“Don’t you have a little hut?
Don’t you have a little nest?
Don’t you have any lines extended?
Are you free from bondage?”“Surely I have no little hut,
Surely I have no little nest,
Surely I have no lines extended,
Surely I’m free from bondage.”“What do you think I call a little hut?
What do you think I call a little nest?
What do you think I call lines extended?
What do you think I call bondage?”“It’s a mother that you call a little hut,
A wife that you call a little nest,
Sons that you call lines extended,
Craving that you tell me is bondage.”“It’s good that you have no little hut,
Good that you have no little nest,
Good that you have no lines extended,
Good that you are free from bondage.”
sn.1.19 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)
A Little Hut
- Translator: Bhikkhu Bodhi
- Editor: Blake Walsh
Little Hut
“Don’t you have a little hut?Don’t you have a little nest?
Don’t you have any networks?
Aren’t you free of shackles?”
“Indeed I have no little hut.
Indeed I have no little nest.
Indeed I have no networks.
Indeed I’m free from shackles.”
“What do you think I call a little hut?
What do I call a little nest?
What do you think I call a network?
And what do I call a shackle?”
“You call a mother a little hut;
and a wife a little nest.
You call children a network,
and you tell me craving’s a shackle.”
“It’s good you have no little hut!
It’s good you have no little nest!
It’s good you have no networks!
And good that you’re free from shackles.”