Buddhist three disasters and eight hardships; various calamities
Meanings
2 senses · 5 examplesnoun
(Buddhism) the three major disasters (flood, fire, wind) and three minor disasters (war, famine, plague), plus eight obstacles to enlightenment
technicalTechnical term from Buddhist scripture. The 'eight difficulties' include being born in hell, as a hungry ghost, as an animal, in the northern continent (where life is too easy), with deviant views, as a deaf/blind/mute person, as a worldly scholar with sharp intelligence but no faith, or in a world without a Buddha.
Buddhist scriptures mention that practitioners must experience the three disasters and eight hardships before achieving spiritual perfection.
Theravada Buddhism offers detailed cosmological explanations of the three disasters and eight hardships.
noun
various disasters and misfortunes; all kinds of calamities and diseases
commonUsed in everyday speech to describe someone who has suffered many hardships or to refer to a string of bad luck. Often carries a tone of sympathy.
He went through all kinds of disasters and hardships in his life, and only with great difficulty did he finally settle into a stable life.
This child has been plagued by illness since childhood, constantly suffering from one disaster after another.
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In the old society, common folk truly suffered every kind of disaster and could barely survive.