Āyācitabhatta — Book of the Ones · Chapter Two (Sīlavagga) · Poem 9 of 10
Setting
No narrative scene in the canonical verse itself
Speaker
Unspecified in the canonical verse itself
Form
One four-line stanza, deliberately riddling
Length
Under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆☆ — deliberately paradoxical, requiring the comment's paraphrase
Why this text
Sujato's own comment states outright that this verse's riddling wordplay on ‘release’ and ‘binding’ is difficult enough that he translates literally and supplies a separate paraphrase — making this an unusually transparent look at the gap between a compressed canonical verse and the plain sense it is meant to carry.
Reading guide
A riddle built on the words 'release' and 'binding'
The verse plays on paradox: ‘if you would be released, after death might you be released, because releasing binds. That's not how the attentive are released; such release is the fool's bondage.’ Sujato's comment acknowledges the verse is ‘riddling’, and offers a direct paraphrase: ‘if you want to be released from your vow, only in some future life might you find release... because releasing yourself from a vow by sacrificing an animal only binds you to suffering.’
A vow to sacrifice, and the trap it creates
Per Sujato's comment, the underlying story concerns a merchant who makes a sacrifice to ensure the success of his voyage, vowing that on his return he will perform another sacrifice, freeing him from that first vow. The verse's point is that this apparent ‘release’ is no release at all: each sacrificial killing only creates further bondage to suffering, for both animal and vower.
A companion piece to the previous poem's critique of sacrifice
This verse continues directly from Ja 18's argument against killing, applying the same underlying concern to a different specific case: not a feast honoring the dead, but a vow made to secure a safe journey. Together, the two poems form a short internal pair critiquing sacrificial practice from two angles.
Key terms
sace mucce pecca mucce — “if you would be released, after death might you be released” — the verse's opening riddle, per Sujato's comment deliberately paradoxical.
muccamāno hi bajjhati — “because releasing binds” — the verse's central paradox, resolved only by Sujato's separate paraphrase in his comment.
mutti bālassa bandhanaṁ — “such release is the fool's bondage” — the verse's closing statement of its own paradox.
Āyācitabhattajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘The Vowed Feast’.
Ja 18 — the previous poem in this chapter, forming a short internal pair with this one, both critiquing sacrificial practice.
The text
The text in full: a single verse, deliberately riddling, which Sujato's own comment translates literally before supplying a separate paraphrase, discussed above. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1If you would be released, after death might you be released, because releasing binds. That’s not how the attentive are released; such release is the fool’s bondage.
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What does Sujato's comment say directly about this verse's style?
Correct: C. An unusually transparent look at the gap between a compressed verse and its intended sense.
Question 2 of 10
What paraphrase does Sujato's comment supply for the verse's central paradox?
Correct: D. Resolving the wordplay on 'release' and 'binding' that the bare verse leaves compressed.
Question 3 of 10
What vow does the underlying story concern, per Sujato's comment?
Correct: A. Made to ensure the success of his voyage, with a second sacrifice promised to release him from it.
Question 4 of 10
According to the verse, does completing the second sacrifice actually release the merchant?
Correct: B. 'Releasing binds' — each sacrificial killing creates further bondage, not less.
Question 5 of 10
How does this poem relate to Ja 18, the previous poem in this chapter?
Correct: C. Together forming a short internal pair critiquing sacrificial practice from two angles.
Question 6 of 10
What does the verse call 'the fool's bondage'?
Correct: D. Contrasted with how 'the attentive are released' — not through this paradoxical means.
Question 7 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: A. The nineteenth poem overall, and the ninth of the Sīlavagga.
Question 8 of 10
Why does this reading guide rate this poem's difficulty higher than most others in this chapter?
Correct: B. One of the more overtly difficult verses in this collection's whole partial selection.
Question 9 of 10
Where does this poem sit in the collection's own chapter structure?
Correct: C. The second-to-last poem of this ten-poem chapter.
Question 10 of 10
What two occasions for sacrifice does this poem's underlying story involve?
Correct: D. The verse's paradox turns on this second, apparently liberating sacrifice actually creating further bondage.
