世间的痛苦形形色色，其复杂性与深度也各有不同。对于这一点，大家都明白，你也很清楚，我们背负着痛苦的重担度过一生，从降生的那一刻，一直到入土。

如果我们认定人生的痛苦是难以避免的，那么问题就无解了；如果你已经认命，那么你已经停止了探索，关闭了继续探索的大门；如果你逃避痛苦，这扇大门也被你关闭了。为了逃避痛苦，你可能沉溺于男色女色，沉溺于饮酒嬉戏，沉溺于各种权力、地位、名誉，沉溺于内心的空幻妄念中。此时，你的逃避手段变成了生活中的头等大事，你所执着的目标变得无比重要。所以你已经关闭了觉悟痛苦的大门，多数人都是这样做的。

那么，我们能不能停止各种逃避，回转身来，面对痛苦呢？这意味着，不再努力寻求痛苦的解药。生理痛苦，如牙疼、腹疼、手术、意外受伤等各种痛苦，的确都有解药。此外，我们恐惧疼痛在未来复发，从而引发心理痛苦。心理痛苦与恐惧密切相关，如果不能洞察恐惧、痛苦这两个人生要素，我们就永远不能理解何谓慈悲，何谓仁爱。而有志于领悟慈悲与仁爱的人，必须首先理解何谓恐惧、何谓痛苦。

——克里希那穆提《生命书：365观心日课》（The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti）

Is Suffering Essential?

There are so many varieties and complications and degrees of suffering. We all know that. You know it very well, and we carry this burden right through life, practically from the moment we are born until the moment we collapse into the grave….

If we say that it is inevitable, then there is no answer; if you accept it, then you have stopped inquiring into it. You have closed the door to further inquiry; if you escape from it, you have also closed the door. You may escape into man or woman, into drink, amusement, into various forms of power, position, prestige, and the internal chatter of nothingness. Then your escapes become all-important; the objects to which you fly assume colossal importance. So you have shut the door on sorrow also, and that is what most of us do….

Now, can we stop escape of every kind and come back to suffering? … That means not seeking a solution for suffering. There is physical suffering—a toothache, stomachache, an operation, accidents, various forms of physical sufferings that have their own answer. There is also the fear of future pain that would cause suffering. Suffering is closely related to fear, and without comprehension of these two major factors in life, we shall never comprehend what it is to be compassionate, to love. So a mind that is concerned with the comprehension of what is compassion, love, and all the rest of it must surely understand what is fear and what is sorrow.

JULY 13