Mettaji — The Book of the Ones · Chapter Ten · Poem 4 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; a verse of homage to the Buddha
Speaker
Mettaji, praising the Buddha in the third person
Form
One four-line verse, built on the word ‘best’ used twice
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 echo of the collection's own opening
Why this text
Mettaji opens with homage — ‘namo hi tassa bhagavato’, ‘homage to that Blessed One’ — wording that partly echoes the collection's own opening frame in Thag 1.1, before praising the Buddha for having reached ‘the best’ and taught ‘the best teaching’.
Reading guide
An echo of the collection's own opening homage
Namo hi tassa bhagavato shares its first three words with the universal homage formula that opens Thag 1.1's frame verses, namo tassa bhagavato (arahato sammāsambuddhassa). This verse doesn't continue with the full canonical formula, though — it moves instead to sakyaputtassa sirīmato, ‘the glorious Sakyan [son]’, its own description rather than the standard closing words.
'Best', twice over
Aggappattena (‘having reached the best’) and aggadhammo (‘the best teaching’) both build on agga, ‘best, foremost, highest’, giving the verse's second half a compact doubling: because he reached the best, what he taught was itself the best. Sudesito (‘beautifully taught’) closes the verse, praising not just what was taught but how.
Sakyaputta, a clan-based epithet
Sakyaputta, ‘son of the Sakyans’, refers to the Buddha's own clan, the Sakiyas of Kapilavatthu — a common way of identifying him by lineage throughout the wider canon, alongside epithets built from his achievements or qualities.
Key terms
namo — “homage” — the verse's opening word, shared with the collection's own opening frame in Thag 1.1.
sakyaputta — “son of the Sakyans” — identifying the Buddha by his own clan.
sirīmant — “glorious, splendid” — describing the Buddha in this verse's second line.
agga — “best, foremost, highest” — the root this verse's second half builds twice on.
sudesita — “beautifully taught” — su (‘well’) plus desita (‘taught’), the verse's closing word.
The text
The text in full: one verse, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Homage to that Blessed One, the glorious Sakyan! Having reached the best, he beautifully taught the best teaching.
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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's opening phrase share with Thag 1.1's opening frame?
Correct: B. Both open with this homage formula, though this verse continues differently.
Question 2 of 10
Does this verse continue with the full canonical formula ('arahato sammāsambuddhassa') after its opening words?
Correct: B. A partial echo, not a full repetition of the standard formula.
Question 3 of 10
What root does this verse's second half build on, used twice?
Correct: C. Aggappattena and aggadhammo, both from the same root.
Question 4 of 10
What does 'sakyaputta' mean?
Correct: D. Identifying the Buddha by his own clan.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'sirīmant' mean?
Correct: A. Describing the Buddha in this verse's second line.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'sudesita' mean?
Correct: C. Su ('well') plus desita ('taught').
Question 7 of 10
What kind of verse is this, according to this reading guide?
Correct: D. Praise directed outward, not a report of Mettaji's own attainment.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'namo' mean?
Correct: A. The verse's opening word.
Question 9 of 10
What clan does 'sakyaputta' identify the Buddha with?
