Whoever lives contemplating the impure, with well-controlled senses, moderate in eating, with faith and ardent energy, Māra cannot overpower, as the wind cannot move a rocky mountain.

The opposite pair to the previous verse: same structure, inverted result. Asubhānupassiṃ — contemplating the unsatisfactory nature of the conditioned — is not pessimism but soteriological realism. Seeing things as they are, without the veneer of illusion, protects from future disillusionment.

The rocky mountain (sela pabbata) against the weak tree of the previous verse: the image speaks of solidity, of rootedness, of a foundation that does not depend on favorable conditions. The practitioner who has cultivated discipline, moderation, faith (saddhā), and ardent effort (āraddhavīriya) has that internal solidity.

Saddhā in Pāli is not blind faith but trust based on direct experience. It resembles śraddhā in yoga: the confidence in the path that arises from having already walked part of it. It is dynamic, growing, supported by real practice.

Āraddhavīriya — ardent energy, applied with persistence — is what yogis call tapas: the transformative heat generated when will is applied in a sustained manner. Without real effort, practice becomes spiritual decoration.