Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Therigatha · 7.1

Uttarā (2nd)

Uttarā — The Book of the Sevens · Poem 1 of 3

Setting
No narrative setting beyond what the verses state; no closing attribution
Speaker
The nun Uttarā, quoting Paṭācārā's instruction, then narrating her own night's progress
Form
Seven verses, mostly four lines
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
★★★☆☆ — reuses an entire earlier poem's template for a single individual

Why this text

This poem opens the Book of the Sevens with material this collection has already used once: the same mundane simile about young men pounding grain, the same instruction attributed to Paṭācārā, and the same three-watch structure that marked the thirty nuns' collective realization in Thig 5.11 — here applied to one individual disciple, with ‘the Thirty gods honor Sakka’ replacing that poem's ‘honor Indra’, two names for the same deity.

Reading guide

An instruction reused from Thig 5.11

‘Taking a pestle, young men pound grain... work at the Buddha's bidding, you won't regret it’ opens this poem with the identical mundane simile and instruction already given collectively in Thig 5.11 — here explicitly credited to Paṭācārā once again.

The same three watches, for one nun instead of thirty

‘In the first watch of the night, I recollected my past lives... in the last watch, I shattered the mass of darkness’ tracks the identical progression given to the group in Thig 5.11, now narrated by a single individual, Uttarā.

A closing image, the same deity by a different name

‘I shall abide honoring you as the Thirty gods honor Sakka, undefeated in battle’ matches Thig 5.11's closing image of the Thirty gods honoring Indra almost exactly — Sakka and Indra are two names for the same figure.

A second Uttarā, distinguished only by number

This poem's title, ‘Uttarā (2nd)’, marks her as a different individual from the Uttarā of Thig 1.15 — the collection's established convention for two women sharing one name, continued here across a much greater distance in the collection.

Key terms

Uttarā — this poem's speaker, distinguished from the earlier Uttarā of Thig 1.15 by the numeral in her title.
Paṭācārā — the teacher explicitly credited with this poem's opening instruction, as in Thig 5.11.
saṅkhāre parato — “conditions as alien” — the specific object of examination named in Paṭācārā's instruction here.
tamokkhandha — “the mass of darkness” — shattered in the third watch, echoing several earlier poems in this collection.
Sakka — a name for the deity also called Indra — honored by the Thirty gods in this poem's closing simile, matching Thig 5.11's image exactly.

The text

The text in full: seven verses, opening the Book of the Sevens. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Taking a pestle, young men pound grain. Providing for partners and children, young men acquire wealth.

§2Work at the Buddha’s bidding, you won’t regret it. Having quickly washed your feet, sit in a discreet place to meditate.

§3Establish the mind, unified and serene. Examine conditions as alien, not as self.”

§4“After hearing her words, the instructions of Paṭācārā, I washed my feet and retired to a discreet place.

§5In the first watch of the night, I recollected my past lives. In the middle watch of the night, I purified my clairvoyance.

§6In the last watch of the night, I shattered the mass of darkness. I rose up master of the three knowledges: your bidding has been done.

§7I shall abide honoring you as the Thirty gods honor Sakka, undefeated in battle. Master of the three knowledges, I am free of defilements.”

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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 simile does this poem's opening verse share with Thig 5.11?
Correct: B. The identical mundane image opens both poems.
Question 2 of 10
Who does this poem credit with the opening instruction?
Correct: C. The same teacher named in the collective realization of the thirty nuns.
Question 3 of 10
What structure does this poem's account of a single night share with Thig 5.11?
Correct: B. Past lives, then clairvoyance, then the mass of darkness shattered.
Question 4 of 10
What deity does this poem's closing simile name, in place of Thig 5.11's Indra?
Correct: A. Two names for the same figure, in an otherwise nearly identical image.
Question 5 of 10
What does this poem's title, 'Uttarā (2nd)', signal?
Correct: C. This collection's established convention for two women sharing one name.
Question 6 of 10
What does Paṭācārā's instruction tell its listener to examine conditions as?
Correct: D. Named directly in the instruction's third verse.
Question 7 of 10
How does this poem's use of earlier material compare to most other poems in this collection?
Correct: C. A more extensive reuse than most cross-references elsewhere in this collection.
Question 8 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Therigatha?
Correct: D. The first of three poems in this short book.
Question 9 of 10
What does this poem say happened before Uttarā began this practice?
Correct: A. A specific preparatory action, shared with the instruction's own wording.
Question 10 of 10
How many poems does the Book of the Sevens contain in total?
Correct: B. One of the shortest books in the Therigatha, alongside the single-poem Book of the Fours.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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