Not named explicitly; a five-part riddle answered point by point
Form
A six-line question, answered by a matching six-line reply
Length
~30 seconds to read
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — direct in form, closing on a vivid image
Two registers, one verse
The first two answers use economic and travel metaphors; the remaining three return to this collection's recurring concern with desire
Why this discourse
This discourse's question mixes the practical and the psychological: what binds together the provisions needed for a journey, what functions as the vault holding one's wealth, what drags a person around, what is hardest to give up, and with what are ordinary beings bound, like birds caught in a snare? The answer names faith as what secures a journey's provisions, majesty as the vault of wealth, and desire as the answer to the remaining three questions in a row.
Reading guide
Faith as what binds provisions together
The image of faith (saddhā) as what ‘binds the provisions for a journey’ (pātheyyaṁ) treats faith as a practical necessity for travel, not merely an inner disposition — the thing that keeps everything needed for the road properly gathered and secure.
Majesty as a vault, not merely a display
Naming majesty or glory (yasa) as ‘the vault of wealth’ (kosaṁ) treats reputation itself as a form of stored value — something that holds and protects resources, rather than merely being visible or admired.
Three questions, one answer, repeated
Desire (icchā) answers the final three questions in immediate succession: it drags a person around, it is hardest to give up, and it is what binds ordinary beings. Unlike this discourse's more varied opening two answers, its closing three collapse into a single, repeated identification.
Birds in a snare, this collection's closing image for bondage
The verse's final simile — ordinary beings bound ‘like birds in a snare’ (sakuṇāva pāsena) — gives this collection's recurring concern with what binds the world (already met throughout the Addhavagga) its most visually concrete image yet: not an abstract fetter but a specific, familiar trap.
Key terms
pātheyya — “provisions for a journey” — this discourse's title, and the first item its riddle asks about.
saddhā pātheyyaṁ bandhati — “faith binds the provisions for a journey” — the first answer, treating faith as a practical necessity.
yaso kosaṁ — “majesty is the vault of wealth” — the second answer, treating reputation as a form of stored resource.
icchā naraṁ parikassati — “desire drags a person around” — the first of three consecutive answers naming desire.
sakuṇāva pāsena — “like birds in a snare” — the verse's closing simile for ordinary beings' bondage.
The text
The discourse in full: two practical metaphors, then desire named three times in succession, closing on a concrete image of bondage. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“What binds the provisions for a journey? What’s the vault of wealth? What drags a person around? What in the world is hard to give up? With what are ordinary beings bound, like birds in a snare?”
§2“Faith binds the provisions for a journey. Majesty is the vault of wealth. Desire drags a person around. Desire in the world is hard to give up. Ordinary beings are bound by desire, like birds in a snare.”
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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 five things does the opening question ask about?
Correct: A. Five related questions, two practical and three psychological.
Question 2 of 10
What does the reply name as what binds together a journey's provisions?
Correct: A. Treated as a practical necessity for travel, not merely an inner disposition.
Question 3 of 10
What does the reply name as the vault of wealth?
Correct: A. Reputation treated as a form of stored value.
Question 4 of 10
What single answer does the reply give to the final three questions?
Correct: A. A single identification repeated across three consecutive questions.
Question 5 of 10
What image closes the verse, describing ordinary beings' bondage?
Correct: A. A concrete, familiar image of a trap.
Question 6 of 10
How does this discourse's answer structure compare between its first two and last three questions?
Correct: A. A shift in structure partway through the verse.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'yaso kosaṁ' mean?
Correct: A. The second answer, treating reputation as stored resource.
Question 8 of 10
How does this discourse's closing image relate to this collection's earlier concern with bondage?
Correct: A. A specific trap rather than an abstract fetter, following the Addhavagga's abstract treatments.
Question 9 of 10
What is the setting of this discourse?
Correct: A. No setting is given directly.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'sakuṇāva pāsena' mean?
Correct: A. The verse's closing simile for ordinary beings' bondage by desire.
