Once, a young man complained to his teacher that his life seemed harder than other people's lives. The teacher decided to teach him a lesson.
One day, the teacher asked the young man to get some salt and a glass of water. He returned with a glass of clean water and a handful of salt. The teacher asked him to mix the salt into the water and drink it.
"How does it taste?" the teacher asked.
"It tastes bitter, " the young man replied.
The teacher didn't say anything else, but asked the young man to get the same amount of salt and follow the teacher to a nearby lake.
"Put the salt into the lake, " the teacher said. The young man did what the teacher said.
"Now, taste the water from the lake, " the teacher said.
As the water dropped down the young man's chin（下巴）, the teacher asked, "How does it taste?"
"Fresh and a bit sweet, " the young man said. "Do you taste the salt?" the teacher asked. "No, " the young man shook his head.
The teacher came to the young man and said, "The pain of life is like salt — no more, no less. However, the amount of bitterness（苦难） you taste depends on the containe（容器）you put the pain in. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your breadth（宽度） of mind. Stop being a glass, become a lake.
