Visākhapañcālaputta — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Five · Poem 5 of 9
Setting
Formal guidance on conduct within the Saṅgha, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Visākhapañcālaputta, instructing on communal ethics
Form
Two four-line verses — prohibitions on conduct toward fellow monastics, then the ground for reaching extinguishment
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
★★☆☆☆ — formal vocabulary rooted in monastic procedure
Why this text
Where most poems in this collection describe an individual path, Visākhapañcālaputta gives explicit guidance on conduct toward fellow monastics — rooted, Sujato's comment notes, in specific Vinaya procedures — before closing on how subtle insight and mature ethics make extinguishment not hard to reach.
Reading guide
Communal ethics, not individual attainment
The first verse is a list of prohibitions addressed to the Saṅgha's own conduct: don't suspend others from the community, don't raise objections against them, don't disparage or raise one's voice against one who has crossed to the far shore, don't praise oneself among the assemblies — be measured in speech and true to one's vows. This is a different register from most of this collection's individual declarations, closer in spirit to Thag 1.34 and 1.58's concerns with monastic decorum, though those poems address conduct toward visiting laywomen rather than conduct within the Saṅgha itself.
Formal Vinaya procedure, named by the comment
Sujato's comment on the poem's opening line states plainly: ‘this refers to specific procedures of Vinaya’. The word translated ‘suspend’ (ukkhipe) names a formal disciplinary act removing a monk's standing in the community for specific offenses — not a general call to be nice to one another, but a pointed instruction about a real monastic procedure.
Even the far-gone are not to be disparaged
The first verse's prohibition extends to one who has ‘crossed to the further shore’ (pāragataṁ), a standing epithet for an arahant — implying that restraint in speech applies regardless of another person's attainment, not only toward the ordinary or the struggling.
A name, abbreviated in this chapter's own uddāna
Visākhapañcālaputta, ‘Visākha, son of Pañcāla’, named by paternal lineage in full here, is later abbreviated to simply ‘Visākha’ in this chapter's own closing uddāna — the same kind of abbreviation this collection has already found in Chapter Four, where Sambulakaccāna became simply Kaccāna.
Key terms
ukkhipe — “suspend [from the Saṅgha]” — a formal Vinaya procedure, according to Sujato's comment.
pāragataṁ — “one who has crossed to the further shore” — a standing epithet for an arahant.
cattavaṇṇaṁ...byāhare — “praise oneself among the assemblies” — the conduct prohibited in the first verse's closing line.
susukhumanipuṇatthadassinā — “seeing a meaning so subtle and fine” — describing the insight named in the second verse.
matikusalena — “skilled in thought” — one of the qualities the second verse names as making extinguishment not hard to reach.
The text
The text in full: two verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1One should not suspend others from the Saṅgha, nor raise objections against them; and neither disparage nor raise one’s voice against one who has crossed to the further shore. One should not praise oneself among the assemblies, not restless, measured in speech, and true to your vows.
§2For one who sees the meaning so very subtle and fine, who is skilled in thought and placid in manner, who has cultivated mature ethics—it’s not hard to gain extinguishment.
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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 address, unlike most poems in this collection?
Correct: B. A different register from most of this book's individual declarations.
Question 2 of 10
What does Sujato's comment say about the opening line?
Correct: A. Ukkhipe names a formal disciplinary act.
Question 3 of 10
Who does the first verse say should not be disparaged, even by implication?
Correct: C. Pāragataṁ — restraint applies regardless of attainment.
Question 4 of 10
What does the second verse say makes extinguishment not hard to reach?
Correct: D. Susukhumanipuṇatthadassinā, matikusalena, saṁsevitavuddhasīlinā.
Question 5 of 10
How is this poem's speaker abbreviated in Chapter Five's own closing uddāna?
Correct: C. The same kind of abbreviation as Sambulakaccāna becoming Kaccāna in Chapter Four.
Question 6 of 10
What earlier poems address monastic decorum, though toward a different audience?
Correct: A. This poem's concern is conduct within the Saṅgha itself.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'pāragataṁ' mean?
Correct: B. A standing epithet for an arahant.
Question 8 of 10
What is prohibited regarding self-praise?
Correct: D. Na cattavaṇṇaṁ parisāsu byāhare.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'ukkhipe' name?
Correct: B. Confirmed as a Vinaya procedure by Sujato's comment.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Five?
Correct: C. Following Kassapa the Prince, Dhammapāla, Brahmāli, and Mogharāja.
