Nitaka — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Four · Poem 6 of 10
Setting
No narrative setting; two extended six-line verses, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Nitaka, posing a question and then answering it himself
Form
A six-line question, then a six-line answer in nearly identical wording
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 riddle immediately answered by its own asker
Why this text
Nitaka asks, at length, whose mind is like a rock — steady, never trembling, free of desire for desirable things, undisturbed by what's annoying — then answers his own question in nearly identical words: ‘my mind is like a rock’.
Reading guide
A question, built up across six lines
The first verse poses a riddle rather than a declaration: ‘whose mind is like a rock, steady, never trembling... free of desire for desirable things, not getting annoyed when things are annoying?’, closing with a further question about where suffering could possibly reach such a mind.
The same words, answered
The second verse doesn't introduce a different figure or argument; it repeats the first verse's wording almost exactly, changing only the pronoun from third-person question (‘whose’) to first-person answer (‘my mind is like a rock’) — the riddle and its solution built from the same materials.
A structure distinct from this book's usual pattern
Both verses run to six lines rather than this book's usual four, and the question-then-answer shape itself is new among the poems read so far in the Book of the Twos — not a report of attainment or an image applied to a listener, but a riddle the speaker poses and immediately resolves in his own name.
Key terms
selūpamaṁ cittaṁ — “mind like a rock” — the central simile, repeated word for word in both verses.
na anupakampati — “never trembling” — describing the rock-mind's steadiness.
virattaṁ rajanīyesu — “free of desire for desirable things” — one of two qualities named for this steady mind.
kuppanīye na kuppati — “not getting annoyed when things are annoying” — the second paired quality.
bhāvitaṁ cittaṁ — “a mind that is developed” — named in both the question and its answer as the reason suffering cannot reach it.
The text
The text in full: two six-line verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Whose mind is like a rock, steady, never trembling—free of desire for desirable things, not getting annoyed when things are annoying? From where will suffering strike one whose mind is developed like this?
§2My mind is like a rock, steady, never trembling—free of desire for desirable things, not getting annoyed when things are annoying. From where will suffering strike me whose mind is developed like this?
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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 the first verse ask?
Correct: A. A riddle rather than a declaration opens the poem.
Question 2 of 10
How does the second verse relate to the first?
Correct: B. The riddle and its solution built from the same materials.
Question 3 of 10
What two qualities does the poem name for this steady mind?
Correct: B. Paired qualities repeated in both verses.
Question 4 of 10
How long is each of this poem's two verses?
Correct: D. Both verses extended, unlike poems with only one extended stanza.
Question 5 of 10
What structural pattern does this poem use, unusual for this book so far?
Correct: C. New among the Book of the Twos poems read so far.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'selūpamaṁ cittaṁ' mean?
Correct: D. The central simile, repeated word for word.
Question 7 of 10
What does the closing line of each verse ask or claim?
Correct: C. The same rhetorical question, posed then answered.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'kuppanīye na kuppati' mean?
Correct: A. One of the two paired qualities of the rock-like mind.
Question 9 of 10
Does the second verse introduce any new figure or argument?
Correct: C. Riddle and answer built from identical wording.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Four?
Correct: B. Following Migasira, Sivaka, Upavāṇa, Isidinna, and Sambulakaccāna.
