Perhaps while that mendicant is conducting themselves and living in this way, bad, unskillful memories and thoughts that tighten fetters arise every so often due to loss of mindfulness. Slowly mindfulness arises, but then they quickly give up, get rid of, eliminate, and obliterate those thoughts.
Suppose there was an iron cauldron that had been heated all day, and a person let two or three drops of water fall onto it. Slowly the drops fall, but then they quickly dry up and evaporate.
In the same way, perhaps while that mendicant is conducting themselves and living in this way, bad, unskillful memories and thoughts that tighten fetters arise every so often due to loss of mindfulness. Slowly mindfulness arises, but then they quickly give up, get rid of, eliminate, and obliterate those thoughts.
Evaṁ kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno cāro ca vihāro ca anubuddho hoti; yathā carantaṁ viharantaṁ abhijjhādomanassā pāpakā akusalā dhammā nānussavanti.
This is how a mendicant has awakened to a way of conduct and a way of living such that, when they live in that way, bad, unskillful qualities of covetousness and displeasure don’t overwhelm them.