No narrative setting beyond what the verses state; the addressee is named only as Māra, the Wicked One
Speaker
Two voices: Māra, taunting Somā's capacity as a woman, then Somā, refuting him directly
Form
Two four-line verses, closing the Book of the Threes
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
★★★★☆ — one of the collection's most direct statements on gender and awakening
Why this text
This poem closes the Book of the Threes with Māra's sharpest taunt in this book: that with a woman's ‘two-inch wisdom’, the state the sages attain is simply not possible for her. Somā's reply — ‘what difference does womanhood make when the mind is serene’ — is one of the most direct statements on gender and awakening anywhere in this collection, closing the book on a note of outright refutation.
Reading guide
A taunt naming gender directly
Māra's opening verse is specific in a way the taunt to Selā was not: ‘that state's very challenging, it's for the sages to attain—with her two-inch wisdom, it's not possible for a woman’, naming Somā's gender as the stated obstacle itself.
A retort that refuses the premise entirely
Somā's reply does not argue that women can attain despite being women; it dismisses the category as irrelevant outright: ‘what difference does womanhood make when the mind is serene, and knowledge is present, as you rightly discern the Dhamma’ — gender named only to be set aside as beside the point.
The same closing quatrain as the poem just before it
‘Relishing is banished in every respect, and the mass of darkness is shattered... you're beaten, terminator!’ closes this poem exactly as it closed Thig 3.7 — the same victorious formula given to two different women answering two separate confrontations with Māra.
A book's ending, marked in the source text itself
Bilara's underlying source data marks the line immediately after this poem's verses with ‘Tikanipāto niṭṭhito’, ‘the Book of the Threes is finished’ — a bibliographic note, not part of the poem's own spoken content, but a structural close this guide preserves by ending here as well.
Key terms
Somā — this poem's speaker, whose reply to Māra's taunt closes the Book of the Threes.
dvaṅgulapañña — “two-inch wisdom” — Māra's taunt about a woman's capacity, directly named in his opening verse.
itthibhāva — “womanhood” — the term Somā herself uses in asking what difference it makes to a serene mind.
susamāhita — “serene” — the condition Somā names as what actually matters, in place of gender.
antaka — “terminator” or death itself — the same word Selā used to address Māra in Thig 3.7's identical closing line.
The text
The text in full: Māra's taunt, followed by Somā's reply, closing the Book of the Threes. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“That state’s very challenging; it’s for the sages to attain. With her two-inch wisdom, it’s not possible for a woman.”
§2“What difference does womanhood make when the mind is serene, and knowledge is present as you rightly discern the Dhamma.
§3Relishing is banished in every respect, and the mass of darkness is shattered. So know this, Wicked One: you’re beaten, terminator!”
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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 Māra's taunt claim, in this poem's opening verse?
Correct: B. A taunt naming her gender directly as the stated obstacle.
Question 2 of 10
How does Somā's reply treat the question of gender?
Correct: D. 'What difference does womanhood make when the mind is serene' — the premise itself is set aside.
Question 3 of 10
What two conditions does Somā name as what actually matters?
Correct: A. Named directly in her reply's second half.
Question 4 of 10
What closing quatrain does this poem share word for word with Thig 3.7?
Correct: C. The identical victorious formula given to two different women.
Question 5 of 10
What position does this poem hold in the Therigatha?
Correct: B. The eighth and last of this book's eight poems.
Question 6 of 10
What structural marker does the underlying source text place immediately after this poem?
Correct: D. A bibliographic close, not part of the poem's own spoken content.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'dvaṅgulapaññā' mean?
Correct: A. Named directly in Māra's opening taunt.
Question 8 of 10
How does this poem's confrontation compare to Thig 3.7's?
Correct: B. A sharper, more specific taunt than Māra's argument to Selā.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'itthibhāva' mean?
Correct: C. Named directly by Somā, then set aside as beside the point.
Question 10 of 10
What overall claim does Somā's reply make about the relationship between gender and awakening?
Correct: C. One of this collection's most direct statements on the question.
