Khujjasobhita — The Book of the Threes · Chapter One · Poem 6 of 16
Setting
A doorway in Pāṭaliputta, without a translated attribution
Speaker
Two unnamed voices describing the same old monk, then a third voice replying
Form
Three four-line verses — a respectful description, an unkind repetition of it, then a reply
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, an ambiguous multi-voice structure
Why this text
The same three lines describe an old monk standing at the door of a house in Pāṭaliputta — once respectfully, among ‘brilliant speakers, very learned’, and once unkindly, ‘trembling in the gale’ — before a third verse answers, crediting happiness to a spiritual life ‘fought and won’ like a battle.
Reading guide
The same lines, twice, with one word changed
The first and second verses share their first three lines word for word: ‘one of those monks who live in Pāṭaliputta — such brilliant speakers, and very learned — stands at the door’. Only the closing line differs — the first names Khujjasobhita respectfully, the second calls him ‘an old man, trembling in the gale’. Whether this is one voice correcting itself, or two different voices describing the same figure with opposite intent, the poem does not say.
A reply, in the language of battle
The third verse answers, but not by refuting the mockery directly: ‘by war well fought, by sacrifice well made, by victory in battle; by leading the spiritual life: that's how one prospers in happiness’. The martial vocabulary reframes physical frailty as irrelevant beside a different kind of victory, without ever denying the description of an old, trembling man.
Voices this reading guide does not assign
This collection has met unassigned dialogue before — Thag 1.56's exchange over a hut, whose speakers the poem itself never distinguishes. This poem is a starker case still: three near-identical verses, at least two apparently opposed in tone, with no narrative frame naming who speaks first, who mocks, or who answers. This reading guide follows the same principle as with Thag 1.56 — describing the structure honestly rather than inventing a cast to resolve it.
Key terms
cittakathī bahussutā — “brilliant speakers, and very learned” — how the monks of Pāṭaliputta are described in the shared opening lines.
māluterito — “trembling in the gale” — the unkind closing line of the second verse.
suyuddhena suyiṭṭhena — “by war well fought, by sacrifice well made” — the martial language opening the third verse's reply.
saṅgāmavijayena — “by victory in battle” — continuing the same martial image.
brahmacariyānuciṇṇena — “by leading the spiritual life” — the reply's actual subject, framed as a battle won.
The text
The text in full: three verses, with no separate attribution line in this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“One of those monks who live in Pāṭaliputta—such brilliant speakers, and very learned—stands at the door: the old man, Khujjasobhita.
§2One of those monks who live in Pāṭaliputta—such brilliant speakers, and very learned—stands at the door: an old man, trembling in the gale.”
§3“By war well fought, by sacrifice well made, by victory in battle; by leading the spiritual life: that’s how one prospers in happiness.”
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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 do the first and second verses share?
Correct: C. One respectful, one unkind, in the closing line alone.
Question 2 of 10
How does the second verse's closing line describe the old monk?
Correct: C. Contrasting the first verse's respectful naming.
Question 3 of 10
What vocabulary does the third verse's reply use?
Correct: B. Reframing physical frailty beside a different kind of victory.
Question 4 of 10
Does the third verse directly refute the description of an old, trembling man?
Correct: D. The reframing happens without contradiction.
Question 5 of 10
Does this poem assign its three verses to named, distinguished speakers?
Correct: C. An ambiguity this reading guide describes rather than resolves.
Question 6 of 10
What earlier poem in this collection features a similarly unassigned dialogue?
Correct: A. This reading guide follows the same principle in both cases.
Question 7 of 10
Where is the old monk said to be standing?
Correct: B. Dvāre tiṭṭhati — at the door.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'cittakathī bahussutā' mean?
Correct: A. Describing the monks of Pāṭaliputta in the shared opening lines.
Question 9 of 10
What does the third verse credit for prospering in happiness?
Correct: D. Brahmacariyānuciṇṇena, evāyaṁ sukhamedhati.
Question 10 of 10
Where does this poem fall in the Book of the Threes?
Correct: D. Following Aṅgaṇikabhāradvāja, Paccaya, Bākula, Dhaniya, and Mātaṅgaputta.
