Valliya — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Three · Poem 4 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; two four-line verses, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Valliya, vowing effort and requesting instruction
Form
Two four-line verses — a vow, then a direct request addressed to a teacher
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 direct, energetic vow and request
Why this text
Valliya vows to do the duty of one whose energy is strong and who longs to wake up, without fail — then turns to address a teacher directly: ‘teach me the path’, promising to know it with wisdom as surely as the Ganges knows the ocean.
Reading guide
A vow, stated with confidence
The first verse names ‘the duty of one whose energy is strong’ and ‘the duty of one who longs to wake up’, then commits to it outright: ‘that I'll do, I won't fail’, closing with a direct challenge — ‘see my energy and vigor!’
A request, not a declaration
The second verse shifts register entirely: rather than reporting an attainment already reached, Valliya directly addresses someone — presumably a teacher — asking to be taught ‘the direct route whose objective is freedom from death’. This poem is a petition, a rarer mode in this book than retrospective or declarative verses.
A simile of certainty, not yet of attainment
The poem closes with a simile — ‘I'll know it with wisdom, as the Ganges knows the ocean’ — expressing confidence in a future outcome, not reporting a result already reached. The image pictures inevitability (a river's flow reaching the sea) rather than completion.
Completing this collection's Valliya trilogy
This is the third and final monk named Valliya in the Theragātha: Valliya (1st) at Thag 1.53 addressed a rain god from a literal hut; Valliya (2nd) at Thag 2.3 pictured a monkey caught by wisdom at a five-doored hut; this poem, Valliya (3rd), abandons hut imagery altogether for a direct vow and request — the most different in register of the three.
Key terms
daḷhavīriyena — “whose energy is strong” — the quality named in the first verse's opening duty.
boddhumicchatā — “who longs to wake up” — the second duty named alongside strong energy.
maggamakkhāhi — “teach me the path” — the direct request opening the second verse.
añjasaṁ amatogadhaṁ — “the direct route whose objective is freedom from death” — what Valliya asks to be taught, a phrase that recurs later in this same chapter.
gaṅgāsotova sāgaran — “as the Ganges knows the ocean” — the poem's closing simile of confident, inevitable arrival.
The text
The text in full: two verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1The duty of one whose energy is strong; the duty of one who longs to wake up: that I’ll do, I won’t fail—see my energy and vigor!
§2Teach me the path, the direct route whose objective is freedom from death. I’ll know it with wisdom, as the Ganges knows the ocean.
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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 two duties does the first verse name?
Correct: A. Two paired qualities opening the poem's vow.
Question 2 of 10
What does the second verse do that differs from most verses in this book?
Correct: C. A petition, rarer than this book's usual retrospective declarations.
Question 3 of 10
What does the poem's closing simile compare Valliya's future knowing to?
Correct: D. An image of confident, inevitable arrival, not yet of completion.
Question 4 of 10
How does this poem's register compare to Valliya (1st) at Thag 1.53 and Valliya (2nd) at Thag 2.3?
Correct: C. Completing a trilogy that moves from literal, to figurative, to direct address.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'boddhumicchatā' mean?
Correct: D. The second duty named in the first verse.
Question 6 of 10
What phrase does this poem share with Thag 2.30, later in this same chapter?
Correct: D. A recurring formula within the chapter, worth watching for.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'daḷhavīriyena' mean?
Correct: A. The first quality named in the poem's opening vow.
Question 8 of 10
How many monks named Valliya appear across the Theragātha, once this poem is included?
Correct: C. Valliya (1st), (2nd), and now (3rd).
Question 9 of 10
What is the tone of this poem's first verse?
Correct: B. A direct, energetic vow rather than a tentative one.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Three?
Correct: B. Following Uttara (2nd), Bhaddaji, and Sobhita.
