Rakkhita — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Eight · Poem 9 of 10
Setting
A retrospective declaration of the three roots overcome
Speaker
Rakkhita, in the first person
Form
One four-line verse, one root named per line, closing on a single image
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, a well-known category
Why this text
Rakkhita declares all three of the traditional root defilements — greed, hatred, and delusion — overcome, one per line, before closing: ‘I'm cooled, quenched’. The closing word, nibbuta, is the same participle used by several elders earlier in the Book of the Ones, and pairs with this chapter's own opening poem (Thag 1.71), which was the first in the collection to name Nibbāna outright.
Reading guide
Three roots, three different verbs
The verse names the three traditional root defilements — rāga (‘greed, lust’), dosa (‘hatred’), and moha (‘delusion’) — but does not describe their removal with a single repeated verb. Each gets its own: rāga is pahīna (‘given up’), dosa is samūhata (‘rooted out, eradicated’), and moha is vigata (‘departed, gone’). The variation keeps what could have been a mechanically repeated formula from reading as one.
'Quenched', a recurring close
Sītibhūtosmi nibbuto, ‘I'm cooled, quenched’, closes the verse with a participle, nibbuta, already used earlier in the Book of the Ones (Thag 1.5, 1.7, 1.8, and 1.32). This chapter's own opening poem, Thag 1.71, was the first verse in the whole collection to name the noun Nibbāna directly, rather than only gesturing at the goal through a cognate like this one. Together, the chapter's first and second-to-last poems both reach for the same root, at opposite ends of explicitness.
A name that doesn't obviously match
Rakkhita means ‘protected, guarded’, from rakkhati (‘protects’) — a common, auspicious-sounding name, but not one that points directly at this verse's content the way several other names in this chapter do. Vacchapāla's name touched on an occupation, Piyañjaha's matched its verse's theme, and Hatthārohaputta's supplied its verse's own simile; Rakkhita's, by contrast, gives no obvious handle on the three-roots declaration that follows it.
Key terms
rāga — “greed, lust” — the first root defilement named, described here as pahīna, ‘given up’.
dosa — “hatred, hostility” — the second root, described as samūhata, ‘rooted out’.
moha — “delusion” — the third root, described as vigata, ‘departed, gone’.
sītibhūta — “become cool” — paired with nibbuta in the verse's closing line.
Rakkhita — “protected, guarded” — from rakkhati, ‘protects’.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1All my lust is given up, all my hate is eradicated, all my delusion is gone: I’m cooled, quenched.
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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 three root defilements does this verse name?
Correct: C. Rāga, dosa, and moha, the traditional three roots.
Question 2 of 10
Does the verse use the same verb for the removal of all three roots?
Correct: C. Pahīna, samūhata, and vigata, three different words.
Question 3 of 10
What does the verse's closing line declare?
Correct: A. Sītibhūtosmi nibbuto, the verse's final words.
Question 4 of 10
Where else in the Book of the Ones has the participle 'nibbuta' appeared before this verse?
Correct: D. Several elders earlier in the Book of the Ones use this same word.
Question 5 of 10
How does this verse relate to Thag 1.71, this chapter's opening poem?
Correct: B. The chapter's opening and near-closing poems bracket the same root.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'dosa' mean?
Correct: A. The second of the three root defilements.
Question 7 of 10
What does the name Rakkhita mean?
Correct: D. From rakkhati, 'protects'.
Question 8 of 10
According to this reading guide, does Rakkhita's name obviously connect to this verse's content?
Correct: B. A contrast with this chapter's more transparently connected names.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'moha' mean?
Correct: A. The third of the three root defilements, described as 'departed'.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Eight?
Correct: D. The second-to-last poem, immediately before the chapter's close.
