Mātaṅgaputta — The Book of the Threes · Chapter One · Poem 5 of 16
Setting
A contrast between excuse-making and endurance, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Mātaṅgaputta, first describing others, then turning to his own resolve
Form
Three four-line verses — a complaint quoted, its opposite described, then a first-person turn
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 vivid closing image
Why this text
‘It's too cold, too hot, too late,’ the young say, letting opportunities pass them by — but one who treats heat and cold as no more than blades of grass does his duties and never loses his happiness. Mātaṅgaputta closes by turning to his own resolve: pushing aside grasses and vines with his own chest to foster seclusion.
Reading guide
A complaint, quoted first
The poem opens by quoting an excuse rather than making one: ‘“it's too cold, too hot, too late,” they say’, before naming the cost directly — ‘when the young neglect their work like this, opportunities pass them by’. The second verse answers with its opposite: one who treats heat and cold as no more than blades of grass does his duties, and ‘his happiness never fails’.
A textual note worth flagging: one line without a separate translation
The third verse's Pali runs to four lines, but Sujato's translation folds the meaning of its final line, vivekamanubrūhayaṁ (‘and cultivate seclusion’), into the English rendering of the line before it, leaving no separate translated key for the fourth line on its own. The text below follows the translation's own boundaries rather than the Pali line count.
Pushing through, to find solitude
The poem's closing image is physical rather than abstract: ‘with my chest I'll thrust aside the grasses, vines, and creepers’, forcing a path through undergrowth by main force in order to ‘foster seclusion’. Solitude here is not found waiting, but made by shoving through what stands in its way.
Key terms
atisītaṁ atiuṇhaṁ — “too cold, too hot” — the quoted excuse opening the poem.
khaṇā accenti — “opportunities pass them by” — the cost of habitual excuse-making.
tiṇā bhiyyo na maññati — “considers [heat and cold] as no more than blades of grass” — the contrasting attitude of the second verse.
urasā panudissāmi — “with my chest I'll thrust aside” — the physical image opening the poem's closing verse.
vivekamanubrūhayaṁ — “cultivate seclusion” — the poem's final Pali line, its meaning folded into the translated line before it rather than given a separate English key.
The text
The text in full: three verses, with no separate attribution line in this chapter; the third verse's translation runs only to its third line, per the note above. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“It’s too cold, too hot, too late,” they say. When the young neglect their work like this, opportunities pass them by.
§2But one who considers heat and cold as no more than blades of grass—he does his duties as a man, and his happiness never fails.
§3With my chest I’ll thrust aside the grasses, vines, and creepers, and foster seclusion.
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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 excuse does the poem quote at its opening?
Correct: A. Attributed to 'the young' who let opportunities pass them by.
Question 2 of 10
What does the second verse say about one who treats heat and cold as mere grass?
Correct: A. Karaṁ purisakiccāni, so sukhā na vihāyati.
Question 3 of 10
What textual detail does this poem's third verse carry, unusual among this chapter's poems?
Correct: C. The text below follows the translation's own boundaries, ending at the third line.
Question 4 of 10
What physical image closes the poem?
Correct: D. Forcing a path through undergrowth to foster seclusion.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'vivekamanubrūhayaṁ' mean?
Correct: A. The poem's final Pali line, without its own separate translated key.
Question 6 of 10
What is said to pass by the young who make excuses about weather?
Correct: B. Khaṇā accenti māṇave.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'urasā panudissāmi' mean?
Correct: D. The physical action opening the poem's closing verse.
Question 8 of 10
How does the poem present solitude in its closing image?
Correct: B. Solitude made by main force, not found waiting.
Question 9 of 10
What duties does the second verse's steady person perform?
Correct: C. Karaṁ purisakiccāni.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Book of the Threes?
Correct: D. Following Aṅgaṇikabhāradvāja, Paccaya, Bākula, and Dhaniya.
