Sāṭimattiya — The Book of the Threes · Chapter One · Poem 10 of 16
Setting
A direct address to someone whose faith has faded, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Sāṭimattiya, answering a lost supporter with equanimity
Form
Three four-line verses — a response, a philosophical reflection, and a practical resolve
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
★☆☆☆☆ — plain vocabulary, a composed response to rejection
Why this text
‘In the past you had faith, today you have none,’ Sāṭimattiya says to someone directly — answering not with hurt but with a plain observation: faith itself is impermanent and fickle, so why would a sage waste away over its loss? He'll simply walk for alms elsewhere, ‘for my legs are strong’.
Reading guide
Addressed to someone who has changed
The poem opens in direct second person: ‘in the past you had faith, today you have none’. Unlike most of this collection's declarations, this poem is explicitly a reply — not to mockery, as in Thag 2.44 or Thag 3.6, but to the quieter loss of a supporter's confidence. ‘What's yours is yours alone — I've done nothing wrong,’ Sāṭimattiya answers, refusing to accept blame for someone else's change of heart.
Faith itself, named as impermanent
The second verse generalizes the point into doctrine: ‘faith is impermanent, fickle: or so I have seen’, and ‘passions wax and wane’ — concluding that a sage has no reason to ‘waste away’ over such a natural fluctuation. The lost supporter's faith is folded into the same impermanence that governs everything else.
A practical resolve, not a plea
The third verse turns away from the relationship entirely: ‘the meal of a sage is cooked bit by bit in this family or that’ — he depends on no single household — and closes on a plain, almost cheerful note: ‘I'll walk for alms, for my legs are strong’. No appeal is made to restore the lost faith; the poem simply moves on.
Key terms
ahu tuyhaṁ pure saddhā — “in the past you had faith” — the poem's direct opening address.
natthi duccaritaṁ mama — “I've done nothing wrong” — the reply's refusal to accept blame.
aniccā hi calā saddhā — “faith is impermanent, fickle” — the doctrinal generalization of the second verse.
rajjantipi virajjanti — “passions wax and wane” — the natural fluctuation the poem folds this loss of faith into.
jaṅghabalaṁ — “strength of legs” — the practical, almost cheerful note closing the poem.
The text
The text in full: three verses, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1In the past you had faith, today you have none. What’s yours is yours alone—I’ve done nothing wrong.
§2Faith is impermanent, fickle: or so I have seen. Passions wax and wane: why would a sage waste away on that account?
§3The meal of a sage is cooked bit by bit in this family or that. I’ll walk for alms, for my legs are strong.
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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
How does the poem open?
Correct: C. A reply to someone whose confidence has faded.
Question 2 of 10
What does the first verse's speaker refuse to accept?
Correct: B. Natthi duccaritaṁ mama — I've done nothing wrong.
Question 3 of 10
What does the second verse say about faith itself?
Correct: D. Aniccā hi calā saddhā, evaṁ diṭṭhā hi sā mayā.
Question 4 of 10
According to the second verse, why shouldn't a sage waste away over lost faith?
Correct: C. Rajjantipi virajjanti, tattha kiṁ jiyyate muni.
Question 5 of 10
What does the third verse say about how a sage's meal is obtained?
Correct: A. Paccati munino bhattaṁ, thokaṁ thokaṁ kule kule.
Question 6 of 10
How does the poem close?
Correct: B. Piṇḍikāya carissāmi, atthi jaṅghabalaṁ mamā.
Question 7 of 10
What earlier poems in this collection also reply to mockery or rejection?
Correct: D. Though this poem answers a quieter loss of confidence, not open mockery.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'jaṅghabalaṁ' mean?
Correct: C. The practical, almost cheerful note closing the poem.
Question 9 of 10
Does the poem appeal to have the lost faith restored?
Correct: B. No appeal is made; the poem closes by walking away.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Book of the Threes?
Correct: D. Following Aṅgaṇikabhāradvāja, Paccaya, Bākula, Dhaniya, Mātaṅgaputta, Khujjasobhita, Vāraṇa, Vassika, and Yasoja.
