Sivaka — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Four · Poem 2 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a four-line verse followed by an extended six-line verse, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Sivaka, confronting the house-builder directly
Form
A four-line verse naming the search, then a six-line verse of direct address and triumph
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 vivid architectural confrontation, echoing one of the tradition's most famous images
Why this text
Sivaka searches for the ‘house-builder’ who keeps constructing impermanent houses, life after painful life — then confronts it directly: ‘I've seen you, house-builder! You won't build a house again’, its rafters broken, its ridgepole shattered, closing on a mind without boundaries that will dissipate in this very life.
Reading guide
Houses, impermanent, again and again
The first verse states the search plainly: houses are impermanent, rebuilt ‘on and on, life after life’, and Sivaka has been searching for the ‘house-builder’ responsible — birth itself, painful, recurring.
A direct confrontation, and a shattered structure
The extended second verse turns from search to confrontation: ‘I've seen you, house-builder! You won't build a house again’, followed by a structural inventory of the demolition — rafters all broken, ridgepole shattered — closing on a mind ‘without boundaries’ that ‘in this very life... will dissipate’.
Echoing the Dhammapada's most celebrated verses, in part
This site's own Dhammapada page for verses 153–154 describes them as traditionally recited as the Buddha's own exultant cry on the night of his awakening: ‘I've seen you, house-builder! You won't build a house again! Your rafters are all broken’. This poem shares that core declaration closely, but diverges afterward — where Dhp 154 closes on ‘the mind, set on demolition, has reached the end of cravings’, this poem instead pictures a ‘ridgepole shattered’ and a mind ‘without boundaries’ that will ‘dissipate’, different words for a related but not identical closing image.
A second, different point of contact with the same verses
This project has already noted one connection to Dhp 153–154, at Thag 1.78 (Meṇḍasira), which shares that pair's opening two lines before diverging completely. This poem instead shares the pair's central triumphant declaration — ‘I've seen you, house-builder!’ — a different portion of the same famous passage, touched by this project's work a second time from a different angle.
Key terms
gahakāraka — “house-builder” — this poem's central figure, ultimately a name for craving itself.
dukkhā jāti punappunaṁ — “painful is birth again and again” — the consequence of the house-builder's repeated work.
phāsukā — “rafters” — part of the structural inventory of the house-builder's demolished work.
thūṇikā — “ridgepole” — the second structural element named as shattered.
vimariyādikataṁ cittaṁ — “mind without boundaries” — this poem's own closing image, distinct from the Dhammapada's ‘mind set on demolition’.
The text
The text in full: a four-line verse followed by a six-line verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Houses are impermanent—on and on, life after life. I’ve been searching for the house-builder—painful is birth again and again.
§2I’ve seen you, house-builder! You won’t build a house again. Your rafters are all broken, your ridgepole is shattered. My mind is without boundaries: in this very life it will dissipate.
· · ·
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 the first verse say about houses?
Correct: C. The search Sivaka has been conducting, opening the poem.
Question 2 of 10
What does the second verse's opening line declare?
Correct: D. A direct, triumphant confrontation.
Question 3 of 10
What structural elements does the second verse say are broken?
Correct: A. A structural inventory of the house-builder's demolished work.
Question 4 of 10
How does this poem's closing image compare to Dhammapada 154's?
Correct: C. Related but distinct phrasing for the poem's final turn.
Question 5 of 10
How does this site's own Dhammapada page describe verses 153-154?
Correct: D. Among the Dhammapada's most celebrated verses.
Question 6 of 10
Which portion of Dhp 153-154 does this poem share, compared to Thag 1.78's earlier connection?
Correct: C. Two different points of contact with the same famous passage.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'gahakāraka' ultimately name, according to the tradition?
Correct: D. The house as repeatedly constructed body and identity; the house-builder as the force behind it.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'phāsukā' mean?
Correct: A. Part of the demolished structure's inventory.
Question 9 of 10
How long is this poem's second verse, compared to the book's usual four-line unit?
Correct: B. An extension in the second verse, unlike several Chapter Two poems whose extensions fell in the first verse.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Four?
Correct: B. Following Migasira, the chapter's opener.
