Reading guide
An opening simile shared with the Dhammapada
This poem's first verse — ‘channamativassati... vivaṭaṁ nātivassati’, ‘rain saturates what is covered, not what is open’ — uses the same roofing image already discussed at length on this site in Dhammapada Chapter 1, where rain seeping into a poorly roofed house illustrates lust seeping into an undeveloped mind. Sirimaṇḍa's own poem applies the same physical image to a related but distinct point: what is kept hidden or covered remains vulnerable, and should instead be opened up.
Beaten down twice over, in near-identical verses
The second and third verses both open ‘maccunābbhahato loko’, ‘the world is beaten down by death’, varying only their second half — ‘surrounded by old age... struck down by the dart of craving’ against ‘caged by old age... beaten constantly, like a thief being flogged’. This near-repetition within a single poem intensifies the point through insistence rather than new argument.
Three things approaching like a wall of flame
The fourth verse names death, disease, and old age together as ‘āgacchantaggikhandhāva’, ‘coming, like a wall of flame’ — ‘no power can stand before them, and no speed's enough to flee’. Unlike gentler formulations of impermanence elsewhere in this collection, this image emphasizes total inevitability rather than gradual acceptance.
Every passing night, a measured loss
The fifth verse turns abstract urgency into daily arithmetic: ‘every night that passes shortens your life by that much’. This concrete, quantified framing — not simply ‘life is short’ but life measured out night by night — gives the poem's closing appeal a specific, almost ledger-like urgency.
A closing verse naming every ordinary posture
The sixth verse lists walking, standing, sitting, and lying down — the four postures covering essentially every waking and resting moment — before concluding ‘you have no time to be careless (pamajjituṅ)’ in any of them. The poem's urgency is total, admitting no posture or moment as exempt.
Key terms
The text
§1The rain saturates things that are covered up; it doesn’t saturate things that are open. Therefore you should open up a covered thing, so the rain will not saturate it.
§2The world is beaten down by death and surrounded by old age. The dart of craving has struck it down, and it’s always fuming with desire.
§3The world is beaten down by death, caged by old age, beaten constantly without respite, like a thief being flogged.
§4Three things are coming, like a wall of flame: death, disease, and old age. No power can stand before them, and no speed’s enough to flee.
§5Don’t waste your day, a little or a lot. Every night that passes shortens your life by that much.
§6Walking or standing, sitting or lying down: your final night draws near; you have no time to be careless.
Self-check quiz
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