Cut at the Root

Identity

Segment range snp4.14:1.1–20.4. Sn 915–934 (20 verses). Received title Tuvaṭakasutta — "Speedy / Quickly," from the adjective tuvaṭa. The title's origin is obscure; the content does not obviously justify it. The sutta is the AV's only two-part structural composition: Round 1 (vv. 1–6) is the familiar AV philosophical-meditative register with a full papañca-saṅkhā analysis; Round 2 (vv. 7–20) is a monastic practice-catalog closer to Snp 1.3 Khaggavisāṇa, the Dhammapada, and the Pātimokkha than to the rest of the AV. The sutta also uses Old Āryā metre — found nowhere else in the AV — making it the collection's most metrically distinctive sutta. Some scholars (Bhandarkar) have tentatively identified Snp 4.14 with the Aśokan Bhabru edict's Vinaya-samukase, though the identification is disputed and less secure than Kosambi's Upatisa-pasine = Snp 4.16 (see Chapter 8).

Text and form

Mixed metre (Norman 2001 p. 374; Alsdorf 1968 pp. 258–60): v. 1 is Triṣṭubh; vv. 2–20 are Old Āryā with some Śloka pādas. Old Āryā is a mātrā-based (mora-counted) metre of Vedic antiquity, later displaced by Classical Āryā; its appearance here is an antiquity-marker unique to Snp 4.14 in the AV. The metrical shift at v. 1 marks the question-frame as formally distinct from the answer-body.

v. 2 carries an iti bhagavā speaker-tag — Norman treats this as a reciter's insertion of the kind flagged at Snp 4.7.

Architecture. Two-part with an internal re-question at v. 7:

• Q1 (v. 1, Triṣṭubh) — asked to the Buddha as ādiccabandhu ("Kinsman of the Sun") and mahesi ("great seer"): how, having seen, does a bhikkhu extinguish himself, not grasping anything in the world?
• A1 (vv. 2–6, Old Āryā) — the philosophical-meditative answer. The root of papañca-saṅkhā is "I am" — to be entirely cut off through reflection. Not making oneself strength; not conceiving self as better, worse, or similar; inwardly stilled, not seeking peace from another; ocean-stillness simile.
• Q2 (v. 7) — now the questioner asks for the practice (paṭipadā): the Pātimokkha or the samādhi.
• A2 (vv. 8–20) — the 13-verse practice-catalog. Eyes not wanton, ears away from village-gossip, no greed for flavours, no possessions; no lament at contact, no longing for existence; moderation in food-and-sleep; abandonment of torpor, deceit, mirth, sex, ornamentation; no magic, astrology, dream-interpretation, fetal medicine (v. 13 — the Brahmajāla-tradition micchājīva list); no reaction to blame or praise; no buying-selling; not contentious; not led into lying; not harsh-speech-retaliation when provoked; closing on "in Gotama's teaching, ever-diligent-reverent, let him train" (vv. 19–20).

Content

"Kinsman of the Sun, I ask of seclusion and the state of peace, great seer. How, having seen, does the bhikkhu extinguish himself, not grasping anything in the world?"

Mūlaṁ papañca-saṅkhāya mantā asmīti sabbaṁ uparundhe — "The root of judgments-due-to-proliferation — 'I am' [the thinker] — through reflection let him entirely cut off. Whatever cravings are internally arisen, ever-mindful, let him train for their removal."

Whatever dhamma he knows — inward or outward — let him not make-it-strength-for-himself; that is not quenching, as the good have said. Let him not think "better," "worse," or "similar." Affected by many inputs, let him not stand constructing-himself. Inwardly let him be stilled — not seek peace from another. For one inwardly stilled, there is no attā (grasped) — whence nirattā (rejected)?

As in the middle of the ocean no wave arises — it is still — so too, steadfast without impulse, a bhikkhu would not produce pretension anywhere.

"Open-eyed one, you have explained the witnessed-truth, the removal of dangers. Now speak the practice — the Pātimokkha or the samādhi."

