Kappaṭakura — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Four · Poem 10 of 10
Setting
In the midst of the Saṅgha, addressed to a monk nodding off, closing Chapter Four
Speaker
Kappaṭakura, threatening and teaching a drowsy companion
Form
Two four-line verses — a teaching poured out, then a playful threat — followed by the chapter's own untranslated structural close
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
★★☆☆☆ — wordplay and mock threat, closing the chapter on a lighter note
Why this text
Kappaṭakura opens by punning on his own nickname — ‘Rag’ — then describes sufficient teaching poured into ‘the vase of freedom from death’ and a path laid out for absorption, before turning to threaten a companion, also called ‘Rag’, caught nodding off in the middle of the Saṅgha — closing Chapter Four, whose own uddāna departs from both earlier closing patterns in this book.
Reading guide
A name, punned on at the very start
The poem opens by playing on its own speaker's nickname: ‘this chap, ‘Rag-rice’, he sure is a rag!’ — Kappaṭakura's name itself built from kappaṭa, ‘rag’, turned into a joke before the verse moves on to anything else.
Teaching poured, a path laid out
The rest of the first verse shifts into a different register: sufficient teaching has been ‘poured into the vase of freedom from death’, and ‘the path to build up absorptions has been laid out’ — formal, doctrinal language sitting right beside the opening's wordplay.
A threat, playfully delivered
The second verse addresses ‘Rag’ directly — whether the same person addressing himself, or a second monk who shares the nickname, the poem doesn't specify — warning ‘don't nod off’, threatening a smack on the ear, and naming the offense bluntly: ‘nodding off in the midst of the Saṅgha’.
A chapter's own closing line, left untranslated
Immediately after this poem, the Pali carries vaggo catuttho, ‘the fourth chapter is finished’, followed by this chapter's own uddāna, naming all ten monks in sequence: Migasira, Sivaka, Upavāṇa (here called ‘paṇḍito’, the wise), Isidinna, Kaccāna (an abbreviation of Sambulakaccāna), Nitaka (here called ‘mahāvasī’, of great mastery), Poṭiriyaputto (an abbreviation of Soṇapoṭiriya), Nisabha, Usabha, and Kappaṭakura — closing with neither Chapter One and Two's collective ‘dasa therā mahiddhikā’ nor Chapter Three's single epithet for the last name alone, but two individual epithets scattered mid-list and no epithet at all on the closing names. A third distinct closing pattern in four chapters, confirming that each chapter's uddāna truly does need separate checking.
Key terms
kappaṭo — “rag” — the root of the speaker's own nickname, punned on in the poem's opening line.
amataghaṭikāyaṁ — “into the vase of freedom from death” — the image for where sufficient teaching has been poured.
jhānāni ocetuṁ — “to build up absorptions” — the practice the first verse says a path has been laid out for.
pacālesi — “nod off” — the offense the second verse warns against.
vaggo — “chapter” — the structural unit this poem closes, marked in the untranslated Pali colophon ‘vaggo catuttho’, ‘the fourth chapter is finished’.
The text
The text in full: two verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1This chap, “Rag-rice”, he sure is a rag! Into the vase of freedom from death, polished and overflowing, sufficient teaching has been poured; the path to build up absorptions has been laid out.
§2Don’t nod off, Rag—I’ll smack your ear! You know no limit, nodding off in the midst of the Saṅgha!
· · ·
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 poem's opening line play on?
Correct: A. Kappaṭakura built from kappaṭa, 'rag'.
Question 2 of 10
What image does the first verse use for teaching received?
Correct: C. Formal, doctrinal language beside the opening's wordplay.
Question 3 of 10
What does the second verse warn 'Rag' against?
Correct: D. A named offense, threatened with a playful smack.
Question 4 of 10
What Pali phrase, left untranslated by Sujato, immediately follows this poem?
Correct: B. The same kind of structural colophon closing each chapter so far.
Question 5 of 10
How does this chapter's closing uddāna differ from Chapter One, Two, and Three's?
Correct: B. A third distinct pattern in four chapters.
Question 6 of 10
What epithet does this chapter's uddāna give Upavāṇa?
Correct: C. One of two epithets placed mid-list rather than at the close.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'jhānāni ocetuṁ' mean?
Correct: D. The practice a path has been laid out for.
Question 8 of 10
Is the chapter's mnemonic verse included in this page's text?
Correct: A. Consistent with how this site handles untranslated structural material.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'kappaṭo' mean?
Correct: D. The root of the speaker's own punned nickname.
Question 10 of 10
How many poems make up Chapter Four of the Book of the Twos?
Correct: B. Migasira through Kappaṭakura, named in sequence in the untranslated uddāna.
