No narrative setting, and no closing attribution of any kind
Speaker
Not identified; presented as direct address to Tissā, with no attribution stating who speaks
Form
A single four-line verse, nothing more
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
★☆☆☆☆ — the bare minimum form this collection's shortest poems take
Why this text
Where Thig 1.1 through 1.3 each closed with an attribution naming a speaker and occasion, this poem has none at all — just four lines addressed to a nun named Tissā, with no indication of who is speaking to her or when. From this poem through several more in this book, the collection settles into its barest possible form.
Reading guide
An address with no framing at all
Unlike the first three poems in this book, Thig 1.4 supplies neither a homage line nor a closing attribution — just the verse itself, addressed directly to ‘Tissā’ in the second person.
A double instruction: train, and don't be overcome
The verse gives two related commands: ‘train in the trainings’ (an active pursuit) and ‘don't let your yokes overcome you’ (a defensive posture) — discipline and resistance to setback presented as two sides of the same practice.
A conditional promise closing the verse
The verse ends by describing what follows if the instruction is kept: ‘unyoked from all yokes, live in the world free of defilements’ — not a promise of leaving the world behind, but of living within it differently.
The first of several unattributed poems in this book
Several of the Book of the Ones' remaining poems follow this same bare pattern — a direct address with no framing device at all — before the book's later poems shift back toward first-person testimony.
Key terms
Tissā — the nun addressed in this poem; a second, different nun of the same name is addressed in the very next poem, Thig 1.5.
sikkhā — “training” — what Tissā is instructed to actively pursue in this verse's opening line.
yoga — “yoke” — the same recurring image from Thig 1.2, here something to avoid being overcome by, rather than simply released from.
kilesa — “defilement” — what the verse says a person unyoked from all yokes lives free of, while still living in the world.
cariyā — not used here; this poem's total lack of any closing formula marks a further contrast with the Cariyapitaka's uniform closing convention.
The text
The text in full: a single four-line verse, with no attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Tissā, train in the trainings—don’t let your yokes overcome you. Unyoked from all yokes, live in the world free of defilements.
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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 is unusual about this poem's ending, compared to Thig 1.1–1.3?
Correct: B. Just four lines of direct address, nothing more.
Question 2 of 10
What two instructions does the verse give?
Correct: B. An active pursuit paired with a defensive posture.
Question 3 of 10
What does the verse promise if this instruction is followed?
Correct: B. Living within the world differently, not leaving it behind.
Question 4 of 10
How many nuns named Tissā appear across this book's poems?
Correct: B. Distinguished by the title 'Another Tissā' in the next poem.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'sikkhā' mean?
Correct: A. Named directly in the verse's opening command.
Question 6 of 10
What does the phrase 'unyoked from all yokes' describe?
Correct: B. The outcome the verse's second half describes.
Question 7 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Ones?
Correct: B. Following Thig 1.1 through 1.3.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'kilesa' mean?
Correct: A. Named in the verse's closing line.
Question 9 of 10
How does this poem's lack of attribution affect what we know about its speaker?
Correct: B. No indication is given either way.
Question 10 of 10
What broader pattern does this poem begin within the Book of the Ones?
Correct: B. The barest possible form this collection's shortest poems take.
