于是一个妇人说，请给我们谈苦痛。

他说：

你的苦痛是你那包裹知识的皮壳的破碎。

连果核也必须破碎，使果仁可以暴露在阳光中，所以你们也必须知道苦痛。

倘若你能使你的心时常赞叹日常生活的神妙，你的苦痛的神妙必不减于你的欢乐；

你要承受你心天的季候，如同你常常承受从田里予上度过的四时。

你要静守，度过你心里凄凉的冬日。

许多的苦痛是你自择的。

那是你身中的医士，医治你病躯的苦药。

所以你要信托这医生，静默安宁地吃他的药：

因为他的手腕虽重而辣，却是有冥冥的温柔之手指导着。

他带来的药杯，虽会焚灼你的嘴唇，那陶土却是陶工用他自己神圣的眼泪来润湿调抟而成的。

16

on pain

and a woman spoke, saying, "tell us of pain."

and he said:

your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

and could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

and you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

and you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

much of your pain is self-chosen.

it is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

for his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the unseen,

and the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the potter has moistened with his own sacred tears.