Reading guide
Violent language, redirected inward
Sakka's question is phrased in terms of literal killing, but the Buddha's answer never touches an actual being; the entire exchange repurposes the vocabulary of slaying for something happening entirely within the mind.
A riddle answered with a single word
Sakka doesn't ask an open-ended philosophical question; his verse is structured as a genuine riddle, asking for one specific thing — and the Buddha's answer names it directly and without elaboration: anger.
A double-natured image, not a simple condemnation
Rather than describing anger as purely bad, the verse gives it two contrasting qualities at once — poisonous at the root, sweet at the tip — acknowledging why anger is tempting even while condemning it.
A personal, informal address from Sakka
Sakka addresses the Buddha directly by his clan name, Gotama, in his opening question — a small detail marking the exchange as personal rather than formally distant.
A compact teaching opening a new chapter
Like several of Dutiyavagga's later discourses, this one delivers its entire content in a single brief exchange, setting a similarly compact tone for the start of Tatiyavagga.
Key terms
The text
§1Near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove. And then Sakka, lord of gods, went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and addressed him in verse:
§2“When what is slain do you sleep at ease? When what is slain is there no sorrow? What is the one thing whose killing you approve?”
§3“When anger’s slain you sleep at ease. When anger’s slain there is no sorrow. Anger has a poisonous root, and a sweet tip, O Vāsava. The noble ones praise its killing, for when it’s slain there is no sorrow.”
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