Everybody trembles at punishment; everybody fears death.
Having made the comparison with oneself, let one not kill, nor cause another to kill.

sabbe       tasanti   dandassa sabbe  bhayanti   maccuno
|                   |             |            |            |              |
Adj.m.    V.act.in.    N.m.    Adj.m.  V.act.in.    N.m.
Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres. Gen.Sg. Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres. Gen.Sg.
|                   |_______|             |           |________|
|______________|                    |__________|

List of Abbreviations

attanaj upamaj katva  na   haneyya  na     ghataye
|                 |           |        |          |         |            |
N.m.        N.f.    V.ger. neg.   V.act.   neg.  V.act.caus.
Acc.Sg.  Acc.Sg.     |        |    3.Sg.opt.   |      3.Sg.opt.
|_________|            |        |_____|           |______|
         |___________|             |____________|
                   |___________________|

sabbe: sabba-, Adj.: all, every. Nom.Pl.m. = sabbe.

tasanti, V.: tremble, shake, have fear. The verb root is tas-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = tasanti.

dandassa: danda-, N.m.: stick, club, punishment. Gen.Sg. = dandassa.

sabbe: see above.

bhayanti, V.: fear. The verb root is bhi-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = bhayanti.

maccuno: maccu-, N.m.: death. Gen.Sg. = maccuno.

attanaj: attan-, N.m.: self, oneself. Acc.Sg. = attanaj.

List of Abbreviations

upamaj: upama-, N.f.: comparison, example. Acc.Sg. = upamaj.

katva, V.ger.: having done. The verb root is kar- (to do).

na, neg.: not.

haneyya, V.: should kill. The verb root is han-. 3.Sg.ac.opt. = haneyya.

na, neg.: not.

ghataye, V.: should cause to kill. It is a causative from the root han- (to strike, to beat). 3.Sg.act.caus.opt. = ghataye.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) sabbe tasanti dandassa (everybody trembles at punishment). The subject is the adjective sabbe (all, everybody, nominative plural). The verb is tasanti (tremble, 3^rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun dandassa (of punishment, genitive singular).
    2) sabbe bhayanti maccuno (everybody fears death). The subject is the adjective sabbe (all, everybody, nominative plural). The verb is bhayanti (fear, 3^rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun maccuno (of death, genitive singular).
    3) attanaj upamaj katva na haneyya na ghataye (having made the comparison with oneself, let one not kill, nor cause another to kill). This can be further subdivided into two segments:
    a) attanaj upamaj katva (having made the comparison with oneself). The subject is omitted; the third person singular pronoun is implied. The verb is in gerundive, katva (having done). The object is the noun upamaj (comparison, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective/noun attanaj (oneself, accusative singular).
    b) na haneyya na ghataye (let one not kill, nor cause another to kill). The subject is omitted; the third person singular pronoun is implied. There are two verbs haneyya (should kill, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative) and ghataye (should cause to kill, 3^rd person, singular, active, causative, optative). They are both negated by negative particles na (not).

    One group of monks was cleaning a certain building in the Jetavana monastery. They intended to stay there. When they were in the middle of cleaning, another group of monks arrived there and wanted them to give the building over to them. They felt that as they were more senior monks, they should have the right to choose.
    But the first group did not agree to that and insisted on keeping the building to themselves. The monks from the second group beat them up till the monks cried in pain.
    When the Buddha heard about this, he admonished the second group of monks harshly for inflicting pain on their fellow monks. He told them this verse, saying that violence is not a solution. He moreover laid down a new rule for the monks to abstain from hurting others.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sabbe
tasanti
dandassa
bhayanti
maccuno
attanaj
upamaj
katva
na
haneyya
ghataye