Teaching 11 - One's Self-training As A Meditator

A famous horse trainer once approached the Lord Buddha and asked him how he trained his disciples. The Buddha responded by asking the trainer how he trained horses. The trainer replied that there were four kinds of horses:

1. those easy to tame,
2. those of an intermediate sort,
3. those genuinely hard to tame, and
4. those that couldnt be tamed at all, and had to be killed.

The Buddha replied, So it is with me.

1. Those easy to tame, i.e., those whose minds gather easily, should eat enough food to nourish the body.
2. Those of an intermediate sort, i.e., those whose minds have some trouble settling down, should not be allowed to eat much -- only a little food.
3. Those genuinely hard to tame, i.e., those who really have trouble getting their minds to settle down, shouldnt eat at all, but they have to be attannu They have to know their own strength and exactly how much they will be able to endure.
4. As for those who couldnt be tamed and had to be killed -- i.e., those termed padaparama who couldnt subdue their minds at all -- the Buddha would withdraw the bridge. In other words, he wouldnt teach them, which was tantamount to killing them.