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

yodha puññaṃ ca pāpaṃ ca bāhetvā brahmacariyavā

saṅkhāya loke carati sa ve bhikkhū ti vuccati

(DhP 267)




Sentence Translation:

Who has warded off both good and evil here, leading a holy life,
walks through the world understanding it, he is called "a monk".




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo                idha puññaṃ ca    pāpaṃ   ca   bāhetvā brahma+cariyavā
|                      |         |        |          |         |        |             |            |
Rel.Pron.m. Adv.   N.n.   conj.   N.n.   conj. V.ger.      Adj.    Adj.m.
Nom.Sg.          |   Acc.Sg.   |     Acc.Sg.    |        |             |      Nom.Sg.
|                      |         |____|           |_____|        |             |_______|
|                      |             |___________|             |                   |
|                      |_____________|_____________|                   |
|                                   |______|                                           |
|_______________________|___________________________|
                    |____________|
                               |_______________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

saṅkhāya   loke         carati        sa        ve   bhikkhū   ti      vuccati
|                   |               |             |           |         |          |           |
V.ger.        N.m.     V.act.in.   Pron.m. part.   N.m.    part.  V.pas.in.
|               Loc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.  Nom.Sg.   |    Nom.Sg.   |     3.Sg.pres.
|                   |________|              |______|         |_____|            |
|_______________|                           |                    |_________|
_______|                                          |________________|
      |___________________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

idha, Adv.: here, in this world.
Euphonic combination: yo + idha = yodha.

puññaṃ: puñña-, N.n.: good deed, meritorious deed, merit. Acc.Sg. = puññaṃ.

ca, conj.: and.

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

ca: see above.

List of Abbreviations

bāhetvā, V.ger.: having kept away, warded off, kept outside. This verb is derived from the word bahi, Adv.: outside.

brahmacariyavā: brahmacariyavant-, Adj.: leading a holy life, pious, pure. It is a compound of:
    brahma-, Adj.: holy, "Brahmanic", pious.
    cariyavant-, N.n.: having a conduct, behavior, acting. Derived from the verb car- (to walk, to act) with the possessive suffix -vant.
Nom.Sg.m. = brahmacariyavā.

saṅkhāya, V.ger.: having understood, having considered with an open mind. The verb root is khā- (to calculate) with the prefix saṃ- (together).

loke: loka-, N.m.: world. Loc.Sg. = loke.

List of Abbreviations

carati, V.: behave, act. The verb root is car- (to behave, to act; the primary meaning is "to walk"). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = carati.

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa (the more usual form is so).

ve, part.: indeed.

bhikkhū: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu. The form bhikkhū is used in poetry.

ti, part.: a particle, symbolizing the end of direct speech. In English this is expressed by quotation marks. Sometimes it is written as iti.

vuccati, V,: is called. It is a passive form of the verb root vac- (to say). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = vuccati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two related sentences. They are:
    1) yodha puññaṃ ca pāpaṃ ca bāhetvā brahmacariyavā saṅkhāya loke carati (who has warded off both good and evil here, leading a holy life, walks through the world understanding it). This can be further analysed into two parts:
    a) yodha puññaṃ ca pāpaṃ ca bāhetvā brahmacariyavā (who has warded off both good and evil here, leading a holy life). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the compound brahmacariyavā (leading a holy life, nominative singular). The verb is in gerund, bāhetvā (having warded off). It has an attribute, the adverb idha (here, in this world). There are two objects, puññaṃ (good, accusative singular) and pāpaṃ (evil, accusative singular). They are connected by two conjunctions ca (and).
    b) saṅkhāya loke carati (walks through the world understanding it). The subject is the relative pronoun yo from the previous sentence. The verb is carati (walks, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has two attributes the gerund saṅkhāya (having understood) and the noun loke (in the world, locative singular).
    2) sa ve bhikkhū ti vuccati (he is called "a monk"). The subject is the pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). The verb is vuccati (is called, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun bhikkhū (monk, nominative singular). It is modified by the particle ti (quotation marks). The particle ve (indeed) serves mainly metrical purposes.




Commentary:

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 266).
    A true monk is not the one who wears monk's robes and gets his almsfood from people, but his heart is full of worldly things. Only one, who leads a moral life and has a deep insight into the reality of things, can be called a monk.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
idha
puññaṃ
ca
pāpaṃ
bāhetvā
brahmacariyavā
brahma
cariyavā
saṅkhāya
loke
carati
sa
ve
bhikkhū
ti
vuccati