Is practicing Buddhism and cultivation really that easy?

Studying Buddhism and cultivating practice is by no means easy, because the afflictions and karmic obstructions of ignorance accumulated over beginningless kalpas are extremely deep and heavy, and the attachment to self and attachment to dharmas are extremely severe; it is quite difficult to dissolve and break through them. It cannot be accomplished without great strength, great courage, and great wisdom; it cannot be accomplished without the kalpa-spanning blessings and support of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions; it cannot be accomplished without the long-lasting protection of the Dharma-protecting deities. If someone says that practice is very easy—that by doing something in a certain area, taking in just a little, one can become a Buddha, enter the house of the Tathāgata, or attain enlightenment, and that nothing else needs to be cultivated, no deep and systematic practice is needed, no solid foundation needs to be built step by step, no precepts need to be kept, no meditative concentration (samādhi) needs to be cultivated, no price needs to be paid, no great hardship is required, and that one can happily accomplish Buddhahood while living and studying Buddhism—then we should know that this person has achieved nothing at all, because he certainly has never paid any price, is unwilling to break free from the bondage of the five worldly desires, and his greed, craving, and attachment are still very serious.

Keeping precepts—no good; meditative concentration—no good; even the foundational practice is no good; he has never truly cultivated anything, and certainly has never truly attained anything. That is why people claim that one can become a Buddha within a single lifetime of practice—becoming a Buddha in this very body, becoming a Buddha in this very life, becoming a Buddha simply by rebirth through reciting one phrase of the Buddha's name—and that among precepts, concentration, and wisdom, neither precepts nor concentration are needed, only prajñā wisdom; with wisdom alone one can directly become a Buddha. Regarding all such claims, we must be vigilant and not be deceived. Those who have never walked that path often say that the path is easy to walk; those who are truly walking on the path will understand the scenery along the way as it really is and will speak truthful words to others.

We must be vigilant toward those who describe the Buddha's Dharma as very simple and describe practice as very easy. Those who have never experienced it imagine, based on speculation, that everything is easy. For example, at night, looking at the moon overhead, one feels it is very close to oneself—that wherever one goes, the moon follows—and it seems within arm's reach. But when one boards a cloud-ladder or takes an airplane toward the moon, one then knows that no matter how far one flies, the moon remains just as far from oneself, always that far. The feeling is that it is near, but feeling is, after all, only feeling—hazy and vague—and the reality differs too greatly from the feeling.

It is the same with studying Buddhism and cultivating practice: it feels as though one could easily become a Buddha and attain realization. But in reality, once one sets out on the path and takes the first steps, entangled by ignorance and karmic obstructions, not a single step is easy to take. We need to continually cast off some of the burdens of the mundane world, relinquish some of the worldly enjoyments, and pay the corresponding price in order to obtain some attainments—without giving up, nothing can be gained. Nothing truly good can ever be obtained cheaply.