How to Face Adversity

Question: When unfavorable circumstances arise (for example, being subjected to vicious verbal abuse), what is the wisest way to handle them? Should one repent? Or should one maintain a pure mind, suchness immovable, and—following the principle that all marks are false and illusory—treat the circumstance as nonexistent, neither contending nor arguing? Or should one make a vow to endure this adversity on behalf of all sentient beings, wishing that all sentient beings may encounter auspicious and wholesome circumstances? Or is there some other way, such as recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti)?

Answer: At different stages of studying Buddhism, the methods for handling adversity should differ; likewise, 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 cause and effect, and repent of karmic obstructions and ignorance. When one clearly has karmic obstructions and faults, one cannot remain suchness immovable, nor can one disregard these circumstances by regarding them as illusory—doing so would only continue one's ignorance and increase one's folly. Moreover, the adversity you encounter is your own problem, which you yourself must bear; it is not borne on behalf of sentient beings, and it has nothing to do with other beings. When you have no faults and adversity comes upon you without cause, then, in order to subdue the afflictions of your own mind, you should regard external circumstances as empty, remain suchness immovable 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 turn the light inward and examine one's own mind, inspecting one's ignorance and afflictions, and clearly understand the causes and consequences involved. If the 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 this stage, 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 suchness immovable toward circumstances, because at this point one is precisely being foolish about those circumstances, unclear about them. What is needed now is not the wisdom of emptiness, but the ability to discern cause and reach effect—to clarify the causal relationships—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 the characters; when one cannot yet distinguish the wholesome from the unwholesome, the true from the false, the good from the bad, one cannot regard these distinctions as empty and refrain from making them—doing so would only perpetuate one's folly.
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, quite foolish, at the beginner's stage of ceasing evil and cultivating good, at the stage of understanding cause and effect. If they regard all circumstances and all dharmas they encounter as empty, take nothing seriously, and ignore everything, then they cannot understand cause and effect, cannot recognize their own ignorance and afflictions, cannot correct all of their conduct, and without right reflection they cannot attain wisdom—they will remain foolish forever, and after death they will still go to the three evil destinies to receive the retribution of folly, 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, must not let circumstances pass lightly or overlook them. When one's understanding of oneself and of the world of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) is unclear, one must reflect rightly on these dharmas so as to attain a clear and distinct cognition of them, without folly.

Under what circumstances can one then empty out circumstances? When encountering sights, sounds, scents, flavors, and tangibles, and the mind gives rise to craving and clinging attachment—emptying out circumstances at that time can subdue craving and subdue the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. It is only when one grasps at circumstances because one takes them too much as real dharmas that one should try every means to empty them out; then one will not grasp at dharmas that are empty, and thereby subdue the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.