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

dhammārāmo dhammarato dhammaṃ anuvicintayaṃ

dhammaṃ anussaraṃ bhikkhu saddhammā na parihāyati

(DhP 364)




Sentence Translation:

The monk who is delighting in the Dharma, devoted to the Dharma, pondering the Dharma
and always bearing the Dharma in mind, will never fall away from the true Dharma.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

dhammā+ārāmo dhamma+rato  dhammaṃ anuvicintayaṃ
|                   |           |          |             |                 |
N.m.       Adj.m.   N.m.  Adj.m.     N.m.         Adj.m.
|             Nom.Sg.     |    Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg.      Nom.Sg.
|___________|          |______|            |__________|
          |_______________|_______________|____________________

List of Abbreviations

dhammaṃ anussaraṃ bhikkhu  sad+dhammā  na   parihāyati
|                       |              |          |          |         |           |
N.m.           Adj.m.      N.m.    Adj.    N.m.   neg.  V.act.in.
Acc.Sg.      Nom.Sg.  Nom.Sg.    |     Abl.Sg.    |    3.Sg.pres.
|_____________|              |         |______|         |______|
______|                           |                |___________|
     |__________________|                           |
                      |________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

dhammārāmo: dhammārāma-, Adj.: delighting in the Dharma. It is a compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together".
    ārāma-, N.m.: delight, pleasure. It is derived from the verb root ram- (to enjoy)
with the prefix ā- (to).
Euphonic combination: dhamma- + ārāma- = dhammārāma-.
Nom.Sg.m. = dhammārāmo.

dhammarato: dhammarata-, Adj.: devoted to the Dharma. It is a compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: see above.
    rata-, Adj.: devoted. It is a p.p. of the verb ram- (to delight in, to be devoted to).
Nom.Sg.m. = dhammarato.

dhammaṃ: dhamma-, N.m.: see above. Acc.Sg. = dhammaṃ.

anuvicintayaṃ: anuvicintayant-, Adj.: thinking about, pondering. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root cint- (to think) with the prefixes anu- (along, on, to) and vi- (intensifying sense).
Nom.Sg.m. = anuvicintayaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

dhammaṃ: see above.

anussaraṃ: anussarant-, Adj.: being aware, remembering, bearing in mind. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root sar- (to remember) with the prefix anu- (along, on, to). Nom.Sg.m. = anussaraṃ.

bhikkhu: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu.

saddhammā: saddhamma-, N.m.: true Dharma. It is a compound of:
    sad-, Adj.: good, true. Original meaning: existing. The full form (sant-) is an a.pr.p. of the verb as- (to be). The compound form of sant- = sat-.
    dhamma-, N.m.: Dharma, Buddha's teaching.
Euphonic combination: sat- + dhamma- = saddhamma-.
Abl.Sg. = saddhammā.

na, neg.: not.

parihāyati, V.: fall away from. It is derived from the verb root hā- (to leave, to abandon) with the prefix pari- (all around, completely). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = parihāyati.

List of Abbreviations

    The subject of this sentence is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It has four attributes:
    1) the compound dhammārāmo (delighting in the Dharma, nominative singular),
    2) the compound dhammarato (devoted to the Dharma, nominative singular),
    3) the present active participle anuvicintayaṃ (pondering, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun dhammaṃ (the Dharma, accusative singular),
    4) the present active participle anussaraṃ (bearing in mind, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun dhammaṃ (the Dharma, accusative singular).
    The verb is parihāyati (falls away from, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the compound saddhammā (from the true Dharma, ablative singular).




Commentary:

    Close to the age of eighty years, the Buddha announced that he would attain the Parinibbāna (pass away) very soon. The monks who had not attained the Awakenment yet, were very distressed and spent all the time with the Buddha, never leaving his presence. But there was a monk named Dhammārāma who did not come to see the Buddha but kept to himself. Other monks thought he was disrespectful towards the teacher. But Dhammārāma explained that in his opinion the highest homage to the Buddha would be if he could attain the Awakenment before the Buddha's passing away.
    The Buddha praised Dhammārāma by this verse saying that a monk who really wants to pay homage to him should act as Dhammārāma did.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

dhammārāmo
dhamma
ārāmo
dhammarato
rato
dhammaṃ
anuvicintayaṃ
anussaraṃ
bhikkhu
saddhammā
sad
dhammā
na
parihāyati