The Difficulty of Sentient Beings Attaining Enlightenment

Every person in this present life has experienced suffering, distress, turmoil, and setbacks, yet the conscious mind remains unawakened. Even when encountering the Buddha Dharma and hearing the Buddha expound the true meaning of the Noble Truth of Suffering, the conscious mind still fails to awaken. Instead, it clings to suffering and refuses to seek liberation. If even the conscious mind is like this, how much more so is the mental faculty? Sentient beings are thus foolish and ignorant. No matter how much suffering they personally endure, they fail to reflect and save themselves, nor do they accept the Buddha's offer of deliverance. Those with thin ignorance, profound virtuous roots, and slight afflictions will seek solutions and avoidance when encountering troubles, while the foolish will continue to endure, sinking deeper and refusing to extricate themselves. They remember the food but not the beating.

Is the conscious mind aware of self-salvation? If it were, there would have been no need for the Buddha to come to the Saha world to expound the Noble Truth of Suffering. Yet, after the Buddha taught this truth, what use is it to us people with inferior roots in this Dharma-ending age? If either the conscious mind or the mental faculty understood self-salvation, recognized suffering, and knew to seek liberation from it, there would be no need for the Buddha to deliver them. But even if the Buddha were to come again personally now, it would be of little effect, for the ignorance of sentient beings is too profound, their foolishness beyond remedy.

As described in the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva: The Buddha told the King Yama, "The beings of Jambudvipa have stubborn and rigid natures, difficult to tame and subdue. This great Bodhisattva, for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, repeatedly rescues and delivers such beings, seeking to liberate them early. Even when these karmically afflicted beings fall into the great evil destinies, the Bodhisattva, through skillful means, uproots their fundamental karmic conditions and causes them to realize matters from past lives. Yet, because the beings of Jambudvipa have deeply ingrained evil habits, they repeatedly enter and exit. Thus, this Bodhisattva toils through countless kalpas to accomplish their deliverance. The beings of Jambudvipa, with their deeply ingrained evil habits, repeatedly enter and exit the hells, going in and out as frequently as returning home. This Bodhisattva toils through countless kalpas to accomplish their deliverance." The Bodhisattvas are patient enough; yet sentient beings feel no shame! How utterly inferior!