An Atheist Explores the Dhammapada Part Four: Not A Guide To Mindfulness (3. The Mind (Cittavagga))

Dhammapada Part Three: The Mind (Cittavagga)

Not A Guide To Mindfulness

“Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow shaft, even so the discerning man straightens his mind - so fickle and unsteady, so difficult to guard.”

Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Dhammapada).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Dhammapda, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/3IbwtwE

For the online Dhammapade that I use, see here https://bit.ly/3IgCiJr

And now:

Dhammapada Part Three: The Mind

Just ten verses for this section, and it’s tempting to just quote them in full and comment on the whole lot. The message here is how stilling the mind, gaining control over the mind, is the key to living a… well, I was going to say virtuous life, but actually the verses really spell out that a controlled mind is the key to “happiness” – “Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness” and also to resist Mara, that personification of temptation – “Dwelling in the cave (of the heart), the mind, without form, wanders far and alone. Those who subdue this mind are liberated from the bonds of Mara.”

Really, this reads like an introduction to meditation. Without giving methods for subduing, calming, controlling the mind, these verses instead tell us why we should try to do so. Perhaps the hows will come later in the Dhammapada, but I suspect there are other Buddhist scriptures that give more methodology. This kind of concept, especially of “mindfulness” has been co-opted by modern psychological techniques like cognitive behavioural therapy, the art of stilling the mind by becoming a passive observer to one’s thoughts and feelings.

Stilling the mind is key to attaining true wisdom, claims the Dhammapada – “Wisdom never becomes perfect in one whose mind is not steadfast, who knows not the Good Teaching and whose faith wavers”. You need the stilled mind as a solid base upon which to build wisdom.

And it also seems as if this is its own reward, not anything to do necessarily with attaining some kind of metaphysical ideal. “Ere long, alas! this body will lie upon the earth, unheeded and lifeless, like a useless log”, and the actions of enemies are less harmful to the self than an “ill-directed mind”, whilst a well-directed mind does more for you than the love of your parents.

Short and sweet, another set of verses with repeated motifs; not so much in opposites as at the beginning (although we see echoes of that). And again pretty useful advice, although it would be more useful with some direction on how to achieve a still mind.

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