[1718] Bhikkhus, suppose there were a man with a lifespan of a hundred years, living for a hundred years, and someone said to him thus: "Come, good man, in the morning they will strike you with a hundred spears; at midday they will strike you with a hundred spears; in the evening they will strike you with a hundred spears. And you, good man, being struck day after day by three hundred spears, having a lifespan of a hundred years, living a hundred years, will, at the end of those hundred years, make the breakthrough (abhisamaya) to the four noble truths (ariyasacca) not yet broken through." Bhikkhus, it is fitting for a clansman intent upon his own good to accept this. For what reason? Bhikkhus, this round of rebirths (saṃsāra) is without discoverable beginning: a first point is not discerned of blows from spears, blows from swords, blows from arrows, blows from axes. And even though this might be so, bhikkhus, I do not say that the breakthrough to the four noble truths is accompanied by suffering (dukkha), accompanied by grief. Rather, bhikkhus, I say that the breakthrough to the four noble truths is accompanied only by happiness, accompanied only by joy. To which four? To the noble truth of suffering … to the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. Therefore, bhikkhus, effort should be made: "This is suffering" … effort should be made: "This is the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.