Dhammapada · Chapter 3
The Mind
11 verses · The mind is restless, swift, hard to guard, and difficult to restrain. The wise tame it as a fletcher straightens an arrow — for a well-disciplined mind brings happiness and freedom from Mara's bonds.
Chapter 3
चित्तवग्गो
Cittavagga
3.1
The mind is restless, unsteady, hard to guard, hard to restrain
3.2
As a fish flips when pulled from its watery home and thrown onto dry ground, so this mind…
3.3
Hard to subdue, swift, alighting wherever it wishes — the mind
3.4
Very hard to see, very subtle, alighting wherever it wishes — the mind
3.5
Wandering far, going alone, bodiless, lying in the cave of the heart — those who restrain…
3.6
With an unsteady mind, not knowing the True Dhamma, with wavering confidence, wisdom does…
3.7
For one whose mind is not soaked in lust, whose heart is not battered by hatred, who has…
3.8
Knowing this body to be fragile as a clay pot, and having established this mind as a…
3.9
Soon, alas, this body will lie upon the earth — cast aside, deprived of consciousness, as…
3.10
Whatever harm an enemy might do to an enemy, or one hater to another — a wrongly-directed…
3.11
What neither mother nor father nor any kin can do for you, a rightly-directed mind can do…