Eyes not wanton; turn ears from village-gossip; no greed for flavours; no possession of anything in the world. When struck by contact, let him not lament; let him not long for existence; not tremble in fearful encounters. Receiving food, drink, edibles, clothing — not make a hoard; not anxious at not getting them. Meditative, not foot-loose; let him avoid remorse, not be heedless; dwell in quiet seats. Not make much sleep; let the ardent-one practise wakefulness; abandon torpor, deception, mirth, play, sex, ornamentation.

No Atharvan-spells, dream-interpretation, omen-reading, astrology. My follower should not study animal-cries, work in fetal medicine, or treat impacted pregnancies. Let him not be shaken by blame; not gloat when praised; push away greed, stinginess, anger, slander. Not stand for buying-and-selling; not speak ill anywhere; not linger in village; not cajole people for profit. Let him not be a boaster; not speak suggestively; not train in boldness; not speak contentiously. Not led into lying; not deliberately devious; not despise others for livelihood, wisdom, or vows. Provoked by hearing many voices from ascetics or worldlings, let him not respond harshly — for the virtuous do not retaliate.

Having known this dhamma, ever-mindful-investigating, let him train. Knowing nibbuti as peace, let him not be negligent in Gotama's teaching. For the Vanquisher is unvanquished, seer of the witnessed-truth-not-by-hearsay. Therefore, in the Blessed One's teaching, ever-diligent-reverent, let him train.

Key passages

v. 2 (Sn 916) — the papañca-saṅkhā root.

Mūlaṁ papañcasaṅkhāya, / (iti bhagavā) / Mantā asmīti sabbamuparundhe; / Yā kāci taṇhā ajjhattaṁ, / Tāsaṁ vinayā sadā sato sikkhe.

The root of judgments-due-to-proliferation — "I am" [the thinker] — through reflection let him entirely cut off. Whatever cravings are internally arisen, ever-mindful, let him train for their removal.

With Snp 4.11:13 (saññā-nidānā hi papañca-saṅkhā), this verse constitutes the AV's complete doctrine of papañca. 4.11 derives papañca from saññā; 4.14 identifies the root as mantā asmīti — "'I am' [the thinker]." Together: saññā → "I am" → papañca-saṅkhā. The doctrine connects directly to MN 18 Madhupiṇḍika, where Mahākaccāna gives the canonical prose exposition of papañca-saññā-saṅkhā. Chapter 8's treatment of the Mahākaccāna-AV link rests on these two AV verses (4.11 v. 13 and 4.14 v. 2) as the verse-level anchor for MN 18's prose exegesis.

v. 5 (Sn 919) — the attā / nirattā formula.

Ajjhattaṁ upasantassa, natthi attā kuto nirattā vā.

For one inwardly stilled, there is no grasped — whence rejected?

Pāda b is verbatim with the AV's four-sutta attā-nirattā formula-family (4.3:8.3, 4.10:11.3, 4.14:5.4 [here], with variant nādeti na nirassatī at 4.15:20.4; related expressions at 4.4:4.3 and 4.5:5.1 — see notes/formula-verification.md). Norman's ātta / nirasta reading ("taken-up / laid-down") against the Niddesa's ātman / nirātman reading ("self / non-self") is endorsed by all published translators. 4.14's occurrence is one of the formula's four paradigm attestations.

v. 6 (Sn 920) — the ocean simile.

Majjhe yathā samuddassa, ūmi no jāyatī ṭhito so; / Evaṁ ṭhito anej-assa, ussadaṁ bhikkhu na kareyya kuhiñci. (paraphrase)

As in the middle of the ocean no wave arises — it is still — so too, steadfast, without impulse, a bhikkhu would not produce pretension anywhere.

The AV's most serene image. Unlike 4.2's cave, 4.6's dried stream, 4.1's broken boat, or 4.13's unaffiliated visenibhūta, the mid-ocean stillness is a positive meditative-peaceful image rather than a renunciative or negative one. Ussada here is the same "pretension / protuberance" vocabulary as at Snp 4.3:4.4 — the bhikkhu produces no ussada because he is internally still.

v. 13 (Sn 927) — the micchājīva prohibitions.

Āthabbaṇaṁ supinaṁ lakkhaṇaṁ, no vidahe atho pi nakkhattaṁ; / Virutañca gabbhakaraṇaṁ, tikicchaṁ māmako na seveyya.

