An autonomous, resourceful, and fully equipped body that's freed of the eight unfavourable states is not easy to get. To get to the heart of this free and resourceful occasion and to get past the pleasures of worldly life is not easy to do. To see what is wrong with the phenomenon of samsara and accomplish nirvana is not something easy to do. Although one might practice true Dharma extensively, the purest conductive conditions don't easily join. A Lama who masters instructions, scriptures, and logic and has a compassionate heart is not easy to find. A student with faith who does not get fed up or exhausted and is able to actually practice is not easy to find. A practice environment blessed with the proper conditions free of all hazards and fear is not easy to find. Friends with the same motivation and way to apply it, whose thinking accords with your own are not easy to find. A body that's able to work with its pain and illness and still do all you bid it is not easy to find. Although you might get every one of these factors together, to practice with one-pointed mind is not easy to do. These are nine things which are difficult to come by. They're difficult, but it's these difficult things you must do. 

-- Milarepa