difficult practice　難行 Alludes to one of two paths distinguished by Nāgārjuna for the attainment of the stage of nonretrogression in the bodhisattva path. At the beginning of his Chapter on Easy Practice, he states that “in order to attain the stage of nonretrogression, … one is required to perform many difficult practices over a long period of time”. Later, in China, it was characterized as the way of difficult practice and identified with the Path of Sages. Contrasted with the “easy practice” of the Pure Land Path. See easy practice.