Samitigutta — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Nine · Poem 1 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a general reflection on where remaining karma will ripen
Speaker
Samitigutta, in the first person
Form
One four-line verse, a single claim
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
★★☆☆☆ — plain vocabulary, one doctrinal implication
Why this text
Chapter Nine opens with a claim that makes sense specifically for someone who has ended future rebirth: whatever bad deeds remain from past lives, Samitigutta says, will be experienced ‘right here’, in this very existence — ‘not in any other place’.
Reading guide
Karma with nowhere left to go
For someone still bound for future rebirths, unripened karma can, in principle, follow across many lives to come. But for one who has ended rebirth — an arahant in his final existence — there is no ‘next place’ for any leftover karma to travel to. Whatever remains must work itself out within this one life, because this life is the only one left. Read this way, the verse's claim is less a general doctrine about how karma works for everyone than a specific consequence of Samitigutta's own situation: having no more lives ahead of him, this life is where everything left over has to land.
A name this reading guide doesn't press
Samitigutta's name could plausibly connect to samita (‘calmed, pacified’) or to samiti (‘assembly, gathering’), with gutta (‘protected, guarded’) as its second element either way. Given the ambiguity, this reading guide does not assert which sense the name draws on.
Opening a chapter with no comments to draw on
None of the ten poems in Chapter Nine have a surviving Sujato comment to work from, unlike some earlier chapters. This reading guide relies more heavily here on the verses' own wording, cross-references within the collection, and well-known background where it applies cleanly — and is correspondingly more cautious about anything the text itself doesn't settle.
Key terms
pāpa — “bad, evil” — describing the deeds this verse says remain to be experienced.
vedanīya — “to be experienced, to be felt” — a gerundive form, describing karma still awaiting its result.
idheva — “right here” — idha (‘here’) plus eva (‘indeed, precisely’), emphasizing this very existence.
vatthu — “place, ground, basis” — what the verse says there is no other of, for this karma to ripen in.
Samitigutta — a name this reading guide does not confidently gloss, given ambiguity between two possible first elements.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Any bad things I’ve done in previous lives, are to be experienced right here, not in any other place.
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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 this verse say about bad deeds from previous lives?
Correct: A. Idheva taṁ vedanīyaṁ, vatthu aññaṁ na vijjatī, the verse's core claim.
Question 2 of 10
According to this reading guide, why might this claim make particular sense for an arahant in his final life?
Correct: D. A specific consequence of having no more lives ahead, not a universal claim about karma for everyone.
Question 3 of 10
Does this reading guide confidently explain the meaning of Samitigutta's name?
Correct: C. Ambiguity between samita ('calmed') and samiti ('assembly') as the name's first element.
Question 4 of 10
What does 'idheva' mean?
Correct: A. Idha ('here') plus eva ('indeed'), emphasizing this very existence.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'vatthu' mean?
Correct: B. What the verse says there is no other of, for karma to ripen in.
Question 6 of 10
How many of Chapter Nine's ten poems have a surviving Sujato comment, according to this reading guide?
Correct: C. This chapter relies more heavily on the verses' own wording and cross-references.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'pāpa' mean?
Correct: C. Describing the deeds this verse addresses.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'vedanīya' describe?
Correct: A. A gerundive form of the verb 'to feel, to experience'.
Question 9 of 10
Is this verse's claim presented as a general doctrine about how karma works for everyone, according to this reading guide?
Correct: D. A reading tied to having no more future lives ahead, not a universal claim.
Question 10 of 10
What chapter does this poem open?
Correct: B. The first of ten poems in this new chapter.
