Eight Adversities

It is difficult to meet Buddhas and Bodhisattvas or hear the Dharma under the following eight conditions:

1. rebirth in the hells;
   
2. rebirth as a hungry ghost;
   
3. rebirth as an animal;
   
4. rebirth in Uttarakuru (a world where life is so pleasant that people have no motivation to practice the Dharma);
   
5. rebirth in any long-life heaven (where one is also not motivated to seek the Dharma);
   
6. rebirth with impaired faculties;
   
7. rebirth as an intelligent, educated person in the mundane sense (as such an individual often looks down on religion and on the Dharma); and
   
8. rebirth in the intermediate period between a Buddha and his successor (e.g., our current period).

Thus, even rebirth under "favorable" circumstances (fourth and seventh conditions, for example) may constitute adversity with respect to the Buddha Dharma. — After G.C.C. Chang

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References Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith, Thích Thiên Tâm - http://www.ymba.org/BWF/bwf113.htm#E