Pilindavaccha — The Book of the Ones · Chapter One · Poem 9 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a short first-person verse with a closing attribution
Speaker
Pilindavaccha, speaking about his own experience of receiving good advice
Form
One four-line verse, with a closing attribution note
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
★☆☆☆☆ — understated gratitude, without a single simile
Why this text
After a run of third-person portraits built from stacked epithets, this verse returns to the first person: Pilindavaccha states simply that the advice he received was welcome and good, and that among well-explained teachings, he arrived at the best — gratitude for guidance, not an enumeration of attainment.
Reading guide
A return to the first person
Since Subhūti's opening hut verse, most poems in this chapter have described their subject from outside. This verse returns to ‘I’ — ‘the advice I got was good’, ‘I arrived at the best’ — the chapter's second first-person statement.
A double negative, stated plainly
The verse opens by saying the advice was ‘welcome, not unwelcome’ — stating the same idea twice, once positively and once by denying its opposite, before adding a third confirmation: ‘the advice I got was good’.
Gratitude for teaching, not a list of attainments
Unlike the neighboring verses' stacked epithets for personal attainment — content, victorious, steadfast — this verse's subject is entirely external: the quality of the teaching Pilindavaccha received, and his own good fortune in receiving it.
Key terms
svāgataṁ — “welcome” — the verse's opening word, describing the advice Pilindavaccha received.
durāgataṁ — “unwelcome” — negated in the same line as svāgataṁ, stating the same idea twice over.
dumantitaṁ — “badly advised” — also negated, a third confirmation that the advice he received was good.
saṁvibhattesu — “well-analyzed” or “well-classified” — describing the teachings among which he found the best.
seṭṭhaṁ — “the best” — what Pilindavaccha says he arrived at, closing the verse.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with its closing attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1It was welcome, not unwelcome, the advice I got was good. Of the well-explained teachings, I arrived at the best.
§2That is how this verse was recited by the senior venerable Pilindavaccha.
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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
In what voice is this verse written?
Correct: B. The chapter's second first-person statement.
Question 2 of 10
How does the verse describe the advice Pilindavaccha received?
Correct: D. Stated three ways: positively, then twice by denying its opposite.
Question 3 of 10
What structure does the verse's opening line use?
Correct: D. 'Welcome, not unwelcome' — the same claim made twice over.
Question 4 of 10
What does Pilindavaccha say he arrived at, among well-explained teachings?
Correct: A. The verse's closing claim.
Question 5 of 10
How does this verse's subject matter differ from several verses just before it?
Correct: A. Gratitude for guidance, not an enumeration of epithets.
Question 6 of 10
Does this verse use a simile, like Mahākoṭṭhita's gale-and-leaves or Bhalliya's flood-and-bridge?
Correct: B. A more understated, direct register than some neighboring verses.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'saṁvibhattesu' describe?
Correct: C. Describing the teachings among which Pilindavaccha found the best.
Question 8 of 10
How many distinct ways does the verse confirm that Pilindavaccha's advice was good?
Correct: C. A threefold confirmation packed into two lines.
Question 9 of 10
What closes this verse?
Correct: B. The same closing formula used across the collection.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall within Chapter One?
Correct: A. Second to last in the chapter's sequence of ten poems.
