It toils and spins SO HARD

難行苦行
nan.gyou.ku.gyou

Literally: difficult – go / undertaking – suffering – go / undertaking

Alternately: Extreme difficulties or suffering. In particular, this describes when someone is enduring privation and hardship as part of (Buddhist) ascetic training in search of enlightenment.

Notes: 行 in this case refers to 修行 (shugyou), “ascetic training.”

This compound comes to us from the Lotus Sutra (法華経, Hokekyou or Hokkekyou).

S K E L E T A L ・A E S T H E T I C ・A S C E T I C ・D E F ・N O T ・D I A B E T I C