Saṅkhadhama — Book of the Ones · Chapter Six (Āsīsavagga) · Poem 10 of 10 (closing the chapter)
Setting
No narrative scene in the canonical verse itself
Speaker
Unspecified in the canonical verse itself, addressed as if to a son about his father
Form
One four-line stanza, closing this chapter's final matched pair
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 closing a matched pair, with its own pun
Why this text
This poem closes the Āsīsavagga by reversing Ja 59's family roles: here it is the father, not the son, whose excess squanders what had been earned — and its closing line carries its own deliberate pun that the English translation manages to preserve almost exactly.
Reading guide
The same lesson, the roles reversed
The verse repeats its companion's opening refrain, then closes differently: ‘by blowing riches were earned, but your blowing dad blew it.’ Per Sujato's comment, this story is similar to the previous one, except here the instrument is a conch or horn, and ‘the father is the overplayer, not the son.’
A pun the English translation manages to carry over intact
Sujato's comment highlights the play on words between ‘dhama’ (‘blowing’) and ‘vidhamī’ (‘squandered it’, literally ‘blew it’) — a rare case where the English idiom ‘blew it’, meaning to squander an opportunity, happens to preserve almost exactly the same double meaning the Pali original plays on.
A citation reaching outside the Jātaka, and closing this chapter
Sujato's comment also notes that a work outside this site's own selections, the Milinda Pañha (Mil 3.1.4), discusses what happens when a horn player breathes out too much — a technical parallel to this poem's own concern, noted here without a linked page. This poem closes the Āsīsavagga, the sixth 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, as at the close of the previous five chapters.
Key terms
dhama — “blowing” — the shared opening refrain's own key verb.
vidhamī — “squandered it”, literally “blew it” — per Sujato's comment, a pun the English idiom happens to preserve almost exactly.
Saṅkhadhamajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘The Horn-Blower’, closing the Āsīsavagga.
Mil 3.1.4 — the Milinda Pañha, a work outside this site's own selections, cited in Sujato's comment for a technical parallel about excessive horn-blowing.
Āsīsavaggo chaṭṭho — “the Āsīsavagga, the sixth [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, closing this chapter's final matched pair with its own preserved pun, discussed above. 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).
§1Blow, blow, don’t overblow, for overblowing is bad. By blowing riches were earned, but your blowing dad blew it.
· · ·
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
How does this poem's story differ from Ja 59's, per Sujato's comment?
Correct: D. A reversal of family roles completing this chapter's final matched pair.
Question 2 of 10
What pun does Sujato's comment highlight in this poem's closing line?
Correct: A. A rare case where the English idiom 'blew it' preserves almost exactly the same double meaning as the Pali original.
Question 3 of 10
What external work does Sujato's comment cite for a technical parallel about horn-blowing?
Correct: B. Noted here without a linked page, since it falls outside this site's own text selections.
Question 4 of 10
What chapter does this poem close?
Correct: C. The source text's own untranslated summary verse (uddāna) follows immediately after.
Question 5 of 10
Is the chapter's closing summary verse (uddāna) presented as quoted text in this reading guide?
Correct: D. Consistent with the same practice at the close of the previous five chapters.
Question 6 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: A. The sixtieth poem overall, and the tenth and final poem of the Āsīsavagga.
Question 7 of 10
What refrain does this poem open with, shared with Ja 59?
Correct: B. Completing this chapter's fifth and final matched pair.
Question 8 of 10
Who is the 'overplayer' in this poem's version of the tale?
Correct: C. Reversing the family roles from Ja 59, where the son was the excessive player.
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
How many total matched pairs structured this entire chapter?
Correct: A. The most tightly paired chapter structure found across this site's Jātaka selection so far.
