If you are having a hard time now.

If you are in pain and suffering now.

If your life is unsatisfactory and unhappy now,

You must rejoice.

受苦是了苦，享福是消福

As the ancient saying goes,

“Taking hardships is clearing obstacles. Enjoyment of blessings is the elimination of blessings."

人无寿夭，禄尽则亡

The fortune and blessings of each person are just like the deposits in the bank of happiness. There are just so many blessings that a person can enjoy in this life. If you enjoy them too early or squander them wantonly, they will be gone early. And the tabooest thing in life is actually perfection. Because the true wisdom of life is actually gained through the experience of ups and downs in life. If a person enjoys the blessings too fast, there will come a time when the blessings are used up and sufferings and hardships from past negative actions will set in.

All blessings have their due. The blessings you enjoy come in the form of the salary you get, the family, friends and people that surround you, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the vehicle you ride in and many other enjoyments of life. But you must know that after enjoying them, the blessings will be used up.

When you experience hardships, it is in fact clearing obstacles and negativity for your life. Energy never dies. If a person chooses to avoid hardships or sufferings and at the same time lavishly waste his blessings, the effects of the past negative actions will follow and manifest when the time is right.

Below is a true story from history of how these energetics work.

Chongzhen was the last emperor of Ming dynasty. Although he had the life to become an emperor, he had no blessings of an emperor. This is because he had not cleared his obstacles enough through hardships and sufferings.

It was said that in his previous life, Chongzhen was a novice monk. All the hard work of carrying firewood and water was done by him and he worked hard everyday.

One day, he went to the roof to repair some roof tiles, but he accidentally slipped and fell to the ground and died. His fellow monks went to report to the abbot about his death. The old monk knew about cause and effect and he wanted to help the novice. So he announced to everyone that the young novice accidentally fell to his death while doing his duty, which caused great damage to the temple. He should be punished. And he instructed the other monks to tie his body on ropes attached to horses and let the horses gallop to drag his body till it was torn to pieces so that they did not need to buy a coffin to bury him.

When everyone heard what the abbot said, they were shocked. The monks empathised for the novice and could not bear to do this. They all agreed that they should get him a coffin and bury him instead of using horses to drag his body. They then got the coffin and buried him in a barren mountain.

This little novice monk accumulated merits by working hard for the temple and became an emperor in the next life. As Chongzhen Emperor, he however only served as a poor emperor for sixteen years. When he was in power, the world was in chaos. Internally he had to face rebellion from Li Zichen. Externally Qing soldiers were invading his country. His people never had a good day and lived in misery and suffering.

This was caused by the well-meaning fellow monks who made his suffering carried over to his next life. If they had listened to the abbot and used horses to drag his corpse, he would have cleared his sufferings and not end up hanging himself in Meishan and martyr himself for his country as an Emperor.