Atharvan-spells, dream-interpretation, omen-reading, astrology — let him not undertake. My follower should not study animal-cries, fetal medicine, or medical practice.

The Brahmajāla-tradition micchājīva ("wrong-livelihood") catalog imported into verse. The same practices are listed as wrong-livelihood for ascetics at DN 2 Sāmaññaphalasutta, DN 1 Brahmajālasutta, and elsewhere in the prose Nikāyas. This is the AV's closest-to-canonical-monastic-prescription content, placing the sutta's Round 2 structurally adjacent to Vinaya-period regulation-verse rather than to the AV's usual meditative-philosophical register.

v. 14 (Sn 932) — the non-retaliation formula.

Na hi santo paṭisenikaronti. / … mosavajje na nīyetha.

The virtuous do not retaliate … let him not be led into lying.

Mosavajje na nīyetha is verbatim with Snp 4.15:14.4 (Sn 943). Pharusena ne na paṭivajjā — "even when provoked, let him not speak harsh-speech" — at v. 17d is also shared with 4.15:17.4 and 4.16:17.4. The late-AV cluster (4.14, 4.15, 4.16) shares practice-catalog vocabulary across three consecutive suttas.

v. 19 (Sn 933) — the Gotama-naming close.

Sāsane Gotamassa na pamajjeyya.

Let him not be heedless in Gotama's teaching.

The AV's most explicit naming of the Buddha as Gotama and one of only a handful of AV references to sāsana in its institutional sense. The sutta closes in a register closer to canonical prose-Nikāya standard-formulation than to the AV's usual anonymous-voice.

Choice-points

v. 2, mantā asmīti. Two parsings.

• Norman's standard reading: mantā = instrumental of mantā ("counsel, thought, reflection"), and asmīti = "I am"; together "through reflection, [one should cut off] the 'I am.'" Niddesa glosses mantā = paññā (wisdom).
• Alternative parsing: mantā asmīti as compound — "the 'I am' of the counsellor / thinker"; the root of papañca is the self-conception of oneself as the thinker. This reading is supported by MN 1 Mūlapariyāya and MN 113 Sappurisa, where the asmīti conceit is analysed as a core cognitive formation.

Both readings converge on the same doctrinal content: the "I am"-conception is the root of papañca and must be cut. The alternative parsing makes the verse's causal analysis more explicit.

v. 1, ādiccabandhu. "Kinsman of the Sun" — a solar-clan honorific for the Buddha, invoking his Śākya ancestry as descendants of the solar race (Niddesa I 251). Cross-canonical at MN 92, Thag 1:1, Snp 1:1. The AV's usage here is unusual in its explicit naming-honorific — the AV elsewhere addresses the Buddha as muni or bhagavā without the solar-genealogical content.

Bhabru Vinaya-samukase identification. Bhandarkar, in the 19th-century Aśoka scholarship, tentatively identified Snp 4.14 as the Bhabru edict's Vinaya-samukase ("Vinaya-praised"). The identification rests on Snp 4.14's Pātimokkha-adjacent practice-catalog register. The identification is disputed; Law 1933 vol. 2 pp. 665–66 lists it among other candidates (Rhys Davids: Pāṭimokkha; Mitra: Sappurisa Sutta MN; Oldenberg: Pāṭimokkha; Barua: Siṅgālovāda DN + Anumāna MN). Kosambi 1912 does not endorse the Snp 4.14 identification, treating Vinaya-samukase as unidentified. The identification is weaker than Kosambi's Upatisa-pasine = Snp 4.16 (see Chapter 8).

Vocabulary and commentary

Lexical profile. Round 1's vocabulary is AV-register: papañca-saṅkhā, mantā asmīti, attā, nirattā, upasanta, ussada, ānejja, anupādiyāno. Round 2's vocabulary is Pātimokkha-register: āthabbaṇa, supina, lakkhaṇa, nakkhatta, viruta, gabbhakaraṇa, tikicchā, plus the standard monastic-conduct vocabulary (cakkhulolo, sotalolo, rasalolo, pādalolo). The register-shift between Rounds 1 and 2 is the sutta's most distinctive compositional feature.

