Durājāna — Book of the Ones · Chapter Seven (Itthivagga) · Poem 4 of 10
Setting
No narrative scene in the canonical verse itself
Speaker
Unspecified, offering counsel to a confused husband
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
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, but resting on a reductive premise worth naming honestly
Why this text
This poem's underlying advice deserves a plain, unflattering summary: rather than making any effort to actually understand his wife, a confused husband is told simply to stop trying — and yet its closing image, describing human complexity as hard to fathom, is used almost word for word elsewhere in this site's own Sutta Nipāta to describe the Dhamma itself.
Reading guide
Advice to stop trying, rather than to understand
The verse counsels indifference directly: ‘do not rejoice, “she loves me,” nor lament, “she loves me not.” The mood of women is hard to understand, like the track of fish in water.’ Per Sujato's comment, a husband, confused by his wife's shifting behavior toward him, seeks counsel — and rather than being encouraged to make any effort to actually understand her, he is advised simply to disregard her feelings altogether.
A closing image echoed elsewhere for something entirely different
Sujato's comment notes that the phrase ‘hard to understand’ is also applied, at this site's own Snp 3.12, to the Dhamma itself — an unexpected resonance: the same language used dismissively here to excuse not trying is used elsewhere to honor something worth the deepest possible effort to understand.
Key terms
thīnaṁ bhāvo durājāno — “the mood of women is hard to understand” — the verse's central claim, echoed at this site's own Snp 3.12 in reference to the Dhamma.
macchasseva udake gataṁ — “like the track of fish in water” — the verse's closing image for something too elusive to trace.
Durājānajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘Hard to Understand’.
Snp 3.12 — “Contemplating Pairs” — the already-completed page on this site where the same phrase ‘hard to understand’ describes the Dhamma.
mativippahīno — a term from this site's own Ja 44 for an absence of judgment; this poem's advice to simply stop trying shares something of that same underlying failure of effort.
The text
The text in full: a single verse, whose closing image recurs elsewhere on this site in a very different context, discussed above. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Do not rejoice, “She loves me,” nor lament, “She loves me not.” The mood of women is hard to understand, like the track of fish in water.
· · ·
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 advice does the verse give a husband confused by his wife's behavior?
Correct: D. A reductive response that this reading guide names plainly rather than dressing up.
Question 2 of 10
What behavior pattern does Sujato's comment describe as prompting the husband's confusion?
Correct: A. A complexity the advice given responds to by simply disengaging rather than engaging.
Question 3 of 10
What already-completed page on this site does Sujato's comment connect to this verse's closing phrase?
Correct: B. An unexpected resonance between two very different uses of the same language.
Question 4 of 10
How does this reading guide characterize the advice this poem gives?
Correct: C. A plain, unflattering summary rather than a dressed-up one.
Question 5 of 10
What image does the verse use for the difficulty of understanding the wife's mood?
Correct: D. Something that leaves no trace to follow, closing the verse.
Question 6 of 10
What does the same closing phrase describe when it appears at Snp 3.12?
Correct: A. Language used dismissively here, but used elsewhere to honor something worth the deepest effort to understand.
Question 7 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: B. The sixty-fourth poem overall, and the fourth of the Itthivagga.
Question 8 of 10
Does the verse's advice ask the husband to change his own behavior toward his wife?
Correct: C. A response of withdrawal rather than genuine engagement or understanding.
Question 9 of 10
Where does this poem sit in the collection's own chapter structure?
Correct: D. Part of the same ten-poem Itthivagga.
Question 10 of 10
What irony does this reading guide draw out from the Snp 3.12 connection?
Correct: A. A resonance worth noticing rather than passing over.
