{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/dhp/3.htm","path":"bud/dhp/3.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/dhp/3.htm","text":"Quivering, wavering,\nhard to guard,\nto hold in check:\nthe mind.\nThe sage makes it straight --\nlike a fletcher,\nthe shaft of an arrow.\nLike a fish\npulled from its home in the water\n& thrown on land:\nthis mind flips & flaps about\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to escape Mara's sway.\nHard to hold down,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 nimble,\nalighting wherever it likes:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the mind.\nIts taming is good.\nThe mind well-tamed\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 brings ease.\nSo hard to see,\nso very, very subtle,\nalighting wherever it likes:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the mind.\nThe wise should guard it.\nThe mind protected\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 brings ease.\nWandering far,\ngoing alone,\nbodiless,\nlying in a cave:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the mind.\nThose who restrain it:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 from Mara's bonds\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 they'll be freed.\n38:\nFor a person of unsteady mind,\nnot knowing true Dhamma,\nserenity\nset adrift:\ndiscernment doesn't grow full.\n39*:\nFor a person of unsoddened mind,\nunassaulted awareness,\nabandoning merit & evil,\nwakeful,\nthere is no danger\nno fear.\n40*:\nKnowing this body\nis like a clay jar,\nsecuring this mind\nlike a fort,\nattack Mara\nwith the spear of discernment,\nthen guard what's won\nwithout settling there,\nwithout laying claim.\n41:\nAll too soon, this body\nwill lie on the ground\ncast off,\nbereft of consciousness,\nlike a useless scrap\nof wood.\nWhatever an enemy might do\nto an enemy,\nor a foe to a foe,\nthe ill-directed mind\ncan do to you\neven worse.\nWhatever a mother, father \nor other kinsman\nmight do for you,\nthe well-directed mind\ncan do for you\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 even better.","title":"Dhammapada III: The Mind","type":"page"}