Who would live for hundred years, without wisdom, without a firm mind,
better is the life for one day of somebody who is wise and meditating.

yo             ca  vassa+sataṃ       jīve  duppañño  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 paññavantassa 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.

duppañño: dupañña-, Adj.: unwise, lit. "with a bad wisdom". It is the word paññā-, N.f.: wisdom, with the prefix du- (bad, wrong). Euphonic combination: du- + paññā- = duppaññā-.
Nom.Sg.m. = duppañño.

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.

paññavantassa: paññavant-, Adj.: wise. It is the word paññā-, N.f.: wisdom, with the possessive suffix -vant. Gen.Sg.m. = paññavantassa.

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 duppañño (without wisdom, 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 paññavantassa (of a wise 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".

    Venerable Kondañña once took a subject of meditation from the Buddha and went to practice to the forest. Soon he attained Awakenment. He was on his way back to the monastery and had to spend the night on the way. He sat by the road on a piece of rock and rested, in the deep meditation.
    That night some robbers stole many thing in a village and came to the same place where Kondañña was sitting. They mistook him for a tree and put their loot all over and around his body. Then they fell asleep.
    In the morning they realized that he was a living being and became frightened, because they though he was a ghost. Kondañña told them that he was only a monk. The robbers were very impressed by him. They paid homage to him and asked him to allow them to become monks themselves. Kondañña ordained them and together they returned to the monastery to see the Buddha.
    The Buddha spoke to them this verse, saying that it was better to live just one single day, meditating and cultivating wisdom, than a hundred years without any self-control and totally devoid of any wisdom.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
ca
vassasataṃ
vassa
sataṃ
jīve
duppañño
asamāhito
ekāhaṃ
eka
ahaṃ
jīvitaṃ
seyyo
paññavantassa
jhāyino