Dhammasavapitu — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Eleven · Poem 8 of 10
Setting
A retrospective account of going forth at an extraordinary age
Speaker
Dhammasavapitu, in the first person
Form
One four-line verse, closing on the identical formula as the poem immediately before it
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
★☆☆☆☆ — plain vocabulary, one striking detail
Why this text
Dhammasavapitu declares that he went forth at 120 years old — the most extreme specific age named anywhere in this collection — closing with the exact same formula as the poem immediately before his own, Thag 1.107. His own name doesn't describe him at all: it names him only as ‘Dhammasava's father’.
Reading guide
A name that names a relationship, not a person
Dhammasavapitu reads as Dhammasava plus pitu (‘father’) — ‘Dhammasava's father’. Unlike every other name in this collection so far, built from a quality, a deed, a clan, a place, or an occupation, this elder is identified purely through his relationship to his son, who appears in the poem immediately before his own.
An inverted order: the son's poem comes first
Thag 1.107 (Dhammasava, the son) precedes Thag 1.108 (his father) in the collection's sequence — the reverse of the generational order a reader might expect. Combined with Thag 1.107's emphasis on a carefully ‘weighed’ decision to go forth and this verse's extreme age at ordination, the juxtaposition suggests a plausible story: the son investigated and went forth first, and the father, perhaps following his example, converted much later in life. This reading guide presents that only as a reasonable inference from how the two poems are placed together, not as something either verse states directly.
120 years old, the most extreme age named in this collection
Sa vīsavassasatiko, ‘at 120 years old’, is the only specific human age named anywhere in this collection so far — a striking, concrete detail in a collection that otherwise measures time in vague spans (‘countless rebirths’) or, in one earlier case (Thag 1.96, Khaṇḍasumana), an equally striking cosmic number of years spent in the heavens.
The same formula, shared within the pair itself
Beyond the collection-wide repetition already noted in Thag 1.107's guide — five appearances across the whole collection — this verse and its immediate predecessor share the identical closing couplet with each other specifically, giving the father-son pair its own internal echo on top of the wider pattern.
Key terms
pitu — “father” — the second element of this elder's name.
vīsavassasatika — “120 years old”, literally “having a hundred and twenty years” — vīsa (‘twenty’) plus vassasata (‘hundred years’).
anagāriya — “homelessness” — what this elder went forth to, at an unusually late stage of life.
Dhammasavapitu — “Dhammasava's father” — a name built entirely from a relationship, not a personal quality.
tisso vijjā anuppattā — “I've attained the three knowledges” — the closing phrase shared word for word with Thag 1.107, his son's verse.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At 120 years old I went forth to homelessness. I’ve attained the three knowledges and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
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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 age does this verse say the speaker went forth at?
Correct: C. Sa vīsavassasatiko, the verse's opening detail.
Question 2 of 10
What does the name Dhammasavapitu mean?
Correct: A. Dhammasava plus pitu ('father').
Question 3 of 10
How does this name differ from every other name in this collection so far, according to this reading guide?
Correct: C. A new naming category, distinct from all the patterns seen so far.
Question 4 of 10
In what order do the son's and father's poems appear in the collection?
Correct: A. Thag 1.107 (the son) precedes Thag 1.108 (the father).
Question 5 of 10
Does either verse directly state that the father converted after or because of his son?
Correct: D. An inference from juxtaposition, not a stated fact in either verse.
Question 6 of 10
What other verse in this collection names a specific striking number, similar in kind to this verse's age?
Correct: B. Both are unusually concrete numbers in a collection that otherwise favors vague spans.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'vīsavassasatika' literally mean?
Correct: D. Vīsa ('twenty') plus vassasata ('hundred years').
Question 8 of 10
What does this verse's closing formula share with Thag 1.107, beyond both belonging to the wider five-time pattern?
Correct: D. The pair shares the exact formula with each other, on top of the broader collection-wide repetition.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'anagāriya' mean?
Correct: A. What this elder went forth to, at an unusually advanced age.
