Naṭapāna — Book of the Ones · Chapter Two (Sīlavagga) · Poem 10 of 10 (closing the chapter)
Setting
A group speaking together, warning a hidden danger by a body of water
Speaker
A collective ‘we’, per the commentarial story, animals led by the Bodhisatta
Form
One four-line stanza
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
★☆☆☆☆ — one short verse of practical ingenuity
Why this text
This poem closes the Sīlavagga on a note of collective, practical wisdom — noticing danger through simple observation, and solving it through method rather than force — before the source text's own untranslated closing summary verse names all ten poems of this chapter in sequence.
Reading guide
Danger read from footprints, and outwitted by method
The verse states the observation and the solution together: ‘seeing footprints go down into the water, and none that return, we shall drink water through a reed: no way shall you kill me.’ The logic is entirely practical — tracks entering the water with none coming back out are proof enough of danger, and the response is not to avoid the water altogether but to find a way around the danger itself.
A monster in the lake, and a collective solution
Per Sujato's comment, a monster dwells in the lake, but the Bodhisatta thwarts it and keeps his people safe by having them drink through long hollow reeds rather than bending down to the water's surface — solving the danger through ingenuity rather than confrontation.
Closing the Sīlavagga
This poem closes the Sīlavagga, the second of eight chapters this site's selection draws from within the Ekakanipāta. The source text's own untranslated summary verse (uddāna) immediately follows, naming all ten poems of this chapter in sequence — not presented here as quoted text, since it carries no separate translation, but noted for completeness, just as at the close of the previous chapter (Ja 10).
Key terms
padamanuttiṇṇaṁ — “footprints go down into the water” — the observed evidence of danger the verse opens with.
naḷena vāriṁ pissāma — “we shall drink water through a reed” — the collective, practical solution the verse proposes.
neva maṁ tvaṁ vadhissasi — “no way shall you kill me” — the verse's direct address to the danger itself, defeated by method rather than confrontation.
Naḷapānajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘The Reed Drink’, closing the Sīlavagga.
Sīlavaggo dutiyo — “the Sīlavagga, the second [chapter]” — the source text's own untranslated closing marker for this chapter, followed immediately by its summary verse.
The text
The text in full: a single verse. The chapter's own untranslated closing summary verse (uddāna), which follows immediately in the source text, is not quoted here since it carries no English translation, but its content — the ten poem titles of this chapter in sequence — matches this reading guide's own further reading list below. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Seeing footprints go down into the water, and none that return, we shall drink water through a reed: no way shall you kill me.
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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 evidence of danger does the verse open with?
Correct: D. Simple observation providing proof enough of danger.
Question 2 of 10
What solution does the verse propose?
Correct: A. Solving the danger through ingenuity rather than confrontation or avoidance.
Question 3 of 10
What does Sujato's comment say lives in the lake?
Correct: B. Thwarted by the Bodhisatta's practical solution rather than direct confrontation.
Question 4 of 10
Who proposes and carries out the solution, per the commentarial story?
Correct: C. Matching the verse's own collective 'we shall drink water through a reed'.
Question 5 of 10
What chapter does this poem close?
Correct: D. The source text's own untranslated summary verse (uddāna) follows immediately after.
Question 6 of 10
Is the chapter's closing summary verse (uddāna) presented as quoted text in this reading guide?
Correct: A. Consistent with the same practice at the close of the previous chapter, Ja 10.
Question 7 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: B. The twentieth poem overall, and the tenth and final poem of the Sīlavagga.
Question 8 of 10
How does the verse's problem-solving approach compare to force or direct confrontation?
Correct: C. The reed-drinking method avoids the danger's reach entirely.
Question 9 of 10
Where does this poem sit in the collection's own chapter structure?
Correct: D. Its closing position is directly confirmed by the chapter's own summary verse following immediately after.
Question 10 of 10
What broader quality does this poem's solution illustrate, closing out the Sīlavagga's ethical theme?
Correct: A. Echoing the chapter's opening poem, Ja 11, on virtue and protection extended to others.
