How to Deal with Adversity

Question: When an unfavorable state of circumstances arises (for example, being viciously cursed at), what is the wisest way to handle it? Is it to repent? Or to maintain a pure mind that is immovable in suchness (tathatā-acalita), and, based on the principle that all marks are false and illusory, treat the circumstance as nonexistent and neither argue nor debate? Or is it to make a vow to endure this adversity on behalf of all sentient beings, wishing that all sentient beings may encounter auspicious and perfect wholesome circumstances? Or is there some other way, such as recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti)?

Answer: At different stages of learning Buddhism, the methods for handling adversity should be different, and different adversities call for different ways of handling them. The distinction lies in this: if the adversity arises from one's own ignorance, afflictions, and past karmic obstructions, then one must examine one's own faults, understand causes and effects clearly, and repent of karmic obstructions and ignorance. When one clearly has karmic obstructions and faults, one cannot remain immovable in suchness, nor can one disregard these circumstances by regarding them as illusory; doing so would only continue one's ignorance and increase foolishness. Moreover, the adversity you yourself encounter is your own problem and must be borne by yourself; it is not endured on behalf of sentient beings—it has nothing to do with sentient beings. When you have no faults and adverse conditions are inflicted upon you without cause, then, in order to subdue the afflictions of your own mind, you should regard external circumstances as empty, remain immovable in suchness toward them, willingly endure everything, and yet be without any sense of receiving.

When one's afflictions are heavy and one lacks wisdom, upon encountering adversity one should introspect upon one's own mind, examine one's ignorance and afflictions, and clearly understand their causes and consequences. If examination reveals that the problem is one's own, one should promptly repent and correct one's errors; only thus can wisdom grow and ignorance and afflictions be lightened. At such a time, one should not treat adversity as empty. If one empties out one's own ignorance and afflictions, one cannot recognize one's own ignorance and afflictions, cannot grow in wisdom or lighten afflictions, and one's study of Buddhism will have no real effect. When wisdom is severely lacking, one must not regard adversity as empty and brush it aside, nor remain immovable in suchness toward circumstances, because at that time one is precisely being foolish about the circumstances, not understanding them. What is needed then is not the wisdom of emptiness, but rather understanding causes and reaching effects, clarifying the relations of cause and effect, so that one can cease evil and cultivate good. For example, when a child cannot yet read, one cannot regard the matter of learning to read as empty and make no effort to learn characters; when one cannot yet distinguish the wholesome and unwholesome, true and false, good and bad (kuśala-akuśala, satya-mithyā, śubha-aśubha), one cannot regard them as empty and refrain from making such distinctions—doing so would only perpetuate foolishness.
The vast majority of people do not understand worldly or world-transcending principles and lack the power of discernment; they are muddled about all norms and standards of conduct and are quite foolish, being at the beginner's stage of ceasing evil and cultivating good, at the stage of understanding causes and effects. If they regard all circumstances and all dharmas they encounter as empty, take nothing seriously, and ignore everything, then they will be unable to understand cause and effect, unable to recognize their own ignorance and afflictions, and unable to correct all their behaviors; without right reflection they cannot attain wisdom, and they will remain foolish forever, and after death will still go to the three evil destinies to receive the retribution of foolishness—especially prolonging their time in the animal destiny. Many people practice Buddhism in an inverted way: when they should not empty things, they insist on emptying them; when they should empty things, they fail to do so, with the result that wisdom never arises. When correcting the erroneous thoughts within one's own mind, one absolutely must not empty things out, must not let circumstances pass lightly or ignore them. When one's understanding of oneself and of the world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) is unclear, one must reflect rightly on these dharmas so as to attain a clear and distinct cognition of them, without foolishness.

Under what circumstances can one then empty out circumstances? When encountering forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles, and the mind gives rise to greedy craving and sticky attachment—emptying out the circumstances at that time can subdue that craving and subdue the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Only when one grasps at circumstances because one takes them too much as real dharmas should one try every means to empty them out; then one will no longer grasp at dharmas that are empty, and thereby subdue the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.