Sunday, 30 November 2014

The Dhammapada 13 & 14


As a poorly covered house is penetrated by a rain, 
thus an undeveloped mind is penetrated by passion.

A roof is the most important part of any house. If the roof is not well done, if we try to "cheat" and use cheap material of poor quality, we can be surprised when a strong rain comes. The roof will not be able to hold off the water and it will leak. Everything inside the house then becomes wet instantly - and after the rain we can start building again.

 In the same way, the mind is the most important part of the human being. If it is not "well developed", if we have not practiced meditation earnestly, it will also "leak". The passions, hatred and other stuff will enter our mind and make it difficult for us to purify our minds. After one such "rain" we can start "rebuilding" our mind again.

As a well covered house is not penetrated by a rain, 
thus a well developed mind is not penetrated by passion.

And (continuing from DhP 13) if the roof on our house is well done, if we have made careful plans and executed them well, if we paid enough attention to the roof, then we do not have to be afraid of any rain, no matter how strong. The roof will hold it and the inside of the house will not become flooded, not even wet.

And in the case of mind, the same rule applies. If we made a conscious decision to develop it, to keep high level of mindfulness and alert, if we sharpen our mind in meditation, all the passions have no way of entering. The "roof" holds and we can concentrate on our main goal -- cleansing the mind, without a need to repair the roof after every light shower.

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