Uttiya — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Ten · Poem 9 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; the same causal chain as the poem immediately before this one, at a different sense door
Speaker
An unnamed voice describing, in general terms, what happens to ‘one who’ attends to a pleasant sound
Form
One six-line verse, four lines shared word for word with Thag 1.98
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, an exact formulaic overlap
Why this text
This verse repeats Thag 1.98's entire causal chain almost word for word — lost mindfulness, desire, clinging, growing defilements — changing only the sense door involved: hearing a sound in place of seeing a sight, and ‘transmigration’ in place of ‘the root of rebirth’ in its final line.
Reading guide
The same chain, at a different sense door
Lines two through five of this verse — piyaṁ nimittaṁ manasikaroto, sārattacitto vedeti, tañca ajjhosa tiṭṭhati, tassa vaḍḍhanti āsavā — are word for word identical to Thag 1.98, the poem immediately before this one. Only two things differ: the opening line swaps rūpaṁ disvā (‘seeing a sight’) for saddaṁ sutvā (‘hearing a sound’), and the closing line swaps bhavamūlopagāmino (‘leading to the root of rebirth’) for saṁsāraṁ upagāmino (‘leading to transmigration’) — two near-synonymous endings for what is otherwise the identical chain.
A fragment of a longer sequence, most likely
The wider canon standardly analyzes experience through six sense doors — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Two consecutive poems differing only in which sense door is named suggests these may be surviving fragments of what was once a longer formulaic sequence, possibly covering more of the six. This reading guide treats that as a plausible inference, not something confirmed by any surviving comment or by the text itself, which gives no indication that further members of such a sequence ever existed here.
Uttiya, a third occurrence
This is the third elder in this collection to carry the name Uttiya, following two earlier occurrences, continuing the same disambiguation pattern already seen with Puṇṇa, Tissa, and Devasabha.
Key terms
sadda — “sound” — the sense object this verse substitutes for Thag 1.98's rūpa, ‘sight’.
piyaṁ nimittaṁ — “pleasant feature” — identical wording to Thag 1.98, describing what draws attention.
sārattacitta — “a mind full of desire” — identical wording to Thag 1.98's description of the mind's state.
saṁsāra — “transmigration, the cycle of rebirth” — this verse's closing term, in place of Thag 1.98's bhavamūla.
Uttiya — the name of the third elder in this collection to carry it, after two earlier occurrences.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1When you hear a sound, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it. Your defilements grow, leading to transmigration.
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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 sense door does this verse's opening line involve, in place of Thag 1.98's sight?
Correct: D. Saddaṁ sutvā, 'hearing a sound', replacing rūpaṁ disvā.
Question 2 of 10
How much of this verse's wording is identical to Thag 1.98?
Correct: D. Only the opening and closing lines differ.
Question 3 of 10
What does this verse's closing line say, in place of Thag 1.98's 'the root of rebirth'?
Correct: A. Saṁsāraṁ upagāmino, a near-synonymous ending.
Question 4 of 10
What does this reading guide suggest these two consecutive poems may represent?
Correct: B. A plausible inference, not confirmed by any surviving comment.
Question 5 of 10
How many sense doors does the wider canon standardly analyze experience through?
Correct: C. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'sadda' mean?
Correct: A. The sense object this verse's opening line names.
Question 7 of 10
How many elders in this collection have now carried the name Uttiya, including this one?
Correct: C. The same disambiguation pattern already seen with Puṇṇa, Tissa, and Devasabha.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'sārattacitta' mean?
Correct: B. Identical wording to Thag 1.98's description of the mind's state.
Question 9 of 10
Does this verse's grammar use an explicit second-person pronoun, the way Sujato's English translation reads?
Correct: A. The same grammatical pattern noted in Thag 1.98.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Ten?
Correct: D. Immediately after Abhaya's verse, and immediately before the chapter's close.
