The trembling mind, unsteady, difficult to guard and control, the wise straightens like a fletcher straightens an arrow.

Phandanaṃ (trembling), capalaṃ (unsteady, wavering), dūrakkhaṃ (difficult to guard), dunnivārayaṃ (difficult to contain): four characteristics of the ordinary mind, and whoever reads them immediately recognizes their experience. The mind jumps from thought to thought, from object to object, unable to settle.

Usukārova tejanaṃ — like a fletcher straightens an arrow: the image of bow and arrow appears in many contemplative traditions. The usukāra (arrow maker) heats the bamboo or wood, aligns it carefully, cools it, polishes it until the arrow is perfectly straight and can fly without deviation.

Thus the mind: it is not straightened by repression but by gradual and careful work. Meditation is that work of heating (concentration), aligning (sustained attention), cooling (equanimity), and polishing (insistence on clarity).

Medhāvī — the wise: who knows the mind is workable, who is not condemned to its habitual agitation. That conviction is the first step of the path. The mind can be educated; this is the fundamental premise of all contemplative tradition.