None given — no place, audience, or occasion is named
Speaker
The Buddha, addressing “mendicants” collectively
Form
A one-sentence prose statement, restated by a six-line verse
Position
Book of the Ones, Chapter One, Iti 2 — second of a matched set of six
Length
under 1 minute to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — identical in shape to Iti 1, with one word changed throughout
Why this discourse, second of a set of six
Iti 2 repeats Iti 1's structure almost word for word, changing only the name of the factor at stake: hate in place of greed. That exactness is itself the point worth noticing here. Rather than reading this as a second, separate story, it helps to read it as the second entry in a short, deliberate catalogue — one where the repetition is doing real work, training the listener to isolate one quality of mind at a time rather than lumping every unskillful state together.
Reading guide
Same shape, one word changed
Compare this discourse line by line against Iti 1 and the overlap is almost total: the same guarantee, the same six-line verse, even the same rhythm of “when overcome by ___, beings go to a bad place.” The only substitution is the defilement itself. This is not laziness in the text — it is a rhetorical device. By holding everything else constant and swapping a single variable, the collection turns six independent-seeming suttas into something closer to a structured checklist a listener could actually use: greed, then hate, then delusion, and on through anger, disdain, and conceit, each isolated in turn for direct inspection.
Hate as the second root
Where greed (lobha) pulls a mind toward something, hate (dosa) pushes a mind away from something — aversion, ill will, ill-tempered rejection of what is unwanted. Named second among the three traditional unwholesome roots (after greed, before delusion), dosa is the opposite psychological mechanism to greed but is said to distort perception and motivate harmful action in much the same fundamental way.
What the guarantee might be pointing at
The reward on offer is again anāgāmitā, non-return. In the traditional model of the ten fetters that bind a person to repeated rebirth, ill will (usually named byāpāda or paṭigha) is one of the two fetters whose complete abandonment is specifically what distinguishes a non-returner from those at the two stages below. Whether “hate” in this terse formula is meant as a precise equivalent of that specific fetter, or as a broader, more everyday name for the same underlying tendency, the text does not spell out — and it is worth resisting the urge to force too tight an equation between a four-word teaching and a technical list found elsewhere. What can be said plainly is that the pairing of hate with non-return here sits comfortably alongside that broader traditional picture.
Reading it as part of a set
Taken with Iti 1, this sutta suggests a reading strategy: rather than treating each of the first six teachings in this chapter as a complete lesson on its own, read them side by side as a single extended teaching in six short movements, each isolating exactly one obstacle.
Key terms
dosa — “hate”: aversion, ill will, hostility; the second of the three unwholesome roots, alongside greed and delusion
byāpāda / paṭigha — “ill will” / “repulsion”: terms used elsewhere for the specific fetter said to be abandoned by a non-returner — closely related to, though not necessarily identical in scope with, the everyday term dosa used here
duggati — “bad place, place of loss”: what the verse says awaits beings overcome by hate, mirroring the same phrase used of greed in Iti 1
anāgāmitā — “non-return”: the guarantee held out for giving up hate, as for greed — not full liberation, but a specific stage short of it
ekadhammaṃ — “one thing”: the recurring structural claim across Iti 1–6, that a single factor, fully relinquished, suffices for the stated result
The text
The discourse in full: the opening frame, the Buddha’s one-sentence teaching, the verse that restates it, and the closing frame. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The teaching
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
§2“Mendicants, give up one thing and I guarantee you non-return. What one thing? Hate is the one thing. Give it up, and I guarantee you non-return.” The Buddha spoke this matter. On this it is said:
The verse
§3“When overcome by hate
beings go to a bad place.
Having rightly understood that hate,
the discerning give it up.
Once they’ve given it up,
they never return to this world.”
§4This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
· · ·
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 single thing does the Buddha ask the mendicants to give up in this discourse?
Correct: B. Hate (dosa) is named as “the one thing” here, in place of the greed named in Iti 1.
Question 2 of 10
What is guaranteed to whoever gives up hate?
Correct: C. The same guarantee of anāgāmitā, non-return, used throughout Iti 1–6.
Question 3 of 10
How closely does this discourse’s wording match Iti 1 (Greed)?
Correct: A. The reading guide highlights this near-total repetition as a deliberate structural device across Iti 1–6.
Question 4 of 10
According to the reading guide, what is hate said to do, in contrast to greed?
Correct: D. Greed and hate are described as opposite psychological mechanisms.
Question 5 of 10
Where does dosa rank among the three traditional unwholesome roots?
Correct: C. The three roots are traditionally ordered: greed, hate, delusion.
Question 6 of 10
Does the reading guide claim that this sutta’s “hate” is a precise technical equivalent of the fetter of ill will (byāpāda) abandoned by a non-returner?
Correct: B. The reading guide deliberately holds this open rather than asserting a strict equivalence.
Question 7 of 10
What happens to beings “overcome by hate,” according to the verse?
Correct: D. Matching Iti 1's verse exactly, substituting “hate” for “greed.”
Question 8 of 10
Is a specific place, teacher’s interlocutor, or occasion named anywhere in this sutta?
Correct: A. Consistent with the Itivuttaka’s general form, no setting is given.
Question 9 of 10
What does the reading guide suggest is the best way to read Iti 1 through Iti 6 together?
Correct: C. The matched structure across all six suttas supports reading them as a set.
