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

asaddho akataññū ca sandhicchedo ca yo naro

hatāvakāso vantāso sa ve uttamaporiso

(DhP 97)




Sentence Translation:

A man who is not blindly trusting, who knows the Nirvana, who has broken the connections,
who has cut off the opportunities and who has given up all wishes - he is a greatest person indeed.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

asaddho akata+ññū     ca    sandhi+cchedo   ca         yo            naro
|                |       |          |        |           |          |            |                 |
Adj.m.   Adj.  Adj.m. conj. N.m.   Adj.m.  conj. Rel.Pron.m.    N.m.
Nom.Sg.    |   Nom.Sg. |        |      Nom.Sg.    |      Nom.Sg.     Nom.Sg.
|                |____|         |        |______|            |           |__________|
|                    |_______|              |__________|                    |
|_______________|________________|_________________|________________I.
                                                                           |_______|
                                                                                  |___________________II.

List of Abbreviations

hata+avakāso  vanta+āso           sa        ve uttama+poriso
|               |          |       |               |          |       |          |
Adj.m.   N.m.   Adj. Adj.m.    Pron.m. part. Adj.    N.m.
|          Nom.Sg.   |  Nom..Sg. Nom.Sg.   |        |    Nom.Sg.
|________|           |____|               |         |        |_____|
I.___|____________|                    |_____|_______|
                                                            |__|
II._________________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

asaddho: asaddha-, Adj.: not credulous, without blind trust. It is the word saddha-, Adj.: credulous, trusting, negated by the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.m.: asaddho.

akataññū: akataññū-, Adj.: who knows the Nirvana. It is a compound of:
    akata-, Adj.: uncreated, not made. It is the word kata-, Adj: done, made (it is a p.p. of the
    verb root kar-, to do) with the negative prefix a-.
    -ññū-, Adj.suf.: knowing. It is derived from the verb root ñā- (to know).
Nom.Sg.m. = akataññū.

ca, conj.: and.

List of Abbreviations

sandhicchedo: sandhiccheda-, Adj.: one, who has broken the connection, one who has put an end to the round of rebirths. It is a compound of:
    sandhi-, N.m.: connection, joint, combination.
    cheda-, N.m.: cutting, destruction, breaking. It is derived from the verb root chid- (to cut, to break).
Euphonic combination: sandhi- + cheda- = sandhiccheda-.
Nom.Sg.m. = sandhicchedo.

ca: see above.

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

naro: nara-, N.m.: man, person. Nom.Sg. = naro.

List of Abbreviations

hatāvakāso: hatāvakāsa-, Adj.: one, who has cut off every opportunity (for further rebirth). It is a compound of:
    hata-, Adj.: cut off, destroyed. It is a p.p. of the verb han- (to strike).
    avakāsa-, N.m.: occasion, opportunity.
Euphonic combination: hata- + avakāsa- = hatāvakāsa-.
Nom.Sg.m. = hatāvakāso.

vantāso: vantāsa-, Adj.: one who has given up all wishes.
     vanta-, Adj.: given up, thrown up. It is p.p. of vam- (to throw up, to discard).
    āsā-, N.f.: wish, expectation, desire.
Euphonic combination: vanta- + āsā- = vantāsā, compound form (as an adjective): vantāsa-.
Nom.Sg.m. = vantāso.

List of Abbreviations

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa.

ve, part.: indeed, surely.

uttamaporiso: uttamaporisa-, N.m.: noble person. It is a compound of:
    uttama-, Adj.: highest, noble.
    porisa-, N.m.: person, man.
Nom.Sg. = uttamaporiso.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse contains two related sentences. They are:
    1) asaddho akataññū ca sandhicchedo ca yo naro hatāvakāso vantāso (A man who is not blindly trusting, who knows the Nirvana, who has broken the connections, who has cut off the opportunities and who has given up all wishes). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has the noun naro (man, person, nominative singular) as an attribute. This word has several attributes: asaddho (not blindly trusting, nominative singular), akataññū (knowing the Nirvana, nominative singular), sandhicchedo (who has broken the connections, nominative singular), hatāvakāso (who has cut off all the opportunities, nominative singular) and vantāso (who has given up all wishes). The second and third one are connected by the conjunction ca (and).
    2) sa ve uttamaporiso (he is a greatest person indeed). The subject is the pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective compound uttamaporiso (highest person, nominative singular). The particle ve (indeed) serves only for the strengthening.




Commentary:

    A group of monks came from a village to pay their respects to the Buddha. The Buddha sent for Sāriputta and asked him, "Sāriputta, do you believe, that one can attain Nirvana by being mindful of the senses?" Sāriputta replied, "I do not simply believe in this because I have faith on you and your teaching. Only those who have no personal experience accept the facts from others." The monks did not understand it and thought that Sāriputta doesn't have faith in the Buddha, that he did not given up wrong views yet.
    The Buddha explained that Sāriputta accepts the fact that Nirvana can be attained by being mindful of senses by his own personal experience, because he already attained arahantship. He does not simply trust blindly in his teacher's words without testing them with his own practice. Blind faith has no place in Buddhism, only the trust in the method, which must be followed by one's own personal experience.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

asaddho
akataññū
akata
ññū
ca
sandhicchedo
sandhi
chedo
yo
naro
hatāvakāso
hata
avakāso
vantāso
vanta
āso
sa
ve
uttamaporiso
uttama
poriso