Kumāputtasahāyaka — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Four · Poem 7 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a warning about undisciplined wandering, then direct advice
Speaker
Kumāputta's companion, named only through his relationship to Kumāputta
Form
One six-line verse
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 warning followed directly by its own prescribed remedy
Why this text
Placed directly after Kumāputta's own verse, this poem belongs to a monk named only as his companion. Its warning — undisciplined wandering that loses meditation — is followed at once by a remedy: ‘dispel aggression, practicing absorption undistracted’.
Reading guide
A name built entirely from relationship
Kumāputtasahāyaka means, literally, ‘Kumāputta's companion’ — this monk carries no independent name of his own in this collection, placed directly after Kumāputta's own verse as a linked pair.
A warning echoing this project's earlier cautionary verse
Like Dāsaka's verse in Chapter Two, this poem criticizes a failing rather than praising an attainment — here, undisciplined wandering ‘to different countries’ that ends in losing meditation altogether, asking pointedly what such conduct could possibly achieve.
From warning to remedy, within the same verse
Unlike Dāsaka's verse, which ends on the warning itself, this one moves directly to a prescribed response: ‘dispel aggression, practicing absorption undistracted’ — the failing named, then immediately answered.
Key terms
nānājanapada — “various countries” — where the verse says undisciplined wanderers travel.
asaññata — “undisciplined” or “unrestrained” — describing this wandering.
samādhi — “immersion” or meditative concentration — what such wandering is said to lose.
sārambha — “aggression” or vehemence — what the verse's remedy instructs dispelling.
apurakkhata — “undistracted” — describing how absorption should be practiced, per this verse's closing instruction.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Some travel to different countries, wandering undisciplined. If they lose their meditation, what will such rotten conduct achieve? So you should dispel aggression, practicing absorption undistracted.
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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
How does Kumāputtasahāyaka get his own name?
Correct: C. No independent name of his own in this collection.
Question 2 of 10
What does the verse criticize?
Correct: C. A warning against a specific failing.
Question 3 of 10
How does this verse compare to Dāsaka's cautionary verse in Chapter Two?
Correct: B. A shared cautionary mode, extended further here.
Question 4 of 10
What remedy does the verse prescribe?
Correct: D. The verse's closing instruction.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'asaññata' mean?
Correct: A. Describing the wandering this verse criticizes.
Question 6 of 10
What does the verse say such undisciplined wandering causes someone to lose?
Correct: B. Named directly as the consequence of this failing.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'sārambha' mean?
Correct: A. What the verse's remedy instructs dispelling.
Question 8 of 10
Does this verse stay only at the level of criticism, or move to instruction?
Correct: B. Warning followed immediately by a stated response.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'samādhi' mean?
Correct: A. What undisciplined wandering is said to cause someone to lose.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Four?
Correct: D. Continuing the chapter's sequence of ten poems.
