The fool thinks it is as honey, as long as the evil is not ripe.
When the evil is ripe, then he undergoes suffering.

madhuṃ va    maññati    bālo        yāva     pāpaṃ     na    paccati
|               |           |            |              |             |          |          |
N.n.      part.  V.act.in.    N.m.    Rel.Adv.    N.n.    neg.  V.pas.in.
Acc.Sg.    |    3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.      |        Nom.Sg.   |    3.Sg.pres.
|________|            |           |              |              |         |______|
       |___________|           |              |              |________|
                 |____________|              |____________|
                            |____________________|
                                             |______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yadā        ca      paccati     pāpaṃ  atha dukkhaṃ nigacchati
|                |            |              |         |         |               |
Rel.Adv. conj.  V.pas.in.     N.n.   Adv.   N.n.      V.act.in.
|                |     3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.   |    Acc.Sg.   3.Sg.pres.
|_________|           |________|         |         |_________|
        |_______________|                 |_________|
                     |______________________|
_______________________|

madhuṃ: madhu-, N.n.: honey. Acc.Sg. = madhuṃ.

va, part.: like, as (another form of this word is iva).

maññati, V.: to consider as, to think about as. The verb root is man- (to think).
3.Sg.act.in.pres. = maññati.

bālo: bāla-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person. Nom.Sg. = bālo.

yāva, Rel.Adv.: as long as, as far as.

pāpaṃ: pāpa-, N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Nom.Sg. = pāpaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

paccati, V.: to be cooked, fig.: to ripe. It is a pas. of the verb pac- (to cook). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = paccati.

yadā, Rel.Adv.: when.

ca, conj.: and.

paccati: see above.

List of Abbreviations

pāpaṃ: see above.

atha, Adv.: then.

dukkhaṃ: dukkha-, N.n.: suffering. Acc.Sg. = dukkhaṃ.

nigacchati, V.: to come to, to undergo. It is the verb root gam- (to go) and the prefix ni- (down, to). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = nigacchati.

List of Abbreviations

    Two lines of this verse form two syntactically separate sentences.
    The first line consists of two sentences. The first is madhuṃ va maññati bālo (the fool thinks it is as honey). The subject here is the noun bālo (fool, nominative singular) and the verb maññati (thinks, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun madhuṃ (honey, accusative singular) with the particle va (as, like). The first sentence is yāva pāpaṃ na paccati (as long as the evil is not ripe). The subject is the noun pāpaṃ (evil, nominative singular). The verb is paccati (is cooked, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense), which is negated by the negative prefix na (not). The relative adverb yāva (as long as) connects this sentence to the previous one.
    The second line also consists of two sentences. One is yadā ca paccati pāpaṃ (when the evil is ripe). The subject here is the noun pāpaṃ (evil, nominative singular). The verb is paccati (is cooked, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The conjunction ca (and) serves mainly metrical purposes but it also fulfills the role of connecting the two lines together. The relative adverb yadā (when) connects this sentence to the following one. The second sentence is atha dukkhaṃ nigacchati (then he undergoes suffering). The subject is omitted, implying a personal pronoun. The verb is nigacchati (undergoes, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun dukkhaṃ (suffering, accusative singular). The adverb atha (then) connects this sentence to the previous one.

    In the city of Sāvatthi lived a beautiful girl named Uppalavaṇṇā. The news of her beauty traveled very far and she had many suitors from near and afar. Amongst them was her cousin Nanda who fell in love with her hopelessly. But she decided not to marry any of them and became a nun instead. One day after lightening a lamp she kept her mind fixed on the flame as her object of meditation and she attained arahantship.
    Later she moved to the forest and lived in solitude. Once Nanda came to her hut when she was not there and hid under the couch. He was determined to take her by force if she did not agree to marry him. Uppalavaṇṇā returned and he jumped up. She tried to warn him, told him that he would have to bear consequences for his actions, but he did not listen and raped her. For this he indeed had to suffer a long period of time.
    When the Buddha heard about this, he told King Pasenadi of Kosala about the dangers that nuns living by themselves in the forest had to face. The king built a monastery within the city and from that time on the nuns lived only in the city.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

madhuṃ
va
maññati
bālo
yāva
pāpaṃ
na
paccati
yadā
ca
atha
dukkhaṃ
nigacchati