The Runaway Horse of the Untamed Mind
The purpose of the outer practices is to tame the mind. However, scattered training received by meditators might make them feel that the process toward enlightenment is like the untamed Wild West. They want to experience the sense of excitement, anticipation, and infinite possibilities in a wild rush toward the awakened state. An untamed mind is like a horseman whose stirrup straps slipped. I saw in a movie where a rider slid underneath his horse; the horse was on top and the rider was on the underbelly of the horse, just barely hanging on, his head almost in the dirt. The reins were flying in the wind, and the horse went anywhere it chose. This is just like the untamed mind. However, the rider whose stirrups are tight is like one living in the vow to attain enlightenment. He is firmly seated on the upper part of the horse with the reins in his hands. This taming allows him to be the horseman and not the horse. When the mind is untamed, mental energies are out of balance. When the ment...