Kassapa — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Nine · Poem 2 of 10
Setting
No narrative frame; a direct address, in the imperative, to a child
Speaker
Unnamed; the verse does not identify who is speaking to whom
Form
One four-line verse, entirely second-person instruction
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, an unusual register
Why this text
Unlike most verses in this collection, this one is not a first-person declaration of the speaker's own path. It is entirely in the imperative, addressed to puttaka (‘child, little one’): go wherever there is plenty of food, safety, and freedom from danger, and ‘may you not be overcome by sorrow’. No narrative explains who is speaking, or why.
Reading guide
Words spoken to a child, not about the speaker
Every verb in this poem is a second-person imperative or optative directed at ‘child’ — ‘go... may you not be overcome’. This is not Kassapa describing his own attainment; it reads instead as remembered or quoted speech, attributed to him but not spoken in his own first-person voice. This collection has already shown a few instances of an elder's verse actually preserving someone else's words — Thag 1.14 (Sīvaka) opens by quoting his preceptor directly, and Thag 1.56–1.57 (the two Kuṭivihārins) are built from quoted dialogue. This verse fits that same structural pattern, though it gives no clue to who is speaking, who the child is, or the occasion.
A blessing, not a testimony
Where most of this collection's verses declare something already achieved — freedom, insight, the end of craving — this one is entirely forward-looking and protective: a wish for someone else's safety and freedom from grief, not a report of the speaker's own state.
A name shared very widely
Kassapa is among the most common names in the early canon — shared by the Buddha's own foremost disciple in ascetic practice, by three brothers converted early in the Buddha's ministry, and by a Buddha of a past age. Given how widely the name was carried, this reading guide treats any specific identification as considerably less likely than in cases involving rarer names, and does not attempt one.
Key terms
puttaka — “little child, little son” — a diminutive of putta, the person this verse addresses.
subhikkha — “having plentiful food” — su (‘good’) plus bhikkha (‘alms, food’).
sivā — “safe, wholesome” — describing the place the child is told to seek out.
abhaya — “free from danger, fearless” — a (negation) plus bhaya (‘fear, danger’).
sokāpahata — “overcome, struck down by sorrow” — soka (‘sorrow’) plus āpahata (‘struck, afflicted’).
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Go, child, to any place where there’s plenty of food, where it’s safe and free of peril—may you not be overcome by sorrow!
· · ·
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 grammatical form does nearly every verb in this verse take?
Correct: A. The verse is entirely instruction directed outward, not self-description.
Question 2 of 10
What does the verse tell the child to seek out?
Correct: A. Subhikkhāni, sivāni, abhayāni — the three qualities named.
Question 3 of 10
What two earlier poems does this reading guide compare this verse to, as examples of an elder's verse preserving someone else's quoted words?
Correct: D. Both preserve quoted speech rather than first-person self-testimony.
Question 4 of 10
Does this verse describe the speaker's own attainment, the way most verses in this collection do?
Correct: B. An unusually protective, other-directed register.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'puttaka' mean?
Correct: C. A diminutive of putta, addressed directly by the verse.
Question 6 of 10
How common is the name Kassapa in the early canon, according to this reading guide?
Correct: D. Shared by a chief disciple, three converted brothers, and a past Buddha.
Question 7 of 10
Does this reading guide attempt to identify which Kassapa this elder was?
Correct: C. A wider name than most other same-name cases in this collection.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'sokāpahata' mean?
Correct: C. What the verse hopes the child will not become.
Question 9 of 10
Does the verse identify who is speaking or who the child is?
Correct: D. No narrative frame is supplied.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Nine?
Correct: B. Immediately after Samitigutta's verse, which opens the chapter.
