"Youth should not seek an easy comfortable path. No one develops in a pampered environment. Youth should instead actively seek out challenges and hardships, transforming them all into valuable assets as they strive to become individuals of outstanding character and ability." -- Daisaku Ikeda
"As practice progresses and understanding grows, the three obstacles and four devils emerge in confusing form, vying with one another to interfere . . . " -- Nichiren Daishonin
and
"Then, although they do not seek emancipation, emancipation will come of itself, just as the poor woman, though she did not seek to be reborn in the Brahma heaven, was nevertheless reborn there."
Therefore, if you are practicing correctly with a correct faith, there is no need to actively seek hardships. Hardships will come of their own. There is no shortcut to Buddhahood nor are there effective strategies other than the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren also teaches that there is no conscious growth on the part of the baby. All the baby need do is drink its mother's milk.
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