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

abhivādanasīlissa niccaṃ vuḍḍhāpacāyino

cattāro dhammā vaḍḍhanti āyu vaṇṇo sukhaṃ balaṃ

(DhP 109)




Sentence Translation:

For somebody, who is showing respect to those of virtuous character, who is always paying homage to the venerable ones,
four things grow for him: life-span, beauty of complexion, happiness, strength.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

abhivādana+sīlissa niccaṃ vuḍḍha+apacāyino
|                     |          |           |            |
N.n.           Adj.m.  Adv.    Adj.     Adj.m.
|                Gen.Sg.    |           |      Gen.Sg.
|____________|         |           |_______|
          |                     |__________|
          |_________________|
                        |_____________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

cattāro dhammā  vaḍḍhanti    āyu      vaṇṇo    sukhaṃ    balaṃ
|                 |              |             |             |              |             |
Num.m.   N.m.    V.act.in.     N.n.       N.m.       N.n.       N.n.
Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|_________|              |              |_______|________|_______|
____|_____________|                                    |
       |_______|__________________________|
                    |____________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

abhivādanasīlissa: abhivādanasīlin-, Adj.: showing respect to those of virtuous character. It is a compound of:
    abhivādana-, N.n.: salutation, showing respect. It is derived from the verb
    root vad- (to speak) with the prefix abhi- (all around).
    sīlin-, Adj.: of virtuous character. It is derived from the word sīla-, N.n.: virtue,
    by adding the possessive suffix -in.
Gen.Sg.m. = abhivādanasīlissa.

niccaṃ, Adv.: perpetually, constantly.

vuḍḍhāpacāyino: vuḍḍhāpacāyin-, Adj.: paying homage to the venerable ones. It is a compound of:
    vuḍḍha-, Adj.: old, fig.: venerable. It is a p.p. of the verb root vaḍḍh- (to grow).
    apacāyin-, Adj.: honoring, paying homage. It is the word apacāya-, N.m.: honor, respect,
    with the possessive suffix -in.
Euphonic combination: vuḍḍha- + apacāyin- = vuḍḍhāpacāyin-.
Gen.Sg.m. = vuḍḍhāpacāyino.

List of Abbreviations

cattāro: catur-, Num.: four. Nom.Pl.m. = cattāro.

dhammā: dhamma-, N.m.: here does not mean Buddha's teaching, but should be interpreted rather as "state" or even more generally "thing". Nom.Pl. = dhammā.

vaḍḍhanti, V.: grow. The verb root is vaḍḍh-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = vaḍḍhanti.

āyu: āyu-, N.n.: longevity, life-span. Nom.Sg. = āyu.

vaṇṇo: vaṇṇa-, N.m.: color, complexion. Nom.Sg. = vaṇṇo.

sukhaṃ: sukha-, N.n.: happiness. Nom.Sg. = sukhaṃ.

balaṃ: bala-, N.n.: strength, power. Nom.Sg. = balaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    The subject of this sentence is the noun dhammā (things, nominative plural). It has the numeral cattāro (four, nominative plural) as the main attribute and four words as additional attributes: āyu (life-span, nominative singular), vaṇṇo (complexion, nominative singular), sukhaṃ (happiness, nominative singular) and balaṃ (strength, nominative singular). The verb is vaḍḍhanti (grow, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). There are two attributes to this verb: the compound abhivādanasīlissa (for somebody, who is showing respect to those of virtuous character, genitive singular) and the compound vuḍḍhāpacāyino (for somebody who is paying homage to the venerable ones, genitive singular). This last word has the adverb niccaṃ (always) as an attribute.




Commentary:

    Once there were two ascetics living together and practicing austerities. Later one of them returned to the lay life and got married. When a son was born to him and his wife, they took the boy to see the other ascetic. He said, "May you live long!" to the parents, but he said nothing to the child. The parents were surprised and asked him why did he do that. The ascetic said that he could see with his powers that the boy would die after seven more days. He sent them to see the Buddha, who could know how to prevent his death.
    When they got to the presence of the Buddha, he again said, "May you live long!" only to the parents and nothing to their son. In order to prevent his death, he told his parents to build a pavilion at their house and put the child on a couch inside it. He then sent some monks over to chant texts for protection. Many gods and other celestial beings came to the pavilion and were in attendance. On the seventh day, the Buddha himself arrived. Then an evil demon came to the pavilion and stood by the entrance. He waited for an opportunity to attack the boy. But as there were so many powerful beings around, he could not get near him. The chanting continued through the whole night, and in the morning the demon had to leave. The young child was saved. He then paid his respects to the Buddha who then told him, "May you live long!" The Buddha then told the parents that their child would live a very long life.
    Many years passed and the boy grew up. Once he came to see the Buddha and asked him how to gain longevity. The Buddha replied with this verse, saying that those who respect people of virtuous character and who pay homage to those worth paying homage, not only will gain longevity, but also beauty, happiness and strength.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

abhivādanasīlissa
abhivādana
sīlissa
niccaṃ
vuḍḍhāpacāyino
vuḍḍha
apacāyino
cattāro
dhammā
vaḍḍhanti
āyu
vaṇṇo
sukhaṃ
balaṃ