Kukai's Cave

It bears remembering these thoughts from Thomas Byron's translation of the Dhammapada, at least once a day:

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.

"Look how he abused me and beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Live with such thoughts and you live in hate.

"Look how he abused me and beat me,
How he threw me down and robbed me."
Abandon such thoughts, and live in love.

In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible.

This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible. Applicable everywhere, to everyone, no exceptions. In all situations, no exceptions. At all times, no exceptions. This is the law. Ancient. Inexhaustible.

But my mind runs like the wind. I can't control that anymore than i can control a wild horse. It's impossible, you say. The Dhammapada continues, in another chapter:

As the fletcher whittles
And makes straight his arrows,
So the master directs
His straying thoughts.

Like a fish out of water,
Stranded on the shore,
Thoughts thrash and quiver.
For how can they shake off desire?

They tremble, they are unsteady,
They wander at their will.
It is good to control them,
And to master them brings happiness.

But how subtle they are,
How elusive!
The task is to quieten them,
And by ruling them to find happiness.

With single-mindedness
The master quells his thoughts.
He ends their wandering.
Seated in the cave of the heart,
He finds freedom.

How can a troubled mind
Understand the way?
If a man is disturbed
He will never be filled with knowledge.
An untroubled mind,
No longer seeking to consider
What is right and what is wrong,
A mind beyond judgments,
Watches and understands.

Know that the body is a fragile jar,
And make a castle of your mind.

In every trial
Let understanding fight for you
To defend what you have won.

For soon the body is discarded
Then what does it feel?
A useless log of wood, it lies on the ground.
Then what does it know?

Your worst enemy cannot harm you
As much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or your mother.

Do we need to run off and join a monastery or an ashram to do this? That's impossible; i have a life, a family, bills, kids to put through college, a house to pay off, the weekend softball team that needs me at shortstop,..., you say.

The answer is above. Did you see it? "Seated in the cave of the heart, he finds freedom." No running away. No leaving the world behind, well not the real world anyhow, although the fictitious world you have come to believe in will suffer some damage. All you have to do is find your zafu and a warm corner in the cave of your heart. And the promise is, when you find that place, and spend serious time there, the thoughts will come under control and you will find happiness. You will find freedom.