Reading outline · Poetic recollection
Paṭācārā: water and a lamp
The speaker compares agricultural work with her own disciplined practice and asks why liberation has not come.
This outline follows the main passages. Open each reading to follow the story in full.
In this outline
Effort and a question
The speaker compares agricultural work with her own disciplined practice and asks why liberation has not come.
Plowing the fields, sowing seeds in the ground, providing for partners and children, young men acquire wealth. I am accomplished in ethics, and I do the Teacher’s bidding, being neither lazy nor restless— why then do I not achieve quenching?
Water and the lamp
Watching foot-washing water flow, she becomes calm. Extinguishing a lamp provides the final image for liberation. This poem does not narrate the later commentary’s family tragedy.
Having washed my feet, I took note of the water, seeing the foot-washing water flowing from high ground to low. My mind became serene, like a fine thoroughbred steed. Then, taking a lamp, I entered my dwelling, inspected the bed, and sat on my cot. Then, grabbing the …
Sources & reading notes
Introductions and explanations are editorial writing. Quoted text retains its named edition; selections may be shortened with an ellipsis.
Effort and a question. Editorial summary of the cited text; narrative setting is not independent historical confirmation. Source ↗
Water and the lamp. Editorial summary of the cited text; narrative setting is not independent historical confirmation. Source ↗
Original scene outline
Effort and a question
The speaker compares agricultural work with her own disciplined practice and asks why liberation has not come.
Water and the lamp
Watching foot-washing water flow, she becomes calm. Extinguishing a lamp provides the final image for liberation. This poem does not narrate the later commentary’s family tragedy.