No narrative setting beyond what the verses state; no closing attribution
Speaker
The nun Mettikā, speaking entirely in the first person
Form
A four-line verse followed by a six-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
★★☆☆☆ — best read directly alongside Thig 2.5
Why this text
This poem repeats Thig 2.5's basic account almost exactly: an elderly, ailing nun climbs a mountain with a staff, sets down her robe and bowl, and awakens seated on a rock. The two poems are close enough in structure that reading them together reveals a shared template underlying two different women's testimony.
Reading guide
Age and pain named directly, as in Thig 2.5
‘Though in pain, feeble, my youth long gone’ opens this verse in language close to Cittā's own opening — physical difficulty stated as fact before anything else follows.
The same climb, the same staff
‘I climb the mountain, leaning on a staff’ repeats Thig 2.5's exact line — the same active, chosen difficulty, described in identical wording.
A small variation in the awakening's setting
Where Thig 2.5 describes Cittā ‘propping herself against a rock’, this verse has Mettikā ‘sitting on a rock’ — nearly the same image, with a small shift from leaning to sitting.
A different closing formula than Thig 2.5's
Rather than repeating Thig 1.3's ‘mass of darkness’ image as Thig 2.5 does, this verse closes with the ‘three knowledges’ formula already seen in Thig 2.4 — the same underlying template, closed with a different standard formula each time.
daṇḍa — “staff” — named in identical wording to Thig 2.5's account of the mountain climb.
tevijjā — “the three knowledges” — the same closing formula used in Thig 2.4, here closing this verse instead of Thig 2.5's 'mass of darkness' image.
pabbata — “mountain” — the setting shared between this verse and Thig 2.5, both describing an elderly, ailing nun's climb.
cariyā — not used here; another of this book's poems with no closing attribution, closely paired with Thig 2.5 immediately before it.
The text
The text in full: two verses, with no attribution. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Though in pain, feeble, my youth long gone, I climb the mountain, leaning on a staff.
§2Having laid down my outer robe and overturned my bowl, sitting on a rock, my mind was freed. I’ve attained the three knowledges, and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
· · ·
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
How does this verse's opening compare to Thig 2.5's?
Correct: B. A close parallel between these two adjacent poems' openings.
Question 2 of 10
What line does this verse share in identical wording with Thig 2.5?
Correct: B. The same active, chosen difficulty, described in identical words.
Question 3 of 10
What small variation appears in this verse's description of the awakening moment?
Correct: A. A small shift from leaning to sitting, otherwise closely matching Thig 2.5.
Question 4 of 10
What closing formula does this verse use, different from Thig 2.5's?
Correct: B. The same underlying template closed with a different standard formula.
Question 5 of 10
What does reading this poem alongside Thig 2.5 reveal?
Correct: B. Close structural similarity worth noticing when the two are read together.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'tevijjā' mean?
Correct: A. Also used to close Thig 2.4's verse.
Question 7 of 10
Does this poem have a closing attribution?
Correct: B. No formal attribution note, matching Thig 2.5's pattern.
Question 8 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Twos?
Correct: B. Immediately following Cittā's closely matching verses.
Question 9 of 10
What setting do both this poem and Thig 2.5 share?
Correct: B. The shared physical setting of both accounts.
Question 10 of 10
How long is this poem's second verse, compared to Thig 2.5's?
Correct: B. The closing 'three knowledges' formula adds length not present in Thig 2.5's version.
