And who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
sees with a true wisdom Four Noble Truths.

yo                ca  buddhaṃ  ca dhammaṃ ca   saṅghaṃ ca   saraṇaṃ    gato
|                     |         |          |         |          |          |         |         |             |
Rel.Pron.m. conj.   N.m.  conj.   N.m.   conj.   N.m.   conj.   N.n.     Adj.m.
Nom.Sg.         |    Acc.Sg.    |     Acc.Sg.    |    Acc.Sg.    |    Acc.Sg.  Nom.Sg.
|____________|        |______|        |______|          |_____|         |             |
           |                         |___________|___________|              |             |
           |                                                        |_____________|              |
           |                                                                     |______________|
           |_____________________________________________|
                                                |____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

cattāri   ariya+saccāni samma+ppaññāya passati
|               |          |           |             |            |
Num.n. Adj.     N.n.    Adv.        N.f.     V.act.in.
Acc.Sg.    |     Acc.Sg.      |        Ins.Sg.  3.Sg.pres.
|               |______|          |_______|             |
|____________|                     |___________|
          |________________________|

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

ca, conj.: and.

buddhaṃ: buddha-, Adj.: Awakened One, Enlightened One. It is a pp. of the verb root budh-, to awaken. Here as an N.m.: a being who has attained Nirvana. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Acc.Sg.: buddhaṃ.

ca: see above.

dhammaṃ: dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". Acc.Sg.: dhammaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

ca: see above.

saṅghaṃ: saṅgha-, N.m.: community, the community of the Buddha's followers. It is of two kinds: the saṅgha of lay followers and the saṅgha of monks and nuns. Acc.Sg.: saṅghaṃ.

ca: see above.

saraṇaṃ: saraṇa-, N.n.: refuge. Acc.Sg.: saraṇaṃ.

gato: gata-, Adj.: gone. It is a p.p. of the verb gam- (to go). Nom.Sg.m. = gato.

cattāri: catur-, Num.: four. Acc.Pl.n. = cattāri.

List of Abbreviations

ariyasaccāni: ariyasacca-, N.n.: Noble Truth, the core of Buddhist teaching. It is a compound of:
    ariya-, Adj.: noble, distinguished, good.
    sacca-, N.n.: truth.
Acc.Pl. = ariyasaccāni.

sammappaññāya: sammappaññā-, N.f.: true wisdom. It is a compound of:
    sammā-, Adv.: properly, rightly, as it should be, truly. Compound form: samma-.
    paññā-, N.f.: wisdom.
Euphonic combination: samma- + paññā- = sammappaññā-.
Ins.Sg. = sammappaññāya.

passati: sees. The verb root is dis- (to see). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = passati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
    1) yo ca buddhaṃ ca dhammaṃ ca saṅghaṃ ca saraṇaṃ gato (and who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha). The subject of this sentence is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is in the past participle, gato (gone, nominative singular). The object is the noun saraṇaṃ (to refuge, accusative singular). It has three attributes, the nouns buddhaṃ (to the Buddha, accusative singular), dhammaṃ (to the Dharma, accusative singular) and saṅghaṃ (to the Sangha, accusative singular). These are connected to each other by multiple conjunctions ca (and).
    2) cattāri ariyasaccāni sammappaññāya passati (sees with a true wisdom Four Noble Truths). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is passati (sees, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the compound sammappaññāya (with a true wisdom, instrumental singular). The object is the compound ariyasaccāni (Noble Truths, accusative plural) with its attribute, the numeral cattāri (four, accusative plural).

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the preceding verses (DhP 188, DhP 189) and the following ones (DhP 191, DhP 192).
    The Triple Gem, the Buddha (Awakened One), the Dharma (his teaching) and the Sangha (the community of his followers) are the highest possible refuge, because the Buddha has reached Awakenment, the Dharma is the teaching how to reach this goal and the Sangha is the community of people who are on the way to reach it.
    Having taken refuge in this Triple Gem, one can clearly see the Four Noble Truths, the most important of all the Buddhist teachings. They are: 1) The truth of Suffering, 2) The truth of Origin of Suffering, 3) The truth of Extinction of Suffering and 4) The truth of the Path, leading to the Extinction of Suffering.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
ca
buddhaṃ
dhammaṃ
saṅghaṃ
saraṇaṃ
gato
cattāri
ariyasaccāni
ariya
saccāni
sammappaññāya
sammā
paññāya
passati