Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Therigatha · 3.3

Another Uttamā

Uttamā — The Book of the Threes · Poem 3 of 8

Setting
No narrative setting beyond what the verses state; no closing attribution
Speaker
A second nun named Uttamā, listing her own attainments in the first person
Form
Three four-line verses
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 most doctrinally dense checklist so far in this book

Why this text

This poem's title, ‘Another Uttamā’, names the collection's second same-name pair to sit inside a single book — unlike Thig 2.10 and Thig 3.1's Sāmās, split across a book boundary, this Uttamā follows the first immediately. Where that first Uttamā told a story of a specific teacher and a seven-day practice, this one offers something different: a compact list of attainments, stated without narrative.

Reading guide

A second same-name pair, closer together this time

Thig 3.1's ‘Another Sāmā’ pointed back across a book boundary to Thig 2.10. This poem's ‘Another Uttamā’ points back only one poem, to Thig 3.2 — the collection's second instance of two same-named women placed one after the other.

Seven factors, all of them developed

‘Of the seven awakening factors, the path for attaining extinguishment, I have developed them all, just as the Buddha taught’ — a direct claim to complete, not partial, mastery of a named standard list.

Two meditations, available on demand

‘I attain the meditations on emptiness and signlessness whenever I want’ frames her mastery not as something that occurred once but as available at will — a distinct kind of claim from a single dated breakthrough.

A rightful daughter, and a closing formula reused

‘I am the Buddha's rightful daughter, always delighting in extinguishment’ is a striking self-description, and the poem's final lines — ‘transmigration through births is finished, now there'll be no more future lives’ — use this collection's standard closing formula for the first time in the Book of the Threes.

Key terms

bojjhaṅga — the seven awakening factors, a standard list this poem claims to have developed in full.
suññata — “emptiness” — one of two meditations named as attainable ‘whenever I want’.
animitta — “signlessness” — the second of the two meditations named alongside emptiness.
orasā dhītā buddhassa — “the Buddha's rightful daughter” — this poem's own striking self-description.
punabbhava — “future life” or rebirth — denied outright in this poem's closing line, the collection's standard formula for an ended cycle.

The text

The text in full: three verses. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1Of the seven awakening factors, the path for attaining extinguishment, I have developed them all, just as the Buddha taught.

§2I attain the meditations on emptiness and signlessness whenever I want. I am the Buddha’s rightful daughter, always delighting in extinguishment.

§3All sensual pleasures are cut off, whether human or heavenly. Transmigration through births is finished, now there’ll be no more future lives.

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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 this poem's title, 'Another Uttamā', signal?
Correct: B. Unlike Sāmā's pair, split across a book boundary, this pair sits one poem apart.
Question 2 of 10
What does the first verse claim about the seven awakening factors?
Correct: C. A direct claim to complete, not partial, mastery.
Question 3 of 10
How does the poem describe her access to the meditations on emptiness and signlessness?
Correct: B. 'I attain the meditations... whenever I want' — mastery framed as availability, not a single event.
Question 4 of 10
How does this poem describe itself as the Buddha's daughter?
Correct: C. A striking, direct self-description at this poem's turning point.
Question 5 of 10
What closing formula appears in this poem for the first time in the Book of the Threes?
Correct: B. The collection's standard formula for an ended cycle of rebirth, reused here.
Question 6 of 10
How does this poem's structure compare to Thig 3.2's?
Correct: D. A checklist register rather than the specific seven-day narrative of the poem just before it.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'bojjhaṅga' refer to?
Correct: A. Named directly as fully developed, 'just as the Buddha taught'.
Question 8 of 10
What are the two meditations this poem names as attainable at will?
Correct: A. 'Suññatassānimittassa' — emptiness and signlessness, named together.
Question 9 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Book of the Threes?
Correct: D. Directly following Thig 3.2, sharing that poem's speaker's name.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'animitta' mean?
Correct: C. Paired directly with 'suññata' as the two meditations attained at will.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousThig 3.2 · Uttamā