Brahmāli — The Book of the Twos · Chapter Five · Poem 3 of 9
Setting
A question, then its mirrored answer, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Brahmāli, posing a question and then answering it in nearly identical words
Form
Two four-line verses, the second echoing the first with only the pronoun changed
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
★★☆☆☆ — simple vocabulary, a symmetric structure worth noticing
Why this text
Brahmāli's poem asks whose faculties have become serene, like horses tamed by a charioteer, envied even by the gods — then answers with the very same lines, turned from ‘whose’ to ‘mine’: this collection's second poem built from a question and its own mirrored answer, after Thag 2.36 (Nitaka) earlier in this book.
Reading guide
A question, answered in its own words
The first verse asks: ‘whose faculties have become serene, like horses tamed by a charioteer? With conceit and defilements given up, who is such as envied by even the gods?’ The second verse answers with the identical lines, only the pronoun changed from ‘whose’ (kassa) to ‘mine’ (mayhaṁ) — the same device found at Thag 2.36, there built around a mind ‘like a rock’ rather than tamed horses.
A closing particle, appearing twice
Thag 2.36's question and answer form one continuous quotation, its closing quote-particle (iti) appearing only once, at the very end. This poem's Pali text carries that same closing particle a second time, already at the end of the first verse (tādinoti) as well as at the end of the second — a textual detail this reading guide notes without claiming to resolve what it implies about how the two verses were originally meant to be heard.
Horses tamed, an image used differently before
This collection has used horse imagery before — Thag 1.16 and 1.45 (Book of the Ones) each compare a person to ‘a good thoroughbred’ in opposite narrative directions. This poem's image is more specific still: not a horse's own character, but horses ‘tamed by a charioteer’, a formal simile (sārathi) not used in either earlier instance.
Key terms
indriyāni — “faculties” — what the poem describes as become serene.
samathaṅgatāni — “become serene, calmed” — the state the faculties are said to have reached.
sārathinā sudantā — “tamed by a charioteer” — the simile for the faculties' taming.
pahīnamānassa anāsavassa — “with conceit and defilements given up” — the condition described in both verses.
tādino — “such a one” — a standing epithet in the early canon for one who is unmoved, unaffected, steady.
The text
The text in full: two verses, without a translated attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Whose faculties have become serene, like horses tamed by a charioteer? With conceit and defilements given up, who is such as envied by even the gods?
§2My faculties have become serene, like horses tamed by a charioteer. With conceit and defilements given up, I am such as envied by even the gods.
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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 question, answered in the second verse.
Question 2 of 10
How does the second verse answer the first?
Correct: C. Kassa becomes mayhaṁ; the rest of the lines match.
Question 3 of 10
What earlier poem in this book uses the same self-question, self-answer device?
Correct: D. There built around a mind 'like a rock' rather than tamed horses.
Question 4 of 10
What textual detail does this poem's Pali carry that Thag 2.36's does not?
Correct: A. Already present at the end of the first verse, not only the second.
Question 5 of 10
What simile describes the faculties' taming?
Correct: D. Assā yathā sārathinā sudantā.
Question 6 of 10
How does this poem's horse imagery differ from Thag 1.16 and 1.45's?
Correct: B. A more specific, formal simile than either earlier instance.
Question 7 of 10
According to the poem, who envies one whose faculties are serene?
Correct: C. Devāpi pihayanti — envied even by the gods.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'tādino' mean?
Correct: B. A standing epithet in the early canon.
Question 9 of 10
What condition does both verses describe as already given up?
Correct: D. Pahīnamānassa anāsavassa.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in Chapter Five?
Correct: B. Following Kassapa the Prince and Dhammapāla.
