Dhammapada 326

Before, this mind wandered wherever it wished, wherever it wanted, as it pleased

Before, this mind wandered wherever it wished, wherever it wanted, as it pleased. Today I will hold it back properly, as one holding a goad controls an elephant in rut.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

The speaker recalls a mind that went wherever it pleased and resolves to guide it deliberately today. The forceful image is an elephant handler controlling an elephant in rut, when it is especially difficult to manage.

Key words

yoniso

properly, with considered attention — Qualifies how the mind is to be guided.

The story behind the verse

The novice and the ogress

In the commentary, a novice regularly recited the teaching and dedicated the goodness to his parents, and As he grew older, he became dissatisfied with religious life. He went to his mother’s home intending to leave the monastic community, and his mother urged him to reconsider, but he resisted. The commentary says an ogress who had been his mother in a former life took possession of him, and after the frightening attack ended, his mother again urged him to return. He went back to the Buddha, and the Buddha taught him to guide the mind rather than let it wander wherever it wished.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.