Cūḷavaccha — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Two · Poem 1 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a short verse opening Chapter Two
Speaker
An unnamed voice describing a monk full of joy in the teaching
Form
One four-line verse, without a closing attribution line
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
★☆☆☆☆ — a short statement connecting joy to peace
Why this text
Chapter Two opens with joy: a monk full of joy in the teaching, the verse says, will realize the peaceful state, ‘the blissful stilling of conditions’. This chapter also opens a new pattern — unlike every poem in Chapter One, this verse carries no closing attribution sentence at all.
Reading guide
Joy as the cause, peace as the result
The verse's logic runs in one direction: a monk ‘full of joy’ in the Buddha's teaching is the one who ‘would realize the peaceful state’ — joy positioned as a condition for peace, not something peace produces afterward.
A new pattern: no closing attribution line
Every poem in Chapter One closed with a full sentence naming its speaker: ‘that is how this verse was recited by the senior venerable X’. In the Pali text, Chapter Two abbreviates this same formula down to an ellipsis (‘… Cūḷavaccho thero …’), trusting the reader to fill in what Chapter One already established — and Sujato's translation simply omits it, so this and the following poems in this chapter end right after their verse.
Sharing a clan name with the poem just after it
‘Cūḷavaccha’ means roughly ‘junior Vaccha’. The very next poem in this chapter belongs to Mahāvaccha, ‘senior Vaccha’ — two monks sharing the clan name Vaccha, placed as this chapter's first two poems, distinguished only by the junior/senior prefix.
Key terms
pāmojja — “joy” or “gladness” — the verse's opening quality, positioned as leading toward peace.
padaṁ santaṁ — “the peaceful state” — what a joyful monk is said to realize.
saṅkhārūpasama — “the stilling of conditions” — a term for nibbāna describing it as the quieting of all conditioned processes.
thera — “senior” or “elder” — the title (as in Theragātha itself) that Chapter One's attribution lines always used, before Chapter Two abbreviates it away.
Vaccha — a clan name shared by at least three monks in this chapter — Cūḷavaccha, Mahāvaccha, and Vanavaccha — distinguished from one another by an added qualifier.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1A monk full of joy in the teaching proclaimed by the Buddha would realize the peaceful state, the blissful stilling of conditions.
· · ·
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 this verse say a monk full of joy in the teaching would realize?
Correct: C. The verse's central claim, opening Chapter Two.
Question 2 of 10
How does this verse's logic connect joy and peace?
Correct: B. Joy named as the cause, not the result.
Question 3 of 10
How does this poem's ending differ from every poem in Chapter One?
Correct: A. A new chapter-wide pattern begins here.
Question 4 of 10
What happened to the attribution formula in the Pali text for this chapter?
Correct: D. A standard abbreviation convention, left untranslated here.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'Cūḷavaccha' mean, roughly?
Correct: B. Distinguishing him from Mahāvaccha, 'senior Vaccha', in the very next poem.
Question 6 of 10
How many monks in this chapter share the clan name Vaccha?
Correct: C. Each distinguished by an added qualifier.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'saṅkhārūpasama' describe?
Correct: D. The verse's closing description of the peaceful state.
Question 8 of 10
What title does 'thera' name, used throughout Chapter One's attribution lines?
Correct: B. The same title giving the whole collection, Theragātha, its name.
Question 9 of 10
How long is this verse?
Correct: A. The chapter's new, shorter standard form.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Theragātha?
Correct: A. The first of ten poems in this new chapter.
