Gāthā Sentence Translation Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar Commentary Pronunciation
List of Abbreviations

na paresaṃ vilomāni na paresaṃ katākataṃ

attano va avekkheyya katāni akatāni ca

(DhP 50)



Sentence Translation:

One should not look at others' wrong deeds, what the others have done or not.
One should look only at what one oneself has and has not done.



Sentence Structure:

List of Abbreviations

na   paresaṃ vilomāni  na paresaṃ  kata+akataṃ
|            |             |        |         |          |         |

neg.  Adj.m.     N.n.   neg.  Adj.m.  N.n.   N.n.

|       Gen.Pl.  Acc.Sg.   |     Gen.Pl.   |     Acc.Sg.

|            |_______|        |         |          |_____|

|__________|               |         |________|

         |                         |_________|

         |__________________|

                       |______________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

attano     va   avekkheyya katāni   akatāni    ca
|               |            |              |            |          |

Pron.m. part.   V.med.       N.n.      N.n.    conj.

Gen.Sg.    |     3.Sg.opt.    Acc.Pl.  Acc.Pl.     |

|________|            |              |_______|______|

       |___________|                        |

                 |___________________|

___________________|



Vocabulary and Grammar:

List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

paresaṃ: para-, Adj.m.: other. Gen.Pl. = paresaṃ.

vilomāni: viloma-, Adj.: wrong, bad. As an N.n.: wrong thing, wrong behavior.
Acc.Pl. = vilomāni.

na: see above.

paresaṃ: see above.

List of Abbreviations

katākataṃ: katākata-, N.n.: what is done and undone. A compound of:
    kata-, Adj.: done. It is a p.p. of the verb root kar- (to do).

    As an N.n.: done thing, accomplished thing.

    akata-, Adj.: undone. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word kata- (see above).

    As an N.n.: undone thing, unaccomplished thing.

Acc.Sg. = katākataṃ.

attano: attan-, N.m./Pron.: self, oneself. Gen.Sg. = attano.

va: a contracted form of eva, part.: just, only.

List of Abbreviations

avekkheyya, V.: should observe, should look at. The verb ikkh- (to see) with the prefix ava- (down, over). 3.Sg.med.opt. = avekkheyya.

katāni: kata-, N.n.: see above. Acc.Pl. = katāni.

akatāni: akata-, N.n.: see above. Acc.Pl. = akatāni.

ca, conj.: and.
 
List of Abbreviations

    The two lines of this verse form two parenthetic sentences. There is no subject in any of them. The third person singular pronoun is implied.
    In the first sentence, the verb is omitted. The verb avekkheyya from the second sentence serves also as the verb for this sentence, but it is negated by two negative particles na (not). There are two objects, vilomāni (wrong deeds, accusative plural) and katākataṃ (what is done and undone, accusative singular). They both have an attribute, the adjective paresaṃ (others', genitive plural).

    In the second sentence, the verb is avekkheyya (one should look at, 3rd person, singular, medium, optative). There are two objects, katāni (what is done, accusative plural) and akatāni (what is undone, accusative plural). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and). The objects have an attribute, the pronoun attano (oneself's, genitive singular) which is strengthened by the particle va (more often as eva; just, only).



Commentary:

    In Sāvatthi once lived a lady who was a disciple of the ascetic Pāthika. All her friends and neighbors were the disciples of the Buddha and she often wanted to go to the monastery herself, to hear the Buddha's teachings. But Pāthika always prevented her from going there.
    So she invited the Buddha to her house for almsgiving instead. He came together with many monks and after the meal he delivered a teaching. She was very impressed and happy and exclaimed, "Well said!"

    Pāthika heard this from the next room and became very angry. He left the house, cursing the woman and the Buddha.

    The lady was very embarrassed by this. But the Buddha advised her not to be concerned about others' curses, but to be only mindful of her own good and bad deeds. At the end she attained the first stage of Awakenment.



Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
paresaṃ
vilomāni
katākataṃ
kata

akataṃ
attano
va
avekkheyya
katāni
akatāni
ca