The Chapter on the Mind-Dhammapada

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The Chapter on the Mind
(Dhammapada)



Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow, so does the wise man
straighten his mind which is fickle and unsteady and difficult to guard
and difficult to restrain. (33)

Just as a fish taken out of its watery abode and cast on the land,
quivers and throbs, so does the mind. (Hence) should the realm of
Passions be shunned. (34)

It is good to restrain the mind which is difficult to subdue and is
swift-moving and which seizes whatever it desires. A mind thus tamed
brings happiness. (35)

Difficult to grasp and extremely subtle is the mind, seizing on
whatever it desires; let the wise guard it. A guarded mind brings
happiness. (36)

This mind wanders afar, is solitary, formless, and rests in the cave
(of the heart). Those who subdue it are freed from the bonds of Mara.
(37)

He whose mind is not steadfast and who knows not the Good Teaching
and whose faith wavers, the wisdom of such a man never becomes perfect.
(38)

He whose mind remains untouched by lust, and unaffected by hatred,
and who has discarded both good and evil, for such a vigilant one there
is no fear. (39)

Knowing this body to be as fragile as a clay pot and fortifying this
mind like a well-fortified city, let a man fight Mara with the sword of
wisdom; and let him guard his conquest and remain unattached (to it).
(40)
Ere long alas! will this body lie upon the earth, unheeded and lifeless, even as a useless log. (41)
Whatever an enemy may do to an enemy or a hater to a hater, an ill-directed mind would do one a greater injury. (42)

Neither mother nor father nor any other relative can do a person greater good than what his well-directed mind can do. (43)


— Dhammapada, Citta Vagga (Translated by Bhikkhu Buddarakkhita)