Vimalakoṇñañña — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Seven · Poem 4 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a dense, symbol-laden verse about origin and destruction
Speaker
Vimalakoṇḍañña, describing his birth and an act of destruction in riddling epithets
Form
One four-line verse, built around the word ‘banner’ repeated four times
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
★★★☆☆ — densely metaphorical, and genuinely opaque in places
Why this text
This verse states that Vimalakoṇḍañña ‘arose from the one named after a tree’ and was ‘born of the one whose banner shines’, then closes with a riddling line: ‘the banner killer has destroyed the great banner, by means of the banner itself’. The word ‘banner’, ketu, appears four times in four lines, and this reading guide does not claim to fully untangle what each occurrence refers to.
Reading guide
A verse built on one recurring word
Ketu, ‘banner’, threads through all four lines of this verse in different forms — paṇḍaraketunā (‘by the one whose banner is pale’), ketuhā (‘banner killer’), ketunā (‘by the banner’), and mahāketuṁ (‘the great banner’) — a formal density unlike anything else in this chapter so far.
Parentage described in epithets, not names
The verse's first half describes Vimalakoṇḍañña's birth through two epithets — ‘the one named after a tree’ and ‘the one whose banner shines’ — rather than naming his parents outright. Whether these epithets name his actual mother and father, or point to something else entirely, is not something this reading guide resolves.
A closing riddle this guide presents without forcing a reading
‘The banner killer has destroyed the great banner, by means of the banner itself’ reads as a deliberate paradox — something is undone using its own instrument. No Sujato comment survives for this verse to anchor a specific interpretation, so this guide presents the line as written, in full recognition of its opacity, rather than supplying a confident paraphrase.
A clan name shared with the founding elder Koṇḍañña
Koṇḍañña is also the clan name of Aññā Koṇḍañña, traditionally remembered as the first of the Buddha's disciples to attain stream-entry, at the first sermon alongside Vappa, who opened this chapter. Whether Vimalakoṇḍañña was related to that elder, this reading guide does not assert — only that the clan name recurs within a few poems of each other in this same chapter.
Key terms
ketu — “banner” — the word this entire verse is built around, appearing in four different forms across its four lines.
dumavhayā — “named after a tree” — the epithet given for the one Vimalakoṇḍañña says he ‘arose from’.
paṇḍaraketu — “pale-” or “white-banner” — the epithet for the one he says he was ‘born of’.
ketuhā — “banner killer” — the agent of this verse's closing, paradoxical act.
Koṇñañña — a clan name shared with Aññā Koṇñañña, traditionally the first of the Buddha's disciples to attain stream-entry.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1I arose from the one named after a tree; I was born of the one whose banner shines. The banner killer has destroyed the great banner, by means of the banner itself.
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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 word appears four times, in different forms, across this verse's four lines?
Correct: A. A formal density unlike anything else in this chapter so far.
Question 2 of 10
How does the verse describe Vimalakoṇḍañña's parentage?
Correct: B. Riddling description rather than direct naming.
Question 3 of 10
What does the verse's closing line describe?
Correct: C. A deliberate paradox — something undone using its own instrument.
Question 4 of 10
According to this reading guide, does a surviving Sujato comment resolve this verse's riddling imagery?
Correct: B. The line is presented as written, with its opacity acknowledged.
Question 5 of 10
What clan name does Vimalakoṇḍañña share with a founding figure of the early Saṅgha?
Correct: C. Shared with Aññā Koṇḍañña, traditionally the first to attain stream-entry.
Question 6 of 10
What earlier poem in this chapter also names a member of the traditional group of five ascetics?
Correct: A. Vappa is also the name of one of the group of five.
Question 7 of 10
According to this reading guide, does it assert that Vimalakoṇḍañña was related to the elder Koṇḍañña?
Correct: B. A careful, non-committal note rather than a claimed relationship.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'dumavhayā' mean?
Correct: D. The epithet for the one Vimalakoṇḍañña 'arose from'.
Question 9 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Seven?
Correct: C. Poem 4 of 10.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'ketuhā' mean?
Correct: D. The agent of this verse's closing, paradoxical act.
