Varuṇa — Book of the Ones · Chapter Eight (Varuṇavagga) · Poem 1 of 9
Setting
No narrative scene in the canonical verse itself
Speaker
Unspecified in the canonical verse itself
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
★★☆☆☆ — a short verse, but its central image draws on real Vedic ritual practice worth unpacking
Why this text
This poem opens the eighth and final chapter this site's selection draws from within the Ekakanipāta — a verse on deferred regret whose central image, a broken branch of the ‘Warding Tree’, turns out to reflect genuine Vedic ritual practice around that tree, and whose commentarial story reappears, differently, at this site's own already-completed Ja 38.
Reading guide
A verse about putting things off
The verse states its point directly: whoever wishes to do afterwards the tasks they should have done before ‘is tormented by regrets’, like someone who broke a branch off the Warding Tree. The comparison assumes the reader already knows why breaking that particular branch was a costly mistake.
Per Sujato's comment, a careless pupil and a sacred tree
A lazy pupil takes a nap while others gather firewood. At the last moment, he carelessly snaps a green branch off the Warding Tree, hurting his eye in the process; and when it comes time for breakfast, the fire will not light — the wrong wood, used carelessly and too late, fails at the one task it was needed for.
The tree's own Vedic background, and an echo elsewhere on this site
Sujato's comment traces ‘Varuṇa’ (or ‘varaṇa’, Crateva religiosa) to a root meaning ‘to ward’: the tree is associated with Vedic rites of the dead and with warding off demons, foes, and ills (Atharva Veda 10.3), and its wood, precisely because of that funerary association, was not to be used in the life-giving Homa fire ritual. Sujato suggests this verse may originally have warned against using the wrong wood for the wrong ritual. The same tree's association with death carries into this site's own already-completed Ja 38, where a crane kills fish on one of its branches.
Key terms
Varuṇakaṭṭhabhañjova — “like the one who broke a branch off the Warding Tree” — the verse's central simile, giving this poem its traditional title.
sa pacchā manutappati — “afterwards is tormented by regrets” — the fate of anyone who defers what should have been done before.
Varuṇa — the tree itself (Crateva religiosa), per Sujato's comment associated in Vedic ritual with warding off demons, foes, and ills, and barred from the life-giving Homa fire due to its funerary associations.
Varuṇavagga — “Chapter of the Warding Tree” — the eighth and final chapter this site's selection draws from within the Ekakanipāta, named for this opening poem.
Ja 38 — this site's already-completed page, ‘The Crane’, where the same tree's association with death reappears in a different story.
The text
The text in full: a single verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Whoever wishes to do afterwards tasks they should have done before, like the one who broke a branch off the Warding Tree, afterwards is tormented by regrets.
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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 the verse say happens to someone who defers what should have been done before?
Correct: C. The verse states its point directly, with no exceptions offered.
Question 2 of 10
What central image does the verse use for this regret?
Correct: D. A comparison that assumes the reader already knows why the mistake was costly.
Question 3 of 10
Per Sujato's comment, what was the pupil doing while others gathered firewood?
Correct: A. Laziness that leads directly to the carelessness that follows.
Question 4 of 10
What happened when the pupil finally, carelessly snapped a branch off the tree?
Correct: B. The wrong wood, used carelessly and too late, fails at the one task it was needed for.
Question 5 of 10
What does Sujato's comment say the Warding Tree was associated with in Vedic ritual?
Correct: C. Citing the Atharva Veda for this association.
Question 6 of 10
Why, per the comment, was this tree's wood barred from the life-giving Homa fire ritual?
Correct: D. A tree bound up with death was unfit to feed a fire meant to give life.
Question 7 of 10
What does Sujato suggest this verse may originally have been about?
Correct: A. Sujato's own suggested reading of the verse's original point.
Question 8 of 10
What already-completed page on this site does this tree's death association also appear in?
Correct: B. The same tree, a different story, elsewhere in this collection.
Question 9 of 10
What chapter does this poem open?
Correct: C. Named for this opening poem, per standard Jātaka convention.
Question 10 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: D. The seventy-first poem overall, and the first of the Varuṇavagga.