Cross-AV bonds: attā / nirattā (v. 5 — four-sutta formula); ussada (v. 6 = 4.3:4.4 pattern); mosavajje na nīyetha (v. 14 = 4.15:14.4); pharusa-speech non-retaliation (v. 17 = 4.15:17, 4.16:17).

Mahāniddesa (Mnd 14). Covers all twenty verses. The Niddesa on Round 1 is philosophically rich — the papañca-saṅkhā gloss at v. 2 distinguishes taṇhā-papañca and diṭṭhi-papañca with full root-factor analysis; the ocean-stillness simile at v. 6 receives an elaborate expansion. The Niddesa on Round 2 is more practical — the micchājīva list is catalogued systematically against DN 2, and the Gotamassa sāsana closing is glossed with the standard Buddha-vagga etymology. The Niddesa's register-shift parallels the verse's — Mnd 14 is philosophical in the first half, practical in the second.

Cross-recensional witnesses

Pāli: full; 20 verses.

Chinese Yizujing YZJ-13 兜勒梵志經 ("Brahmin Dou-le Sūtra") at [T0198_p0184b12]–[T0198_p0184c22]: 20 parallel + 27 added = 47 verses (Lee 2024 Table 2) — but with the footnote that "24 verses from Hemavata-sutta (Snp 1.9) equivalent to 23 verses from the Yizujing (Y13.14–15 = Sn 165–167)." The Chinese chapter embeds a substantial block of Snp 1.9 Hemavatasutta material (the two yakkha-generals Sātāgira and Hemavata) into the Tuvaṭaka frame, producing a composite sūtra that combines Snp 4.14 with Snp 1.9.

This is the Yizujing's clearest specimen of cross-collection anthologising — the Chinese recension combines AV-material with non-AV material (here, Snp 1.9) into a single thematically-unified teaching-unit. The same anthologising pattern is visible at YZJ-3 (Snp 4.3 + Dhp verses), YZJ-6 (Snp 4.6 + SN 2.22 Khema verses), and other Chinese-recension chapters. What the Pāli distributes across separate suttas, the Yizujing combines into composite sūtra-forms.

Sanskrit: not attested. Hoernle 1916 covers Snp 4.7–4.10 only.

Gāndhārī: not attested.

Coverage note. Snp 4.14 is 2-recension at verse-level, with the Yizujing's Hemavata-embedding providing the most substantial cross-collection anthologising specimen in the AV-Chinese recensional evidence.

Internal cross-references

Within the AV. The attā / nirattā formula (v. 5) is the AV's four-sutta signature. Ussada (v. 6) links to 4.3:4.4 and 4.10:9.4. The late-AV practice-catalog cluster (4.14 Round 2, 4.15 Round 2, 4.16 Round 2) shares verbatim vocabulary: mosavajje na nīyetha (v. 14 = 4.15:14.4); the non-retaliation formula (v. 17 = 4.15:17.4, 4.16:17.4); the "eyes not wanton, foot not loose" formula (v. 8 = 4.16:18.1). The three closing suttas are in close compositional conversation.

Cross-AV–PV. The papañca-saṅkhā doctrine of v. 2, with its root-in-"I am," is the AV's most direct approach to the papañca vocabulary that MN 18 Madhupiṇḍikasutta develops in prose via Mahākaccāna's exegesis. Combined with Snp 4.11:13's saññā-nidānā papañca-saṅkhā, this completes the AV's verse-level papañca doctrine and supplies the verse-level content Mahākaccāna elaborates at MN 18.

Within the Khuddaka. The practice-catalog of Round 2 is structurally closest to Snp 1.3 Khaggavisāṇasutta. The micchājīva list at v. 13 parallels DN 2 Sāmaññaphalasutta, DN 1 Brahmajālasutta's corresponding lists. Ādiccabandhu as Buddha-epithet is canonical (MN 92, Thag 1:1, Snp 1:1). Pannabhāra at Snp 4.13:20.3 is canonical-arahant-vocabulary shared with MN 35 and elsewhere.

Prose-nikāya uptake. No direct named-citation of Snp 4.14. The sutta's MN 18 thematic parallel via the papañca-saṅkhā vocabulary is the Mahākaccāna-AV link's second verse-level anchor.

