness. It's like having the medicine and not taking it even if it helps you to heal. Confronting our deep seeded negative traits definitely will be painful as most of our egos are strong. Time is short and why waste more just to pander to our ego which we wish to get rid of in the first place?

[Tenzin K]

Learning the Dharma is not easy but to put the Dharma we learn is even harder. We have to be consistent and have full devotion to our Guru to surrender to him/her for their guidance. Personally for me, practicing Dharma is to face reality and since we are in Samsara we are challenged to face the ugly path of Samsara. How much and how far we can walk through the poisons in Samsara is the measuring stick for us as to how much we are determined and how far we really put Dharma into practice.

It’s never easy but every single step we put in will make a little change in our lives and eventually it accumulates and will become easier for us. Never give up, go all the way with our Guru instruction.