Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Theragatha · 5.7

Gayākassapa

Gayākassapa — The Book of the Fives · Chapter One · Poem 7 of 12

Setting
The Gayā spring festival, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Gayākassapa, a former ritual bather reinterpreting his own practice
Form
Five four-line verses — ritual bathing described, its mistaken purpose, true reflection, and a reinterpreted washing
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 sustained extended metaphor

Why this text

Three times a day, Gayākassapa used to plunge into the water at the Gayā spring festival, believing he could ‘rinse away’ the bad things he'd done in past lives — and the poem closes by reusing that exact washing vocabulary for something else entirely: ‘when I plunged into the eightfold stream, all bad things were rinsed away’.

Reading guide

The same washing vocabulary, reinterpreted

The poem's central device is not contrast but continuity of language: ‘I'll now rinse away right here’ describes the old, mistaken ritual bathing in the second verse; ‘I've washed away all bad things’ and ‘all bad things were rinsed away’ describe the true attainment in the fourth and fifth. The same Pali root (pavāheti, ‘wash, rinse away’) carries both the discarded belief and its replacement, the water itself swapped for ‘the eightfold stream’ (aṭṭhaṅgikaṁ sotaṁ) — a pun on stream as both water and path.

A festival already named elsewhere in this collection

The Gayā spring festival (gayaphagguyā) is the same occasion named at Thag 4.6 (Senaka), where the speaker saw the Buddha teaching there rather than performing ritual bathing. Between the two poems, this collection now names the same public gathering from two different angles — one who witnessed the Buddha's teaching directly, and one who was still performing the old ritual until reflection changed his understanding of it.

A true-born son, figuratively rather than literally

The fourth verse closes with ‘a true-born son of the Buddha’ (putto buddhassa oraso) — the same core phrase, putto buddhassa, that Thag 4.8 (Rāhula) uses of himself literally, as the Buddha's biological son. Here the claim is figurative: sonship through purification and heritage of the teaching, not through birth.

Key terms

gayāya gayaphagguyā — “at Gayā for the Gayā spring festival” — the same occasion named at Thag 4.6.
pavāhemi — “I'll rinse away” — the false belief's own vocabulary, reused later for the true attainment.
yoniso paccavekkhisaṁ — “I rationally reflected” — the turning point, following the hearing of ‘fine words’.
suddho suddhassa dāyādo — “the pure heir of the pure one” — preceding the poem's figurative sonship claim.
aṭṭhaṅgikaṁ sotaṁ — “the eightfold stream” — a pun on the Noble Eightfold Path as a stream to plunge into.

The text

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

§1Three times a day—morning, midday, and evening—I plunged into the water at Gayā for the Gayā spring festival.

§2“Any bad things I’ve done in previous lives, I’ll now rinse away right here”—such was the view I used to hold.

§3Having heard the fine words, a passage meaningful and principled, I rationally reflected on the true, essential goal.

§4I’ve washed away all bad things; I’m stainless, clean, pristine; the pure heir of the pure one, a true-born son of the Buddha.

§5When I plunged into the eightfold stream, all bad things were rinsed away. I’ve attained the three knowledges and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

· · ·

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 did the speaker used to do three times a day, according to the first verse?
Correct: A. For the Gayā spring festival.
Question 2 of 10
What did the speaker believe this ritual bathing accomplished?
Correct: C. 'Such was the view I used to hold,' the poem admits.
Question 3 of 10
How does the poem's closing verses reuse the earlier washing vocabulary?
Correct: D. The same Pali root, pavāheti, carrying both the discarded belief and its replacement.
Question 4 of 10
What replaces the literal water in the poem's closing image?
Correct: B. Aṭṭhaṅgikaṁ sotaṁ — stream as both water and path.
Question 5 of 10
What earlier poem in this chapter names the same Gayā spring festival?
Correct: D. Two different angles on the same public gathering.
Question 6 of 10
How does this poem's 'son of the Buddha' claim differ from Thag 4.8 (Rāhula)'s?
Correct: C. The same core phrase, putto buddhassa, used two different ways.
Question 7 of 10
What triggered the speaker's change in understanding?
Correct: B. Yoniso paccavekkhisaṁ, following subhāsitaṁ vācaṁ.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'suddho suddhassa dāyādo' mean?
Correct: A. Preceding the poem's figurative sonship claim.
Question 9 of 10
What does the poem's final verse declare?
Correct: C. Tisso vijjā ajjhagamiṁ, kataṁ buddhassa sāsanaṁ.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Book of the Fives?
Correct: B. Following Rājadatta through Nadīkassapa.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousThag 5.6 · Nadīkassapa