sn.1.17 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

Hard to Do

“Hard to do, hard to endure,
is the ascetic life for the inept,
for it has many narrow passes
where the fool founders.”
“How many days could an ascetic live
without controlling the mind?
They’d founder with each step,
under the sway of thoughts.
A mendicant should collect their thoughts
as a tortoise draws its limbs into its shell.
Independent, not disturbing others,
quenched: they wouldn’t blame anyone.”