Just like a lake, deep, bright and clean,
so the wise ones become tranquil, after having heard the teachings.

yathā       pi      rahado  gambhīro vippasanno anāvilo
|                |           |             |               |             |
Rel.Adv. conj.    N.m.     Adj.m.      Adj.m.    Adj.m.
|_________|     Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.    Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
        |                    |             |________|_______|
        |                    |___________|
        |________________|
                    |__________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

evaṃ dhammāni sutvāna vippasīdanti paṇḍitā
|               |              |              |               |
Adv.      N.n.       V.ger.    V.act.in.      N.m.
|          Acc.Pl.         |        3.Pl.pres.   Nom.Sg.
|               |________|              |________|
|                      |________________|
|____________________|
_________|

yathā, Rel.Adv.: like, just as.

pi, conj.: also, too.

rahado: rahada-, N.m.: pond, lake. Nom.Sg. = rahado.

gambhīro: gambhīra-, Adj.: deep. Nom.Sg.m. = gambhīro.

vippasanno: vippasanna-, Adj.: purified, clear, bright. It is a p.p. of the verb vippasīdati (to become bright). The verb root is sīd- (to sit). Nom.Sg.m. = vippasanno.

anāvilo: anāvila-, Adj.: undisturbed, clean. It is the word āvila-, Adj.: stirred up, dirty with the negative prefix an-. Nom.Sg.m. = anāvilo.

List of Abbreviations

evaṃ, Adv.: thus, in this way.

dhammāni: dhamma-, N.n.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". The meaning here is more like "teaching"  in general. This word can be found as a neuter very rarely. Acc.Pl. = dhammāni.

sutvāna, V.ger.: having heard. The verb root is su- (to hear).

vippasīdanti, V.: to become bright, to become tranquil or happy. See also under vippasanno. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = vippasīdanti.

paṇḍitā: paṇḍita-, N.m.: wise man, learned man. Nom.Pl. = paṇḍitā.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse contains two related sentences. They form the first and second lines of this verse respectively.
    In the first sentence, the subject is the noun rahado (lake, nominative singular). It has three attributes, adjectives gambhīro (deep, nominative singular), vippasanno (bright, nominative singular) and anāvilo (clean, nominative singular). The relative adverb yathā (just as), which forms a quite common phrase yathā pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this sentence to the next one.
    In the second sentence the subject is the noun paṇḍitā (wise ones, nominative plural). The verb is vippasīdanti (become tranquil, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). There is a clause, dhammāni sutvāna. Here, the subject is the word paṇḍitā from the main sentence. The object is the noun dhammāni (teachings, accusative plural). The gerundive sutvāna (having heard) serves as the verb in the clause. The adverb evaṃ (thus, in such way) connects this sentence to the previous one.

    In one village there lived a woman named Kāṇa Mātā. She was a devout lay disciple of the Buddha. She had a daughter Kāṇa who was married to a man from another village. Once she was staying with her mother and her husband sent for her. But her mother told her to wait, because she wanted to send some cakes to her husband.
    But the next day some monks came to the house and Kāṇa Mātā gave the cakes to them. Kāṇa had to wait for her mother to prepare new cakes and she could not return to her husband. This happened every day for three following days. All the cakes were given to the monks.
    Kāṇa's husband then took another wife. Kāṇa accused the monks that they have ruined her marriage and became very bitter. She would insult and abuse the monks, wherever she saw them.
    The Buddha then set a new rule for the monks, not to take advantage of the devotion of the lay disciples. He went to Kāṇa Mātā's house and asked Kāṇa if the monks took what was given or what was not given. Kāṇa replied that they took only what was given to them and realized that she was wrong. The Buddha then gave a discourse. At the end, Kāṇa attained the first stage of Arahantship.
    King Pasenadi of Kosala heard about this, summoned Kāṇa to the palace and one of his ministers adopted her as his daughter. Every day she gave offerings to holy people who came to her door.
    The Buddha then noted that Kāṇa's mind, originally confused and "muddy" became clear as a lake after listening to the Dharma.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yathā
pi
rahado
gambhīro
vippasanno
anāvilo
evaṃ
dhammāni
sutvāna
vippasīdanti
paṇḍitā