from the dhammapada

the dhammapada, for those of you who may not know, is to buddhism what the bhagavad gita is to hinduism. it consists of 423 verses that described the buddha's prescribed way to live, the life of meditation, and the practice of reason and intelligence. i hope i offend no one in saying that it speaks to me in verses what the gita spoke to me in shlokas, and what i understood from swami vivekananda's lectures on vedanta. i do like the understandability and the simplicity of the verses very much. i share with you here the verses under chapter 3: the mind.

1. As the bowman makes straight his arrows, so the wise man straightens his unsteady mind.
2. This mind is like a fish out of water which thrashes and throws itself about, when thoughts try to shake off their cravings.
3. Such a wandering mind is weak and unsteady, attracted here, there and everywhere. How good it is to control it and know the happiness of freedom.
4. And yet how unruly still, how subtle the delusion of the thoughts. To quiet them and master them is the true way to happiness.
5. Putting a bridle on the wandering mind, single-mindedly the seeker halts his thoughts. He ends their darting waywardness and finds peace.
6. A troubled mind, however, does not see the way. If a man is ignorant and filled with doubt, he can never find the true path.
7. But a concentrated mind, untroubled and calm, no longer struggling to judge between right and wrong but beyond judgements has no fear, for it understands.
8. He knows that the body is as fragile as a jar. By making the mind as firm as a fortress, wisdom and understanding will fight for him in every trial, guarding all that has been won.
9. For soon the body will be cast aside and what will be its consciousness then? It will lie on the ground like a useless log of wood, without knowledge or feeling.
10. Whatever an enemy may do, he cannot harm you as much as your own wrongly directed thoughts.
    
11. But once you understand, no one - neither your father nor mother - can do as much good to you as your own well-directed thoughts.