Sāmidatta — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Nine · Poem 10 of 10
Setting
A retrospective declaration, closing this chapter's tenth and final poem
Speaker
Sāmidatta, in the first person
Form
One four-line verse, followed by the chapter's formulaic double closing
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 precise doctrinal point
Why this text
Sāmidatta declares the five aggregates fully understood: ‘they remain, but their root is cut’. The verse's closing couplet — ‘transmigration through births is finished, now there'll be no more future lives’ — is the third time this exact wording has appeared in this collection, after Thag 1.67 and Thag 1.87.
Reading guide
Aggregates remain, but the root is cut
Pañcakkhandhā pariññātā, tiṭṭhanti chinnamūlakā: the five aggregates are fully understood; they remain, but their root is cut. This is a precise doctrinal claim, distinct from Thag 1.87's ‘all rebirths are shattered’ one poem back — this verse says the present aggregates, body and mind, are still standing (tiṭṭhanti), because the speaker is still alive. What has been severed is their root: the craving and ignorance that would otherwise generate a new set of aggregates after this life ends. It is the difference between a fire already out and a fire that will not be fed again once this last supply of fuel burns down.
A third appearance of the same closing couplet
Vikkhīṇo jātisaṁsāro, natthi dāni punabbhavo closes this verse exactly as it closed Thag 1.67 (from Chapter Seven) and Thag 1.87 (seven poems earlier in this same chapter). This is the third time this exact two-line formula has appeared, word for word, across the collection so far.
Twin poems bookending the chapter's second half
Thag 1.87 and this verse are unusually closely matched: both open on the aggregates (khandhā diṭṭhā / pañcakkhandhā pariññātā), both close on the identical couplet, and both fall in the same chapter, seven poems apart. This is one of the more tightly matched pairs of poems within a single chapter found anywhere in this project so far.
The chapter's double closing
As in every chapter so far, two more lines follow the poem itself, both left untranslated by Sujato: vaggo navamo (‘the ninth chapter [ends]’), then an uddāna listing all ten names. This uddāna adds two epithets not found in either elder's own verse: Ajjuna becomes ajjuno isi (‘Ajjuna the sage’), and Sāmidatta himself becomes sāmidatto mahabbalo (‘Sāmidatta of great strength’) — the same kind of added detail seen in Chapter Eight's uddāna, which called Māṇava isi without his own verse making that claim.
Key terms
khandha — “aggregate” — here specified as pañca (‘five’), the standard components of a person.
pariññāta — “fully understood” — describing the aggregates' status in this verse.
chinnamūlaka — “having its root cut” — chinna (‘cut’) plus mūla (‘root’), the verse's key doctrinal image.
vaggo navamo — “the ninth chapter [ends]” — the untranslated closing marker for this chapter.
mahabbala — “of great strength” — an epithet added to Sāmidatta's name in the chapter's uddāna, not found in his own verse.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1The five aggregates are fully understood; they remain, but their root is cut. Transmigration through births is finished, now there’ll be no more future lives.
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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 this verse say about the five aggregates?
Correct: A. Pañcakkhandhā pariññātā, tiṭṭhanti chinnamūlakā.
Question 2 of 10
According to this reading guide, what is the doctrinal point of 'they remain, but their root is cut'?
Correct: C. A fire already out, versus a fire that won't be fed again once its last fuel burns down.
Question 3 of 10
How many times has this verse's exact closing couplet now appeared in this collection?
Correct: C. Confirmed by direct comparison with the two earlier poems.
Question 4 of 10
What earlier poem in this same chapter does this verse form an unusually close pair with?
Correct: D. Both open on the aggregates and close on the identical couplet.
Question 5 of 10
What two untranslated lines follow this verse, as in every chapter so far?
Correct: D. Vaggo navamo, then the uddāna.
Question 6 of 10
What epithet does the chapter's uddāna add to Ajjuna's name, not found in his own verse?
Correct: A. Ajjuno isi, matching the pattern seen with Māṇava in Chapter Eight's uddāna.
Question 7 of 10
What epithet does the uddāna add to Sāmidatta's own name?
Correct: D. Sāmidatto mahabbalo, an addition not found in his own verse.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'pariññāta' mean?
Correct: A. Describing the aggregates' status in this verse.
