A series of posts for my draft translation of the Dhammapada, for feedback and discussion. Final version will be on SuttaCentral.
The mind, it quivers and shakes,
hard to guard, hard to curb.
The discerning straighten it out,
like a fletcher straightens an arrow.
Like a fish pulled from the sea
and cast up on the shore,
this mind thrashes about,
trying to throw off Māra’s sway.
Hard to hold back, flighty,
alighting where it will;
it’s good to tame the mind—
a tamed mind leads to bliss.
So very hard to see, so subtle,
alighting where it will;
the discerning protect the mind,
a guarded mind leads to bliss.
The mind travels far, wandering alone;
incorporeal, it hides in a cave.
Those who will restrain the mind
are freed from Māra’s bonds.
Those of unsteady mind,
who don’t understand the true teaching,
and whose confidence wavers,
do not perfect their wisdom.
One whose mind is uncorrupted,
whose heart is undamaged,
who’s given up right and wrong—
alert, has nothing to fear.
Knowing this body breaks like a pot,
fortifying the mind like a citadel,
attack Māra with the sword of wisdom;
guard your conquest, and never settle.
All too soon this body
will lie down upon the earth,
bereft of consciousness,
tossed aside like a useless old log.
Whatever a hater might do to the hated,
or an enemy to their foe,
a wrongly directed mind
would do much worse than that to them.
Not even a mother or father,
or other relative would do so much;
a rightly directed mind
would do better than that to them.
