The Nature of The Untamed Mind
During my three-day meditation retreat at the monastery, we listened to a beautiful teaching from a Sutta of the Buddha about the nature of the untamed mind.
It is the teaching of the snake, the monkey, the bird, the dog, and the jackal.
In the teaching the Buddha describes five animals tied together with a rope.
Each animal wants to go in a different direction.
The snake wants to slide back into its hole in the earth.
The bird wants to spread its wings and fly freely into the sky.
The monkey wants to leap into the trees, restless and constantly moving.
The dog wants to run toward the village, toward people and comfort.
And the jackal wants to roam the wilderness, wandering through the forest searching for something.
Each animal pulls according to its own instinct.
The snake pulls toward the ground.
The bird pulls toward the sky.
The monkey pulls toward the trees.
The dog pulls toward the village.
And the jackal pulls toward the wild forest.
Because they are all tied together, they pull against one another in different directions and none of them find peace.
The Buddha then explains that if these animals are tied to a strong post firmly planted in the ground something begins to change. No matter how much they pull, they cannot escape the post and eventually they circle around it, they grow tired and slowly they settle.
The Buddha taught that these animals represent the restless nature of the senses and the mind and the post represents mindfulness anchored in the body and the breath.
After hearing this Sutta during the retreat, something very powerful happened during my meditation.
Sitting in silence hour after hour, with nothing but breath, body and awareness, I began to experience this teaching within myself.
When the noise of the outside world disappears, the truth of the mind becomes very clear and I could feel the animals inside me.
There were moments when my mind was the monkey, jumping from thought to thought, memory to memory, never wanting to stay still.
There were moments when my body felt like the snake, wanting comfort, wanting to move, wanting to escape the discomfort of sitting.
Sometimes my awareness felt like the bird, drifting away, wanting to fly somewhere else rather than remain here.
There were moments when my heart felt like the dog, longing for connection, warmth and the comfort of familiar people.
And then there was the jackal the wandering part of the mind that wants to roam through the forests of thought, searching, analysing, looking for something different or something else.
Each animal pulling, each instinct moving in its own direction and in those moments I could see so clearly why the Buddha gave this teaching.
Without awareness the mind is constantly pulled in many directions restless, scattered and never fully settled.
But the Buddha also gave us the post and in meditation the breath becomes that post.
Over those three days, every time the monkey mind jumped…
Every time the snake wanted comfort…
Every time the bird drifted away…
Every time the dog longed for something outside the present moment…
And every time the jackal wandered through the wilderness of the mind…
I gently returned to the breath.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Not with force.
Not with frustration.
Just returning.
And slowly something beautiful begins to happen when we keep coming back to the post.
The animals stop pulling so hard.
The mind softens.
The body relaxes.
And a deep stillness begins to emerge from within.
That was one of the greatest lessons I experienced during those three days in retreat.
Peace is not something we chase, Peace is something we return to again and again.
By coming back to the post.
By coming back to the breath.
By coming back to this moment.
And when we do…
The monkey rests.
The snake settles.
The bird lands.
The dog lies down.
And even the wandering jackal becomes still.
Warm regards,
Joy
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