Uttara — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Three · Poem 1 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; two four-line verses, without a translated attribution, opening Chapter Three
Speaker
Uttara, declaring his own attainment
Form
Two four-line verses — a declaration, then its restatement as a completed process
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
★☆☆☆☆ — a compact, doctrinally dense declaration
Why this text
Uttara opens Chapter Three declaring the aggregates fully understood, craving eradicated, the factors of awakening developed, and defilements ended — then restates the same attainment a second time, adding the image of ‘plucking out the weaver of the web’.
Reading guide
A fourfold declaration, then its own restatement
The first verse states four completed achievements in sequence: the aggregates understood, craving eradicated, the factors of awakening developed, defilements ended. The second verse doesn't move on to new material — it restates the same declaration, in nearly the same words, framing it now as a completed process leading to a stated future: ‘I will be fully extinguished’.
A new image: the weaver of the web
Where the first verse spoke of craving being ‘eradicated’ in the abstract, the second verse supplies an image: ‘having plucked out the weaver of the web’, jāliniṁ — craving personified as the one who weaves the net a person is caught in, now pulled out by the root.
Second Uttara, completing a same-book pair
This is the second of two monks named Uttara in the Book of the Twos, following Uttara (1st) at Thag 2.1, which opened Chapter One. Both poems close with a declaration of full attainment, though this one adds the weaver-of-the-web image absent from the first.
Key terms
khandhā — “aggregates” — what the first verse says has been fully understood, opening the declaration.
susamūhatā — “thoroughly eradicated” — describing craving's removal in the first verse.
bojjhaṅgā — “factors of awakening” — developed according to both verses, framing the practice underlying the declaration.
jāliniṁ — “the weaver of the web”, a personification of craving — the second verse's central image, plucked out by the root.
nibbāyissaṁ — “I will be fully extinguished” — the poem's closing statement, framed as a stated future rather than an already-completed event.
The text
The text in full: two verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1I’ve fully understood the aggregates; I’ve eradicated craving; I’ve developed the factors of awakening, I’ve attained the ending of defilements.
§2Having fully understood the aggregates, having plucked out the weaver of the web, having developed the factors of awakening, being undefiled, I will be fully extinguished.
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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 four things does the first verse declare completed?
Correct: C. A fourfold declaration opening the poem.
Question 2 of 10
How does the second verse relate to the first?
Correct: C. The same attainment, restated with a new image and framing.
Question 3 of 10
What does 'jāliniṁ' refer to?
Correct: C. The second verse's central image, plucked out by the root.
Question 4 of 10
How does this poem's closing line frame extinguishment?
Correct: D. A forward-looking statement, distinct from many retrospective declarations elsewhere.
Question 5 of 10
How many monks named Uttara appear in the Book of the Twos?
Correct: D. Uttara (1st) opened Chapter One; this is Uttara (2nd), opening Chapter Three.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'bojjhaṅgā' mean?
Correct: D. Developed according to both verses of this poem.
Question 7 of 10
What is distinctive about the second verse's image, compared to the first verse's abstract statement?
Correct: B. Abstraction given a concrete figure.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'khandhā' mean?
Correct: A. What the first verse says has been fully understood.
Question 9 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Book of the Twos?
Correct: B. Opening the book's third chapter, following Chapter Two's ten poems.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'susamūhatā' describe?
Correct: A. The first verse's account of craving's removal.
