How to Approach Adversity

Question: When encountering unfavorable circumstances (such as being subjected to malicious insults), what is the wisest way to handle it? Should one repent? Or should one maintain a pure mind, remaining unmoved, based on the principle that all phenomena are illusory, treating the circumstance as non-existent by neither contending nor disputing? Or should one vow to endure this adversity on behalf of all sentient beings, wishing that all beings may encounter auspicious and perfect favorable circumstances? Or is there another method, such as reciting the Buddha's name?

Answer: At different stages of Buddhist practice, the methods for handling adversity should differ. Different adversities also require different approaches. The distinction lies in this: If the adversity arises from one's own ignorance, afflictions, and past karmic obstacles, then one must examine one's own faults, understand causes and recognize effects, and repent for karmic obstacles and ignorance. When one clearly has karmic obstacles and faults, one cannot remain unmoved, nor can one dismiss these circumstances as illusory and ignore them. Doing so only perpetuates one's ignorance and increases delusion. The adversity you encounter is your own problem and needs to be borne by yourself; it is not endured on behalf of sentient beings, and it has nothing to do with them. When you have no fault, and adverse conditions are imposed upon you without cause, then, in order to subdue the afflictions of your own mind, you should view external circumstances as empty, remain unmoved by the situation, willingly endure everything, and yet feel as if nothing is being endured.

When one's afflictions are heavy and wisdom is lacking, upon encountering adversity, one should introspect, examine one's own ignorance and afflictions, and clearly understand the causes and effects involved. If one discovers it is one's own problem, one should promptly repent and correct the mistake. Only then can wisdom increase and ignorance and afflictions lessen. At this time, one should not treat adversity as empty. If one empties out one's own ignorance and afflictions, one cannot recognize them, cannot increase wisdom, cannot lessen afflictions, and Buddhist practice will bear no real results. When wisdom is severely insufficient, one cannot view adversity as empty and ignore it, nor can one remain unmoved by circumstances, because at this time one is precisely deluded by the circumstances and unclear about them. What is needed then is not the wisdom of emptiness, but rather recognizing causes and understanding effects, clarifying the law of cause and effect, thereby enabling the cessation of evil and cultivation of good. For example, when a child cannot yet read, they cannot view the act of learning to read as empty and thus not strive to learn. When unable to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, one cannot view right and wrong, good and evil as empty and thus not distinguish them. Doing so only perpetuates delusion.
The vast majority of people lack clarity regarding worldly and transcendental principles, possess no discernment, and are utterly confused about all behavioral norms and standards, remaining quite deluded. They are at the initial stage of ceasing evil and cultivating good, the stage of understanding causes and recognizing effects. If they view all encountered circumstances and phenomena as empty, treating them as inconsequential and ignoring them, then they cannot understand cause and effect, cannot recognize their own ignorance and afflictions, cannot correct all their actions, and without right thought, cannot gain wisdom, remaining forever deluded. After death, they will still go to the three evil realms to suffer the karmic retribution of delusion, especially prolonging their time in the animal realm. Many people practice Buddhism upside-down: they insist on emptying when they shouldn't, and fail to empty when they should, resulting in wisdom never arising. When correcting erroneous thoughts within one's own mind, one absolutely must not empty, must not easily let circumstances pass, must not ignore circumstances. When one lacks clear understanding of oneself and the world of the five aggregates, one must apply right thought to these phenomena to achieve clear and distinct cognition of them, avoiding delusion.

Under what circumstances can one empty circumstances? When encountering sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches, and the mind gives rise to greedy attachment and clinging — it is then that emptying the circumstances can subdue greed and attachment, subduing the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. When one grasps at circumstances because one takes them too much as real phenomena, it is then that one should strive to empty the circumstances, so one will not grasp at empty phenomena, thereby subduing the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.