The mind is difficult to hold, swift, alighting wherever it wills. To tame it is good; the tamed mind brings happiness.

Dunniggahassa lahuno — difficult to hold, swift: the speed of mind is literally incomparable. Before one thought completes, five more are waiting. This speed is natural; the problem is when there is no direction, when movement is circular or shoots in all directions without coherence.

Yatthakāmanipātino — alighting wherever it wills: nipāta is settling, alighting. The untrained mind settles where the force of habit or the brightness of stimulus attracts it, not where it would be genuinely beneficial.

Cittassa damatho sādhu — to tame the mind is good: dama (taming, discipline) is not repression but education. One trains the mind as one trains a valuable wild animal: not breaking its spirit but channeling its natural energy toward constructive ends.

Cittaṃ dantaṃ sukhāvahaṃ — the tamed mind brings happiness: danta shares root with dama; a danta animal is one that has been tamed, that cooperates. The domesticated mind does not lose its vitality; it applies it in ways that produce lasting wellbeing rather than agitation.