Sāketa — Book of the Ones · Chapter Seven (Itthivagga) · Poem 8 of 10
Setting
The town of Sāketa, an elderly couple meeting the Buddha
Speaker
Unspecified in the canonical verse itself
Form
One four-line stanza
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
★☆☆☆☆ — one short verse on instinctive, well-founded trust
Why this text
Sujato's comment states directly that ‘the remaining stories of this chapter do not concern women’ — this poem marks that shift, and is unusual in its own right: a story set entirely in the present, confirming an instinctive bond that turns out to be rooted in many past lives together.
Reading guide
Trust that settles on someone never met before
The verse states its principle: ‘in whom the mind settles, and the heart too is confident — gladly one would trust in that man not seen before.’ Per Sujato's comment, this poem concerns only present-day events, with no proper past-life story behind it: an old couple dote on the Buddha as though he were their own son, and he confirms directly that they were, in fact, his parents across many past lives.
A shift away from this chapter's earlier theme
Sujato's comment states plainly: ‘the remaining stories of this chapter do not concern women.’ Despite belonging to the Itthivagga by its position in the traditional numbering, this poem and the two that follow it turn to entirely different subjects, closing out the chapter on themes unrelated to the difficult material found in its opening poems.
Key terms
mano nivisati — “the mind settles” — the verse's own description of instinctive trust, not built on prior acquaintance.
adiṭṭhapubbake pose — “that man not seen before” — the stranger the verse says can nonetheless be trusted, when the mind and heart both settle.
Sāketajātaka — the traditional title of this tale, ‘At Sāketa’, named for the town where the events take place.
no proper story — per Sujato's comment, this poem's own unusual status: it concerns only present-day events, with no separate past-life narrative of the kind most other tales in this collection are built around.
the remaining stories of this chapter — per Sujato's comment, this poem and the two that follow it, which do not concern the theme of women found in this chapter's opening poems.
The text
The text in full: a single verse, marking a shift to themes unrelated to this chapter's earlier poems, discussed above. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1In whom the mind settles, and the heart too is confident—gladly one would trust in that man not seen before.
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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 does Sujato's comment say directly about this poem and the two that follow it?
Correct: D. Marking a clear shift away from this chapter's opening poems.
Question 2 of 10
What is unusual about this poem's underlying story, per the comment?
Correct: A. A distinctive structural feature compared to most other tales in this collection.
Question 3 of 10
What happens in this poem's present-day events, per Sujato's comment?
Correct: B. Confirming an instinctive bond rooted in a long history together.
Question 4 of 10
What principle does the verse itself state?
Correct: C. An instinctive form of trust the story then grounds in a much deeper history.
Question 5 of 10
Where is this poem set, giving it its traditional title?
Correct: D. 'At Sāketa' — named for the town where the events take place.
Question 6 of 10
What is this poem's traditional title?
Correct: A. The sixty-eighth poem overall, and the eighth of the Itthivagga.
Question 7 of 10
How does this poem relate to the Buddha specifically, unlike most Jātaka tales?
Correct: B. A direct present-day confirmation rather than a purely past-life narrative.
Question 8 of 10
Where does this poem sit in the collection's own chapter structure?
Correct: C. Part of the same ten-poem Itthivagga, despite its unrelated subject matter.
Question 9 of 10
Why does this poem remain classified within the 'Itthivagga' despite not concerning women?
Correct: D. Noted plainly rather than forcing an artificial connection to the chapter's title theme.
Question 10 of 10
What quality does the trust described in this verse depend on?
Correct: A. Later revealed by the story to be grounded in a far deeper history than either party consciously knew.
