It is said that during the lifetime of Jigong Living Buddha, there was a small story like this:
One day, a pilgrim knelt down in the Medicine Buddha Hall to worship Medicine Buddha and happened to see Jigong Living Buddha. He then asked Jigong Living Buddha for help.
Pilgrim: "May I ask the master, what does the slogan 'Difficulties in Liberation' mean in the hall ."
Ji Gong said, "All beings, all sentient beings, this is the words of a pharmacist ."
Followers: "Why do you say that? Does Shi Zi take it as his responsibility to have a broad range of emotions ."
Ji Gong said, "Buddha's teachings are destined for people, but sentient beings are ignorant and have no connection with Buddha. Do you know why they are written in the Medicine Hall."
Followers:"Thank you for your guidance, Master ."
Ji Gong said, "Those who enter the Medicine Hall to pay their respects are all foolish people who pray for the recovery of the Medicine Master due to illness ."
This is a legendary story that is not recorded in Buddhist scriptures, but there is indeed a slogan in the Medicine Buddha Hall of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou that reads' Difficulties in Liberation '.
From the above short story, we can roughly understand the meaning of this sentence. What Jigong Living Buddha said is actually very clear: those who kneel in the Medicine Buddha Hall to pray for the blessing and recovery of Medicine Buddha due to illness are all foolish and foolish. A person with great wisdom would not do such a thing, such as Shakyamuni Buddha. We know that in his later years, he ate pure clay offerings, but eventually contracted an illness and went into Nirvana three months later. If we follow the way of a foolish person, shouldn't we kneel down to the Medicine Buddha and pray for his blessing. However, Shakyamuni Buddha did not do so, and even though he knew that the food in the pure lump was poisonous, he still ate it without error. It can be seen that people with great wisdom are aware of cause and effect, and will never evade it.
And foolish beings always have delusions of avoiding cause and effect, but the retribution of cause and effect is so strong that even gods and Buddhas cannot escape, let alone ordinary people. Therefore, it is said that "many are difficult to be liberated". To put it simply, all sentient beings who step into the Medicine Buddha Hall are foolish and difficult to liberate.