As Rain Pierces an Ill-Roofed House

📝Reflection

What keeps out the rain is not a wish for it to stop, but a well-thatched roof. Craving and stray thoughts are the same. They fall ceaselessly, like rain — they cannot be stopped. What makes the difference is whether the roof of the mind was kept in repair beforehand. An uncultivated mind leaks at the smallest temptation; a well-tended one stays dry under the same rain. Here "to cultivate" is no grand discipline. It is the everyday hand of looking into the mind a little each day, checking where it is thin, patching the leaks. Fixing the roof after the downpour is too late. The one who mends it in fair weather endures the rain.