The man who is only gathering flowers, with an attached mind,
unsatisfied in sense pleasures, Death gets under control.

pupphāni  hi    eva pacinantaṃ byāsatta+manasaṃ naraṃ
|                |       |          |               |               |           |
N.n.        part. part.  Adj.m.       Adj.         N.m.      N.m.
Acc.Pl.      |____|    Acc.Sg.          |          Acc.Sg.  Acc.Sg.
|___________|________|              |_________|          |
                    |                                      |                  |_____________________II.
                    |_____________________|________________________________I.

List of Abbreviations

atittañ    eva  kāmesu   antako       kurute    vasaṃ
|              |         |             |                |             |
Adj.m.  part.   N.m.      N.m.     V.med.in.   N.m.
Acc.Sg.   |     Loc.Pl.  Nom.Sg.  3.Sg.pres.  Acc.Sg.
|________|_____|             |                |_______|
I.__________|                 |_____________|
II.____|                                      |
       |_______________________|

pupphāni: puppha-, N.n.: flower. By "flowers" are here meant pleasures of the senses. Nom.Pl. = pupphāni.

hi, part.: indeed.

eva, part.: just, only.

pacinantaṃ: pacinant-, Adj.: collecting, gathering. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb pacinati (to gather, to collect), which has the verb root ci- (to heap, to collect) with the strengthening prefix pa-. Acc.Sg.m. = pacinantaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

byāsattamanasaṃ: byāsattamanasa-, Adj.: with attached mind. A compound of:
    byāsatta-, Adj.: attached, clinging. It is a p.p. of the verb root sajj- (to be attached)
    with the prefixes vi- (intensifying) and ā- (towards). Euphonic combination:
    vi- + ā- = vyā-. The change from v- to b- is common in Pali.
    manas-, N.m.: mind.
Acc.Sg.m. = byāsattamanasaṃ.

naraṃ: nara-, N.m.: man. Acc.Sg. = naraṃ.

atittañ: atitta-, Adj.: unsatisfied. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word titta-, Adj.: satisfied, contented. This is a p.p. of the verb root tapp- (to be satisfied). Acc.Sg. = atittaṃ. Euphonic combination: atittaṃ + eva = atittañ eva.

List of Abbreviations

eva: see above.

kāmesu: kāma-, N.m.: sense-pleasure, sense desire. Loc.Pl. = kāmesu.

antako: antaka-, N.m.: 'the ender', end maker, death. Derived from the word anta-, N.n.: end. Nom.Sg. = antako.

kurute, V.: does. The verb root is kar- (to do). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = kurute.

vasaṃ: vasa-, N.m.: power, authority, control. Acc.Sg. = vasaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    The subject of this sentence is the noun antako (Death, nominative singular). The verbal phrase kurute vasaṃ (makes control; 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative present tense; and accusative singular) fulfills the role of a verb in this sentence. The object is the noun naraṃ (man, accusative singular). It has three attributes:
    1) pupphāni heva pacinantaṃ (only gathering flowers). The main object is the active present participle pacinantaṃ (gathering, accusative singular) and the noun pupphāni (flowers, accusative plural) is its attribute. Two particles, hi (indeed) and eva (just, only) are here mainly for metrical purposes.
    2) byāsattamanasaṃ (having attached mind, accusative singular).
    3) atittañ eva kāmesu (unsatisifed in sense pleasures). The main object is the past participle atittañ (unsatisfied, accusative singular) and the noun kāmesu (in sense pleasures, locative plural) is its attribute. The particle eva (just, only) serves only metrical purposes.

    In the city of Sāvatthi there lived a woman named Pati Pujikā Kumāri. She was very generous and virtuous. She gave alms to everyone in need and generally helped everybody.
    She also remembered her one previous life. She used to be one of the wives of the God
Mālabhāri in the Tāvatimsa heaven. So she would often pray that she might be born there again in her next life.
    One day she fell ill and passed away. And she was really reborn in the Tāvatimsa heaven. The other gods did not even miss her, because one hundred years in the human world is just one day in Tāvatimsa. So they asked her, where had she been the whole morning. She then told them the whole story.
    When the Buddha heard, that Pati Pujikā died, he explained that the life was very brief. Before the beings could be satisfied in the pleasures of the senses, they would be overpowered by death.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

pupphāni
hi
eva
pacinantaṃ
byāsattamanasaṃ
byāsatta
manasaṃ
naraṃ
atittañ
kāmesu
antako
kurute
vasaṃ