We should learn to counteract them, and free ourselves from their command.

However, this is usually very difficult to accomplish.

Like being urged to bid farewell to a good friend whom we have known for a long time – it is, indeed, not easily done.


Knots in the Heart
Our minds and hearts do not stay bright, beautiful, and effulgent, like a perfect spring day.
The mind inflicts trouble upon itself, and becomes dull, without light.
It is capable of mistaking the unreal for the real; and the real for the unreal.
So, when you are feeling confused, the fact is that you are just harassing yourself.
The long, slender body of a snake, which may look elegant and graceful, is in fact hindering its own movement.
In the same way, thoughts in the mind bog down the physical body.
If we do not straighten them out somehow, they will eventually tangle up into a dead knot.
One day, however, this jumble of entanglement may come into contact with the Buddha Dharma, and like a sharp sword, the Dharma will cut this mess asunder.
Thus, the dead knot will be no more.

Taxi

Life can be compared to driving a taxi.
The mind is the master and the driver.
The guests and the passengers change each time, just like the many karmic connections we encounter in life.
Without awakening and realization, a person takes the guest as the master, and their mind always clings to the many passengers who come and go.
As a result, discriminating, changeable and unsettling moods are generated.