Ajita — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Two · Poem 10 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a short verse closing Chapter Two
Speaker
Ajita, stating his own equanimity directly
Form
One four-line verse, followed in the Pali by an untranslated chapter colophon and mnemonic summary verse
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 compact statement of equanimity, closing the chapter
Why this text
Ajita's verse closes Chapter Two with a balanced statement: ‘I do not fear death; nor do I long for life’ — refusing not only fear of dying but also any clinging to continued existence. ‘I'll lay down this body, aware and mindful’, he says, treating death as a deliberate release rather than something merely endured.
Reading guide
Equanimity toward both death and life, not just one
The verse's two opening claims work together rather than repeating each other: not fearing death addresses one common imbalance, while not longing for life addresses the opposite one — someone might lack fear of dying yet still cling to continued existence. Ajita's verse rules out both.
'Lay down', not 'be torn from'
The verb Ajita chooses for his own death, ‘I'll lay down this body’, frames the act as a deliberate release under his own control, rather than something inflicted on him from outside.
Aware and mindful, even at the final moment
The verse's closing pair, ‘aware and mindful’, names qualities of clear comprehension and recollection said to remain present even as the body is laid down — not lost in the process of dying, but sustained through it.
A chapter's own close, left untranslated
As with Chapter One's close at Thag 1.10, the Pali text here carries vaggo dutiyo, ‘the second chapter is finished’, followed by an uddāna naming all ten monks of this chapter in sequence: Cūḷavaccha, Mahāvaccha, Vanavaccha, Sīvaka, Kuṇḍadhāna, Belaṭṭhasīsa, Dāsaka, Siṅgālapitā, Kula, and Ajita. Sujato's translation leaves both untranslated, and neither appears in this page's text below.
Key terms
maraṇa — “death” — named directly in this verse's opening line.
nikanti — “longing” or “craving” — denied in this verse's second line, nikanti natthi jīvite, ‘no craving for life’.
sandeha — “this body”, literally something like “this heap” — what Ajita says he will lay down.
sampajāna — “aware” or “clearly comprehending” — one of two qualities named in the verse's closing line.
paṭissata — “mindful” — paired with sampajāna to close the verse.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1I do not fear death; nor do I long for life. I’ll lay down this body, aware and mindful.
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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 Ajita say about death and life?
Correct: D. A balanced statement addressing two different imbalances at once.
Question 2 of 10
Why do this verse's two opening claims matter together, not just separately?
Correct: A. Ruling out two different, opposite imbalances.
Question 3 of 10
What verb does Ajita use for his own death?
Correct: B. Framing death as something under his own control.
Question 4 of 10
What two qualities close this verse?
Correct: C. Present, the verse implies, even at the moment of death.
Question 5 of 10
What does the Pali text carry immediately after this poem, left untranslated by Sujato?
Correct: D. The same untranslated colophon pattern seen at the end of Chapter One.
Question 6 of 10
Does this page's text include that closing uddāna?
Correct: B. Consistent with how this site handles untranslated structural material.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'sandeha' mean in this verse?
Correct: A. What Ajita says he will lay down.
Question 8 of 10
How many monks' verses make up Chapter Two in total?
Correct: B. Cūḷavaccha through Ajita, named in sequence in the untranslated uddāna.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'nikanti' mean?
Correct: A. Denied directly in the verse's second line.
Question 10 of 10
How many more chapters remain in the Book of the Ones after this one?
Correct: C. Twelve chapters in total make up the Book of the Ones.
