Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Theragatha · 4.3

Sabhiya

Sabhiya — The Book of the Fours · Chapter One · Poem 3 of 12

Setting
General teaching, not autobiography, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Sabhiya, teaching on restraint and respect
Form
Four four-line verses — restraint amid misunderstanding, a simile of health, a warning about corruption, and a closing simile
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, compact ethical reasoning

Why this text

Where others fail to understand, those who do understand restrain themselves — ‘that is how conflicts are laid to rest’. Sabhiya teaches that a lax or corrupt spiritual life bears little fruit, and that disrespect for one's spiritual companions puts true Dhamma as far away as the sky from the earth.

Reading guide

Restraint as the resolution to conflict

The first verse frames restraint as a practical solution: when others don't understand, those who do ‘restrain themselves in this regard’, and ‘that is how conflicts are laid to rest’. Understanding is paired directly with holding back, not with correcting others.

The healthy among the sick

The second verse's simile is medical rather than moral: those who don't understand ‘behave as though they were immortal’, while those who understand the Dhamma are ‘like the healthy among the sick’ — a difference of condition, not merely of belief.

Respect for companions, measured against the sky and earth

The poem closes on a stark image: whoever lacks respect for their spiritual companions is ‘as far from true Dhamma as the firmament from the earth’ — placing communal respect, not solitary attainment alone, at the center of what keeps one close to the teaching.

A name that may match a philosopher turned monk

This site's own Snp 3.6 (With Sabhiya) tells of the wanderer Sabhiya, armed with a deity's test questions, who finds six famous teachers stumped before receiving full answers from the Buddha — and asks, deeply impressed, to be ordained on the spot. No comment on this specific poem confirms the identification, but Snp 3.6 already narrates this Sabhiya's ordination directly, making this one of this collection's more concretely supported signature-name cases, even without comment confirmation.

Key terms

vijānanti — “understand” — the quality that leads to restraint, in the first verse.
āturesu anāturā — “like the healthy among the sick” — the second verse's medical simile.
saṅkassaraṁ brahmacariyaṁ — “suspicious spiritual life” — named among the causes of little fruit, in the third verse.
sabrahmacārīsu gāravo — “respect for spiritual companions” — whose absence the poem measures against the sky and earth.
nabhaṁ puthaviyā yathā — “as the firmament from the earth” — the poem's closing image of distance from true Dhamma.

The text

The text in full: four verses, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1When others do not understand, let us, who do understand this, restrain ourselves in this regard; for that is how conflicts are laid to rest.

§2And when those who don’t understand behave as though they were immortal, those who understand the Dhamma are like the healthy among the sick.

§3Any lax act, any corrupt observance, or suspicious spiritual life, is not very fruitful.

§4Whoever has no respect for their spiritual companions is as far from true Dhamma as the firmament from the earth.

· · ·

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 resolves conflict?
Correct: C. Tato sammanti medhagā.
Question 2 of 10
What simile does the second verse use for those who understand the Dhamma?
Correct: A. Āturesu anāturā.
Question 3 of 10
What does the third verse say about a lax or corrupt spiritual life?
Correct: D. Na taṁ hoti mahapphalaṁ.
Question 4 of 10
What does the closing verse measure against the sky and the earth?
Correct: B. Ārakā hoti saddhammā, nabhaṁ puthaviyā yathā.
Question 5 of 10
What already-translated poem on this site may feature the same Sabhiya?
Correct: A. A wandering questioner who asks to be ordained on the spot.
Question 6 of 10
What happens to Sabhiya in Snp 3.6?
Correct: C. Making this a more concretely supported identification than most signature-name cases.
Question 7 of 10
Is the identification with Snp 3.6's Sabhiya confirmed by a comment on this poem?
Correct: B. Still, Snp 3.6's own narrated ordination gives this case unusually solid support.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'āturesu anāturā' mean?
Correct: A. Describing those who understand the Dhamma.
Question 9 of 10
What does the first verse say those who understand do, when others don't?
Correct: B. Mayamettha yamāmase — restraint, not correction.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Book of the Fours?
Correct: D. Following Nāgasamāla and Bhagu.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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