Reception and external attestation

Mahāniddesa: Mnd 14 covers all twenty verses. Philosophically-rich on Round 1, Vinaya-adjacent on Round 2.

Paramatthajotikā II: supplies an independent narrative frame (not in-repo).

Aśoka Bhabru edict: tentatively identified with Vinaya-samukase by Bhandarkar and some 19th-c. scholarship; disputed; less secure than Kosambi 1912's Snp 4.16 = Upatisa-pasine identification. Chapter 8 treats the Bhabru identifications in detail.

Peṭakopadesa: no verse of Snp 4.14 is cited in Pe chapter 1's AV-extraction.

Reading

Snp 4.14 is the AV's structurally-unique sutta. Its Old Āryā metre places it outside the collection's main metrical repertoire; its two-part composition (philosophical-meditative Round 1 + monastic-practice Round 2) has no parallel elsewhere in the AV; its Round 2 vocabulary is Pātimokkha-register rather than AV-register. Whether the sutta's structure reflects a single compositional intent (a deliberate philosophical-plus-practical teaching) or a compositional seam between two originally-separate units is a question Chapter 4's stratigraphic reading may need to address — the clear Q2 interrogation at v. 7 ("speak the practice, the Pātimokkha or the samādhi") functions either as an internal transition within a single composition or as a re-framing that joins two once-separate pieces.

The papañca-saṅkhā analysis at v. 2 is the AV's most important contribution to the canonical papañca doctrine. With Snp 4.11:13's saññā-nidānā analysis, the AV supplies the full verse-level content that MN 18 Madhupiṇḍika expounds in prose via Mahākaccāna. Chapter 8's treatment of the Mahākaccāna-AV canonical link rests on three primary verse-anchors: Snp 4.9 Sn 844 (exegeted at SN 22.3); Snp 4.11 Sn 874 (saññā-nidānā); Snp 4.14 Sn 916 (root in "I am"). The three verses jointly establish the AV as the verse-level repository of the papañca-saññā-saṅkhā doctrine that Mahākaccāna's canonical prose exegeses elaborate.

The Round 2 practice-catalog is the AV's most Vinaya-adjacent content. The micchājīva list (v. 13) imports the Brahmajāla-tradition wrong-livelihood catalog verbatim into verse. Whether Bhandarkar's tentative identification of Snp 4.14 with the Bhabru edict's Vinaya-samukase is correct is unresolved; what is decidable is that the sutta's Round 2 sits in a different compositional register from the AV's core diṭṭhi-debate cluster. If the AV as a collection has a monastic-practical stratum, Round 2 of Snp 4.14 is its clearest exemplar, continuous with Snp 4.15 Round 2 and Snp 4.16 Round 2 in the collection's closing three suttas.

The Gotama-naming at vv. 19–20 — sāsane Gotamassa na pamajjeyya, tassa bhagavato sāsane appamatto sadā namassamanusikkhe — is the AV's most explicit authority-attribution to the named Buddha. The rest of the collection addresses the Buddha as muni or bhagavā, or speaks in an anonymous Buddha-voice without named authority. The Gotama-attribution here aligns Snp 4.14's closing register with the prose Nikāyas' standard-formulations and places the sutta's Round 2 closer to canonical-institutional register than anywhere else in the collection.

The Yizujing's Hemavata-embedding (Snp 1.9 material folded into YZJ-13's Tuvaṭaka frame) is the AV-Chinese corpus's most substantial specimen of cross-collection anthologising. What the Pāli canon preserves as two separate suttas (Snp 1.9 in the Uragavagga, Snp 4.14 in the Aṭṭhakavagga), the Yizujing combines into a single 47-verse composite. This extends the pattern visible at YZJ-3 (Sundarī + Dhp verses + Snp 4.3), YZJ-6 (Snp 4.6 + SN 2.22 Khema), and YZJ-1 (Kāmasutta + AN 5.5.8/10 material): the Chinese recension reads the AV not as a sealed collection but as a source-pool combinable with material from other parts of the canonical tradition. Chapter 7's treatment of the Yizujing's anthologising tendency relies on these cross-recensional composite-sūtra cases.