Who would live for hundred years, with bad morality, without a firm mind,
better is the life for one day of somebody who is virtuous and meditating.

yo              ca vassa+sataṃ      jīve     dussīlo asamāhito
|                  |      |         |             |            |              |
Rel.Pron. conj. N.n. Num.n.   V.act.    Adj.m.    Adj.m.
Nom.Sg.      |      |    Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|__________|      |_____|             |            |________|
         |___________|__________|___________|
                   |          |__________|
                   |__________|
                            |_______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

eka+ahaṃ     jīvitaṃ     seyyo sīlavantassa jhāyino
|           |            |              |             |                |
Num. N.n.      N.n.       Adj.n.    Adj.m.       Adj.m.
|     Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg.      Gen.Sg.
|______|            |              |             |_________|
     |__________|               |                     |
               |_____________|____________|
                           |______|
__________________|

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

ca, conj.: and.

vassasataṃ: vassasata-, N.n.: hundred years, century. It is a compound of:
    vassa-, N.n.: year.
    sata-, Num.n.: hundred.
Acc.Sg. = vassasataṃ.

jīve, V.: should live. The verb root is jīv-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = jīve.

dussīlo: dussīla-, Adj.: of bad morality. It is the word sīla-, N.n.: virtue, morality, with a prefix du- (bad). Euphonic combination: du- + sīla- = dussīla-. Nom.Sg.m. = dussīlo.

asamāhito: asamāhita-, Adj.: not settled, not firm. It is the word samāhita- (Adj., p.p. of the verb dhā-, to put, with the prefixes saṃ-, together and ā-, towards. Thus samāhita- means settled, composed, firm) with the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.m. = asamāhito.

List of Abbreviations

ekāhaṃ: ekāha-, N.n.: one day. It is a compound of:
    eka-, Num.: one.
    aha-, N.n.: day.
Euphonic combination: eka- + aha- = ekāha-.
Nom.Sg. = ekāhaṃ.

jīvitaṃ: jīvita-, N.n.: life. Originally it is a p.p. of the verb jīv- (to live). Nom.Sg. = jīvitaṃ.

seyyo: seyya-, Adj.: better. Nom.Sg.n. = seyyo.

sīlavantassa: sīlavant-, Adj.: virtuous. As an N.m.: virtuous person. It is the word sīla-, N.n.: virtue, with a possessive suffix -vant. Gen.Sg.m. = sīlavantassa.

jhāyino: jhāyin-, Adj.m.: meditating. Derived from the verb jhe- (to meditate). Gen.Sg. = jhāyino.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two related sentences. They both form the first and the second lines of this verse respectively.
    In the first sentence, the subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has two attributes, the adjectives dussīlo (with bad morality, nominative singular) and asamāhito (not firm, nominative singular). The verb is jīve (should live, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). It has an attribute, the compound vassasataṃ (hundred years, accusative singular). The conjunction ca (and) serves only for metrical purposes.
    In the second line, the subject is the adjective/noun jīvitaṃ (life, nominative singular). It has three attributes. First of them is the compound ekāhaṃ (one day, nominative singular). Second and third are the adjectives sīlavantassa (of a virtuous one, genitive singular) and jhāyino (of a meditating one, genitive singular). The object is the adjective seyyo (nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be".

    A group of monks took a subject of meditation from the Buddha and went to a forest village to practice. There were robbers in the jungle around the village. They wanted to make a human sacrifice and they decided to offer one of the monks to the spirits of the forest. They went to the monastery and told the monks to select one of them who would follow them to the jungle and be sacrificed. All of the monks volunteered. There was a young novice with them, named Samkicca. Although he was very young, he was already an Arahant. He told the monks that Venerable Sāriputta sent him to that place with the task to be the one to go with the robbers. Although the other monks did not like it a lot, still they trusted in Sāriputta's judgment and so let Samkicca go.
    The bloody sacrifice was prepared deep in the jungle and the leader of the robbers took a sword and wanted to cut the young novice's head. At that time, Samkicca was in deep meditation and the sword did not cut him, but just curled up. The robber took another sword and hit again - only to find that the sword has bent upward. Samkicca was still unharmed. The robbers were terrified; all of them knelt down at the novice's feet and asked for forgiveness. They also asked his permission to become monks. He complied with this request and returned to the monastery with the new monks.
    Everybody was very happy that Samkicca was unharmed and that he managed to bring the robbers into the Sangha. They all left for Sāvatthi to pay homage to the Buddha and Venerable Sāriputta. The Buddha then admonished them with this verse, saying that it is better to live just for one day, but virtuously and in meditation, than to live a very long life, but immorally and without any self-control.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
ca
vassasataṃ
vassa
sataṃ
jīve
dussīlo
asamāhito
ekāhaṃ
eka
ahaṃ
jīvitaṃ
seyyo
sīlavantasssa
jhāyino