For the inexperienced,
the contemplative life is
hard to do,
hard to endure,
for many are the confinements there
in which a fool sinks.
How many days can you follow
the contemplative life
if you don’t block the mind?
Step by step you’d sink
under the sway of your resolves.1
As a tortoise would draw
its limbs
into its shell,
so a monk should—
the thoughts of his heart.
Independent, not mistreating others,
totally unbound,
he shouldn’t disparage
anyone at all.
Notes
1. The passion for his resolves is a man’s sensuality,
not the beautiful sensual pleasures
found in the world.
The passion for his resolves is a man’s sensuality.
The beauties remain as they are in the world,
while, in this regard,
the enlightened
subdue their desire. — AN 6:63