This reading guide does not assert a specific matching text for this poem in other Buddhist literatures.
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — dense technical vocabulary packed into four lines
Why this text
This verse compresses the goal of the entire path into four lines addressed to a nun whose name, Dhīrā, already means ‘steadfast’ or ‘wise’. Where earlier poems in this book described release or fullness, this one names the destination directly: cessation, and then extinguishment itself.
Reading guide
A name meaning steadiness
‘Dhīrā’ carries connotations of firmness and wisdom — a fitting name for a verse whose instructions move directly and without hesitation toward the path's furthest point.
Cessation described as blissful, not blank
The verse specifies what ‘touching cessation’ means: ‘the blissful settling of perception’ — not an absence or a void, but a settling described in terms of ease.
Two words for the same destination
The verse's second half names the goal twice, in different registers: ‘win extinguishment’, then immediately ‘the supreme sanctuary from the yoke’ — one term naming what is attained, the other naming what it protects against.
The yoke, named again
This is the third poem in this book to use the image of the ‘yoke’, after Thig 1.2 and Thig 1.4 — a recurring thread across these otherwise very different, very short poems.
Key terms
Dhīrā — a nun's name carrying connotations of ‘steadfast’ or ‘wise’.
nirodha — “cessation” — what Dhīrā is instructed to touch, described here as a blissful settling rather than a blank absence.
nibbāna — “extinguishment” — named directly in this verse as the goal to be won.
yoga-kkhema — “sanctuary from the yoke” — a compound term naming safety from the ties that bind a person to further rebirth.
saññā — “perception” — the faculty this verse says settles blissfully at the moment cessation is touched.
The text
The text in full: a single four-line verse, with no attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Dhīrā, touch cessation, the blissful settling of perception. Win extinguishment, the supreme sanctuary from the yoke.
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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 name 'Dhīrā' carry connotations of?
Correct: B. A fitting name for a verse that moves directly toward the path's furthest point.
Question 2 of 10
How does the verse describe 'touching cessation'?
Correct: B. Ease and settling, not a void.
Question 3 of 10
What two terms does the verse's second half use for the same destination?
Correct: B. One naming what is attained, the other what it protects against.
Question 4 of 10
How many poems in this book, including this one, have used the image of the 'yoke'?
Correct: B. A recurring thread across otherwise very different poems.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'nirodha' mean?
Correct: A. Described here as a blissful settling of perception.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'yoga-kkhema' mean?
Correct: B. A compound term naming a specific kind of safety.
Question 7 of 10
What faculty does the verse say settles blissfully at cessation?
Correct: B. Named directly in the verse's first half.
Question 8 of 10
Does this poem have a closing attribution?
Correct: B. Continuing the bare, unattributed pattern of several poems in this book.
Question 9 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Ones?
Correct: B. Following the two poems addressed to nuns named Tissā.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'nibbāna' mean?
Correct: A. Named directly in this verse's second half.
