Sānu — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Five · Poem 4 of 10
Setting
A conversation between Sānu and his weeping mother
Speaker
Sānu, addressing his mother directly by name in every line
Form
One four-line verse, a question left unanswered here
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 moment of genuine confusion, not yet resolved within the verse itself
Why this text
‘Mum, they weep for the dead, or for one who's alive but missing. I'm alive and you can see me, so mum, why do you weep for me?’ This exact question appears, word for word, within a fuller story already translated on this site: SN 10.5, With Sānu — where his mother's answer follows.
Reading guide
This verse's fuller context, already on this site
SN 10.5 tells Sānu's complete story: possessed by a spirit as a child, his mother's grief and recovery prayer, his eventual recovery — and, at that story's own §5, this exact verse, followed by his mother's answer at §6, redefining what ‘alive’ and ‘dead’ actually mean.
'Mum', repeated in every single line
Amma, ‘mum’, appears in all four lines of this verse — not once at the opening and assumed afterward, but insistently repeated, structuring the entire verse around the address itself.
A question, not an answer
This Theragātha verse preserves only Sānu's side — his confusion at being wept over while plainly alive. His mother's reply, which SN 10.5 records separately, does not appear here at all.
A rare moment of unresolved bewilderment
Where most verses in this collection declare an attainment, confront Māra, or express ecstatic freedom, this one captures a moment before resolution — Sānu genuinely does not yet understand his mother's grief, and the verse ends without him understanding it.
Key terms
amma — “mum” — repeated in every one of this verse's four lines.
mata — “dead” — the first reason Sānu names for why people weep.
rodati — “weeps” or “cries” — the action Sānu questions his mother about.
jīva — “alive” — the state Sānu insists he is plainly in.
dissati — “is seen” or “visible” — used in this verse to describe someone missing, not seen.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Mum, they weep for the dead, or for one who’s alive but missing. I’m alive and you can see me, so mum, why do you weep for me?
· · ·
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
Where else on this site does this exact verse appear, in fuller context?
Correct: A. The same story, told at greater length elsewhere on this site.
Question 2 of 10
How many of this verse's four lines address 'mum' (amma) directly?
Correct: C. An insistent, repeated address structuring the whole verse.
Question 3 of 10
What two reasons does Sānu say people usually weep, according to the verse?
Correct: D. The premise behind Sānu's confused question.
Question 4 of 10
Does this Theragātha verse include the mother's answer to Sānu's question?
Correct: D. Her reply is recorded separately, at SN 10.5's §6.
Question 5 of 10
According to SN 10.5, what does the mother's fuller answer redefine?
Correct: B. Her answer, found elsewhere on this site, not in this verse.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'amma' mean?
Correct: A. Repeated in every line of this verse.
Question 7 of 10
How does this verse's emotional register compare to most other poems in this collection?
Correct: B. Genuine bewilderment, preserved without its answer.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'jīva' mean?
Correct: B. The state Sānu insists he is plainly in.
Question 9 of 10
What background does SN 10.5 provide for this cryptic saying, according to the site's own reading guide for that discourse?
Correct: A. The fuller narrative context for this exact verse.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Five?
Correct: C. Continuing the chapter's sequence of ten poems.
