The Story of Thera Meghiya (Dhammapada 3 : 33-34)

III. Citta Vagga – The Mind

Verse 33:
The mind is excitable and unsteady;
it is difficult to control and to restrain.
The wise one trains his mind to be upright
as a fletcher straightens an arrow.

Verse 34:
As a fish quivers when taken out of its watery home and thrown on to dry ground,
so does the mind quiver when it is taken out of the sensual world to escape from the realm of Mara (i.e., kilesa vatta, round of moral defilements).
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While residing on the Calika Mountain, the Buddha uttered Verses (33) and (34) of this book, with reference to Thera Meghiya.

At that time, Thera Meghiya was attending upon the Buddha. On one occasion, on his return from alms-round, the thera noticed a pleasant and beautiful mango grove, which he thought was an ideal spot for meditation. He asked the Buddha's permission to let him go there, but as the Buddha was alone at that time, he was told to wait for awhile until the arrival of some other bhikkhus. The thera was in a hurry to go and so he repeated his request again and again, until finally the Buddha told him to do as he wished.

Thus, Thera Meghiya set out for the mango grove, sat at the foot of a tree and practised meditation. He stayed there the whole day, but his mind kept wandering and he made no progress. He returned in the evening and reported to the Buddha how all the time he was assailed by thoughts associated with the senses, ill will and cruelty (kama vitakka, byapada vitakka and vihimsa vitakka).

So, the Buddha told him that as the mind is easily excitable and fickle, one should control one's mind.

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

"Phandanaṃ capalaṃ cittaṃ dūrakkhaṃ dunnivārayaṃ

ujuṃ karoti medhāvī usukāro va tejanaṃ.

Vārijo va thale khitto okamokata ubbhato

pariphandat’ idaṃ cittaṃ Māradheyyaṃ pahātave."

The mind is excitable and unsteady;

it is difficult to control and to restrain.

The wise one trains his mind to be upright

as a fletcher straightens an arrow.

As a fish quivers when taken out of its watery home and thrown on to dry ground,

so does the mind quiver when it is taken out of the sensual world to escape from the realm of Mara (i.e., kilesa vatta, round of moral defilements).

At the end of the discourse, Thera Meghiya attained Sotapatti Fruition.

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Notes :

* The full story is in other pali text; Udana IV-1 and Anguttara Nikaya IX-3.

In Udana IV, The Buddha explained that when the heart's deliverance is not yet ripe (like Meghiya Thera solitary meditation in the mango groove), there are 5 things that conduce to its ripening which are good noble friends, virtuous life in accordance with precepts, beneficial talk in striving to achieve enlightenment, zealous exertion, and wisdom/insight into impermanence, which leads to the ending of ill.

The commentary gives a curious explanation why these thoughts assailed Meghiya so suddenly and so strongly: In 500 successive rebirths, Meghiya had been a king. When he went out into the royal park for sport and amusement together with dancing girls of the three stages of life, he used to sit down at the very spot called “the auspicious slab” . Therefore, at the very moment when Meghiya sat down at that place, he felt as if his monkhood had left him and he was a king surrounded him by beautiful dancers. And when, as a king, he was enjoying that splendour, thought of sensuality arose in him. At that very moment it happened that his great warriors brought to him two bandits whom they had arrested, and Meghiya saw them as distinctly as if they were standing in front of him. Now when (as a king) he was ordering the execution of one bandit, thought of ill-will arose in him, and when he was ordering the manacling and imprisonment of the other, thought of violence arose in him. So even now, as Meghiya, he became entangled in these unwholesome thoughts like a tree in a net of creepers or like a honey-gatherer in a swarm of honey bees. (AA 4:165 f; cf UA 219 f)

The commentary also suggests that the Buddha had refused permission for him to go, knowing that he was not yet ready to practice in this way.