Reading guide
Addressed throughout to one specific person
Where most of this collection's declarations speak to no one in particular, this poem is a direct report: ‘I declare it in your presence’, ‘I learned your teachings well’, ‘your instruction was not in vain’. Every verse keeps the preceptor (upajjhāya) in view as its addressee, making this one of this collection's clearest examples of a graduation report delivered to a specific teacher, rather than a general declaration or a report to family.
Attainment witnessed personally, not taken on faith
The second verse specifies how the Dhamma was realized: ‘witnessing it for myself, not based on hearsay’ (anītiho). Even addressed gratefully to a teacher, the poem insists the realization itself was personal and direct, not simply accepted secondhand.
Gratitude, closing the report
The final verse turns from declaration to thanks: ‘you advised me in noble observances; sympathetic, you helped teach me’, closing on ‘I, your pupil, am fully trained’ (antevāsimhi sikkhito). The relationship named throughout the poem — teacher and pupil — is honored explicitly at its very end, not left implicit.
Key terms
The text
§1My mentor helped me to learn, hoping I would practice those teachings. Aspiring to freedom from death, I’ve done what had to be done.
§2I’ve realized the Dhamma, witnessing it for myself, not based on hearsay. With purified knowledge, free of doubt, I declare it in your presence.
§3I know my past lives, my clairvoyance is purified, I’ve realized my heart’s goal, and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
§4Being diligent in the training, I learned your teachings well. All my defilements are ended; now there’ll be no more future lives.
§5You advised me in noble observances; sympathetic, you helped teach me. Your instruction was not in vain—I, your pupil, am fully trained.
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