Sirimitta

Reading guide

Five verses, one word's difference between them

The first five verses share both their opening couplet (‘akkodhanonupanāhī, amāyo rittapesuṇo’) and their closing line (‘evaṁ pecca na socati’) verbatim, varying only the third line's single quality named: guarded sense doors, good morals, good friends, and good wisdom, following an initial verse that names no additional quality at all. This goes further than any earlier refrain poem in this collection (including Thag 6.2's Buddha/Dhamma/Saṅgha triad), which varied more than a single clause across its repeated verses.

A catalogue built by addition, not contrast

Unlike this collection's antithetical-parallelism poems (such as Thag 6.3), which pair opposite conditions against each other, Sirimitta's five verses all describe the same kind of mendicant, simply adding one further quality at a time — restraint, then guarded senses, then good morals, then good friendship, then good wisdom — building a composite portrait through accumulation rather than opposition.

A pivot from refrain to direct address

The sixth, seventh, and eighth verses abandon the refrain entirely, shifting from ‘that's how such a mendicant’ to naming faith, ethical conduct, confidence in the Saṅgha, and correct view directly, before closing with direct counsel: ‘let the wise devote themselves to faith, ethical behavior, confidence, and insight’. The poem's second half restates its first half's content in a different grammatical register, rather than introducing wholly new material.

'Not poor', regardless of material circumstance

The seventh verse's claim — one with faith, confidence in the Saṅgha, and correct view is said to be ‘adaliddo’, ‘not poor’ or ‘prosperous’, ‘their life is not in vain’ — redefines prosperity entirely in terms of inner qualities, independent of actual wealth, echoing without directly citing Thag 8.1's own contrast between wisdom and material riches in the poem immediately preceding this one.

A closing line that doesn't quite match its own verses

‘Evaṁ pecca na socati’, ‘doesn't grieve after passing away’, frames the entire refrain section around a concern for what happens after death — yet nothing in the qualities named (guarded senses, good friends, good wisdom) explicitly addresses death or the afterlife directly; the connection is left for the listener to draw, between present ethical cultivation and a peaceful passing.

Key terms