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Painful Joy
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| (Translated by Mike Lee, Northern
CA) |
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The Chinese phrase "tung-kuai" consists
of two words that literally mean "pain" and "joy."
The phrase refers to a feeling of extreme happiness—sort
of, "I'm so happy it hurts!" Master Cheng once analyzed
it as follows: There are two Chinese phrases that incorporate
the word tung ("pain"); one is tung-kuai ("painful
joy") and the other is tung-ku ("painful bitterness").
When confronting "painful bitterness," if you can view
the pain as a transitory misfortune, then eventually the pain
will subside as the misfortune fades away. The pain of illness
can actually bring forth a kuai ("joy") that naturally
returns when the misfortune is gone.
