Upavāṇa — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Four · Poem 3 of 10
Setting
A request made to a brahmin, on behalf of an ailing Buddha
Speaker
Upavāṇa, caring for the Buddha's physical illness
Form
Two four-line verses — a request, then its reason
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 plain, practical request, richly titled
Why this text
Upavāṇa asks a brahmin directly for hot water — the Buddha, ‘the perfected one, the Holy One in the world’, is ‘afflicted by winds’ — then explains why he wishes to bring it himself: to serve the one esteemed, honored, and venerated by the estimable, the honorable, and the venerable.
Reading guide
A stack of titles, for a practical need
The first verse piles up formal epithets for the Buddha — ‘the perfected one’, ‘the Holy One in the world’, ‘the sage’ — before naming something entirely physical and ordinary: he is ‘afflicted by winds’, and needs hot water.
Reverence, doubled and doubled again
The second verse explains the request's motive with a cascading structure: ‘esteemed by the estimable’, ‘honored by the honorable’, ‘venerated by the venerable’ — the same grammatical pattern repeated three times, building reverence through repetition rather than escalation.
Upavāṇa, the Buddha's attendant elsewhere on this site
This site's own DN 16, the account of the Buddha's final days, describes Venerable Upavāṇa as ‘the Buddha's attendant for a long time, close to him, living in his presence’ — standing before him fanning him until asked to move aside so gathered deities could see the Realized One in his final hour. That passage doesn't narrate this poem's specific scene, but it independently confirms Upavāṇa's established role as the Buddha's own physical caregiver, matching this poem's content closely.
Key terms
arahaṁ sugato — “the perfected one, the Holy One” — the opening pair of epithets for the Buddha.
vātehābādhiko — “afflicted by winds” — the Buddha's physical condition, stated plainly amid the formal titles.
uṇhodakaṁ — “hot water” — the practical request opening the poem.
pūjito pūjaneyyānaṁ — “esteemed by the estimable” — the first of three parallel phrases explaining the request's motive.
apacito paceyyānaṁ — “venerated by the venerable” — the third and final phrase in that repeated pattern.
The text
The text in full: two verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1The perfected one, the Holy One in the world, the sage is afflicted by winds. If there’s hot water, give it to the sage, brahmin.
§2I wish to bring it to the one who is esteemed by the estimable, honored by the honorable, and venerated by the venerable.
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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 does the first verse say the Buddha is afflicted by?
Correct: A. A physical, ordinary condition, named amid formal titles.
Question 2 of 10
What does Upavāṇa ask the brahmin for?
Correct: C. A practical, immediate request opening the poem.
Question 3 of 10
What structure does the second verse's explanation use?
Correct: B. Esteemed by the estimable, honored by the honorable, venerated by the venerable.
Question 4 of 10
What does this site's own DN 16 say about Upavāṇa?
Correct: B. An independent confirmation of his established caregiving role.
Question 5 of 10
Does DN 16 narrate this poem's specific hot-water scene?
Correct: D. A supporting context, not a direct textual match.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'vātehābādhiko' mean?
Correct: C. The Buddha's stated condition in this poem.
Question 7 of 10
What happens to Upavāṇa in DN 16's account of the Buddha's final hour?
Correct: D. A vivid detail from that site's own account.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'uṇhodakaṁ' mean?
Correct: D. What Upavāṇa requests from the brahmin.
Question 9 of 10
What kind of titles open this poem's first verse?
Correct: A. The perfected one, the Holy One, the sage.
