Chapter THREE: The Mind

33.
The fugitive, flickering mind,
Hard to guard and hard to bind,
The wise men train as they choose,
As a fletcher fashions a shaft to his use.

34.
Like a fish flung out on the bank;
Drawn from its watery home in a tank,[1]
Flutters this fugitive mind
To leave the realm of Māra behind.[2]

35.
Impalpable, hard to seize,
Eagerly rushing wherever it please,
Good is the taming of mind;
A mind well-tamed is a treasure to find.

36.
Invisible, subtle indeed,
Eagerly rushing its passions to feed,
Let the wise man guard this mind;
A guarded mind is a treasure to find.

37.
Wandering, dwelling apart,
Bodiless there in the cave of the heart,[3]
They who subdue this mind
Leave all the fetters of Māra behind.

38.
If he know not the Doctrine Pure,
If he waver in faith and be not sure,
If his mind be not strong-willed,
The cup of his wisdom is never fulfilled.

39.
If his mind be free from desire,
If his thought be free from anger's fire,
If evil and good he forsake,
There is no fear in the man that's awake.

40.
"Body's a vessel of clay;
Mind must be made like a fort," if he say,
Let him give battle to Mara, arrayed
In the weapons of wisdom, unafraid
Let him conquer and guard him and passionless stay.

41.
Soon, ah! soon on the earth
Will this body lie, a thing of no worth,
Neglected, void of the six
Workings of sense, a mere bundle of sticks.

42.
Whatever the ill that a foe
Doth a foe, whatever the grudge he may owe.
Greater by far will he find
The ill that is done by an ill-trained mind.

43.
Nay, not a father or mother
Could do so much; not a kinsman or other;
Greater by far will he find
The good that is done by a well-trained mind.

[1] _The tank_ is earthly existence. The watery home is the world of desires.

[2] _Māra_--death, the personification of evil, rules the six highest desire-heaven-worlds: other great Gods are _Mahābrahma_ and _Sakka_ (Indra). _Yama_ also, death, is the lord of the under-world. We may compare the Greek Gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Pluto, who divide the rule of the manifested universe.

[3] Cp. v. 374, _suññāgāra_.