Reading guide
The most rigidly systematic poem in this collection
No poem elsewhere in this collection sustains this level of structural repetition: twenty-four verses organized into twelve near-identical pairs, one pair for each of the six sense doors (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental phenomena), with only the specific sense-object word changing from pair to pair. The poem contains no personal narrative at all, joining this collection's small cluster of purely doctrinal verse (alongside Thag 10.5 and Thag 15.2).
Two exact mirror halves, one word apart
The first twelve verses (six pairs) each open ‘mindfulness is lost’, describe clinging arising, and close ‘you're said to be far from extinguishment’ (ārā nibbāna vuccati). The second twelve verses run the identical structure in reverse: ‘there's no desire’, mindful engagement without clinging, closing ‘you're said to be in the presence of extinguishment’ (santike nibbāna vuccati). The two halves differ by the smallest possible margin needed to invert their entire meaning.
A companion poem to Thag 6.5, matching a companion pair of suttas
This site's own Thag 6.5 already gives Māluṅkyaputta (1st) a poem linked to MN 63, The Shorter Discourse with Māluṅkya, the poisoned-arrow parable. This poem's own systematic sense-door teaching connects instead to MN 64, The Longer Discourse with Māluṅkya, where the Buddha teaches an aged Māluṅkyaputta to abandon the five lower fetters through exactly this kind of disciplined sense-engagement. MN 63 and MN 64 are themselves a matched short-and-long pair of suttas for the same figure — and this collection now holds a matched pair of poems mirroring them.
Wearing away rather than heaping up
The second half's own internal refrain names the mechanism directly: ‘khīyati nopacīyati’, ‘you wear away, you don't heap up’. Both halves describe the identical event — a sense contacted, a feeling arising — with the entire difference between suffering's growth and its erosion resting on whether mindfulness accompanies the contact.
Ideas treated as a sixth sense on equal footing
The final pair (verses eleven-twelve and twenty-three-twenty-four) extends the same treatment to ‘dhammā’, mental phenomena or ideas themselves, alongside the five physical senses — the mind's own objects subject to the identical dynamic of clinging or non-clinging as sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches.
Key terms
The text
§1When you see a sight, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.
§2Many feelings grow arising from sights. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.
§3When 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.
§4Many feelings grow arising from sounds. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.
§5When you smell an odor, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.
§6Many feelings grow arising from smells. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.
§7When you enjoy a taste, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.
§8Many feelings grow arising from tastes. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.
§9When you sense a touch, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.
§10Many feelings grow arising from touches. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.
§11When you know an idea, mindfulness is lost as you focus on a pleasant feature. Experiencing it with a mind full of desire, you keep clinging to it.
§12Many feelings grow arising from ideas. The mind is damaged by covetousness and cruelty. Heaping up suffering like this, you’re said to be far from extinguishment.
§13There’s no desire for sights when you see a sight with mindfulness. Experiencing it with a mind free of desire, you don’t keep clinging to it.
§14Even as you see a sight and undergo a feeling, you wear away, you don’t heap up: that’s how to live mindfully. Eroding suffering like this, you’re said to be in the presence of extinguishment.
§15There’s no desire for sounds when you hear a sound with mindfulness. Experiencing it with a mind free of desire, you don’t keep clinging to it.
§16Even as you hear a sound and undergo a feeling, you wear away, you don’t heap up: that’s how to live mindfully. Eroding suffering like this, you’re said to be in the presence of extinguishment.
§17There’s no desire for odors when you smell an odor with mindfulness. Experiencing it with a mind free of desire, you don’t keep clinging to it.
§18Even as you smell an odor and undergo a feeling, you wear away, you don’t heap up: that’s how to live mindfully. Eroding suffering like this, you’re said to be in the presence of extinguishment.
§19There’s no desire for tastes when you enjoy a taste with mindfulness. Experiencing it with a mind free of desire, you don’t keep clinging to it.
§20Even as you savor a taste and undergo a feeling, you wear away, you don’t heap up: that’s how to live mindfully. Eroding suffering like this, you’re said to be in the presence of extinguishment.
§21There’s no desire for touches when you sense a touch with mindfulness. Experiencing it with a mind free of desire, you don’t keep clinging to it.
§22Even as you sense a touch and get familiar with how it feels, you wear away, you don’t heap up: that’s how to live mindfully. Eroding suffering like this, you’re said to be in the presence of extinguishment.
§23There’s no desire for ideas when you know an idea with mindfulness. Experiencing it with a mind free of desire, you don’t keep clinging to it.
§24Even as you know an idea and get familiar with how it feels, you wear away, you don’t heap up: that’s how to live mindfully. Eroding suffering like this, you’re said to be in the presence of extinguishment.
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