Who scorns thee teaching of the Arahants, the Noble Ones, living righteously,
the fool, who is relying on wrong beliefs,
produces fruit just like a bamboo - for his own destruction.

yo              sāsanaṃ  arahataṃ ariyānaṃ dhamma+jīvinaṃ
|                      |              |              |              |            |
Rel.Pron.m.  N.n.        N.m.      Adj.m.      N.m.     Adj.m.
Nom.Sg.     Acc.Sg.   Gen.PL.  Gen.PL.        |        Gen.Pl.
|                      |              |              |              |_______|
|                      |              |________|___________|
|                      |____________|
|                                |________________________________________I.
|__________________________________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

paṭikkosati dummedho  diṭṭhiṃ nissāya pāpikaṃ
       |                |               |           |           |
V.act.in.        Adj.m.      N.f.    V.ger.    Adj.f.
3.Sg.pres.    Nom.Sg.   Acc.Sg.      |     Acc.Sg.
I.___|                |               |______|______|
     |                   |                    |___|
II._|__________|                        |
     |_____|                                 |
          |_____________________|
                              |________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

phalāni kaṭṭhakassa iva   atta+ghaññāya phallati
|                 |             |       |           |             |
N.n.        N.m.      part. N.m.    N.m.    V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Gen.Sg.       |       |      Dat.Sg.  3.Sg.pres.
|                 |_______|       |______|              |
|_____________|                   |___________|
           |________________________|
__________________|

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

sāsanaṃ: sāsana-, N.n.: teaching, message, the teaching of the Buddha. Acc.Sg. = sāsanaṃ.

arahataṃ: arahant-, Adj.: literally: deserving, worthy. It is derived (a.pr.p.) from the verb root arah-, to deserve. As an N.m.: one, who has attained Nirvana. Usually not translated or explained as Perfected One. Gen.Pl. = arahataṃ.

ariyānaṃ: ariya-, Adj.: noble, distinguished, good. Gen.Pl.m. = ariyānaṃ.

dhammajīvinaṃ: dhammajīvin-, N.m.: living righteously. A compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: Law, Buddha's teaching, righteousness. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold.
    jīvin-, Adj.m.: living. Derived from the verb jīv- (to live).
Gen.Pl. = dhammajīvinaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

paṭikkosati, V.: blames, scorns. The verb root is kus- (to be angry) with the prefix paṭi- (towards, against). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = paṭikkosati.

dummedho: dummedha-, Adj.: stupid. Derived from the word medhā-, N.f.: wisdom, intelligence, by adding the prefix du- (lacking something, away from). The double m is due to the euphonic combination (du- + medha- = dummedha-). Nom.Sg.m. = dummedho.

diṭṭhiṃ: diṭṭhi-, N.f.: view, belief, theory, idea. It is derived from the verb root dis- (to see).
Acc.Sg.f. = diṭṭhiṃ.

nissāya, V.ger.: leaning on, relying on. The verb root is si- (to cling to) with the prefix ni- (on to).

List of Abbreviations

pāpikaṃ: pāpika-, Adj.: wrong, bad. It is the word pāpa-, N.n.: evil, wrong doing with the adjective suffix -ka. Acc.Sg.f. = pāpikaṃ.

phalāni: phala-, N.n.: fruit, outcome. Acc.Pl. = phalāni.

kaṭṭhakassa: kaṭṭhaka-, N.m.: a kind of reed, bamboo. Gen.Sg. = kaṭṭhakassa.

iva, part.: like, as (another, more often used form of this word is va).
Euphonic combination: kaṭṭhakassa + iva = kaṭṭhakasseva.

attaghaññāya: attaghañña-, N.m.: selfdestruction. It is a compound of:
    atta-, N.m.: it is the compound form of the word attan-, N.m.: self, oneself.
    ghañña-, Adj.: destroying, killing. It is derived from the verb root han- (to strike).
Dat.Sg. = attaghaññāya.

phallati, V.: to bear fruits, to become ripe. The verb root is phal-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = phallati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two connected sentences. They are:
    1) yo sāsanaṃ arahataṃ ariyānaṃ dhammajīvinaṃ paṭikkosati dummedho diṭṭhiṃ nissāya pāpikaṃ (who scorns thee teaching of the Arahants, the Noble Ones, living righteously, the fool, who is relying on wrong beliefs). This can be further analysed into two segments:
    a) yo sāsanaṃ arahataṃ ariyānaṃ dhammajīvinaṃ paṭikkosati dummedho (the fool, who scorns thee teaching of the Arahants, the Noble Ones, living righteously). The subject of this sentence is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular) with its attribute, the adjective dummedho (foolish, nominative singular). The verb is paṭikkosati (scorns, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun sāsanaṃ (teaching, accusative singular). It has three attributes, arahataṃ (of the Arahants, genitive plural), ariyānaṃ (of the Noble Ones, genitive plural) and dhammajīvinaṃ (of those living righteously, genitive plural).
    b) diṭṭhiṃ nissāya pāpikaṃ (who is relying on wrong beliefs). The subject is omitted, implying the subject yo from the previous segment. The verb is in gerund, nissāya (having relied). The object is the noun diṭṭhiṃ (belief, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective pāpikaṃ (wrong, accusative singular).
    2) phalāni kaṭṭhakassa iva attaghaññāya phallati (produces fruit just like a bamboo - for his own destruction). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The object is the noun phalāni (fruits, accusative plural). There is a clause dependent on the object, kaṭṭhakassa iva (like a bamboo's). Here the noun kaṭṭhakassa (bamboo's, genitive singular) forms an attribute to the object phalāni and the particle iva (like) connects it to the subject. The verb is phallati (bears fruits, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The verb has an attribute, the compound attaghaññāya (for [his] own destruction, dative singular).

    In Sāvatthi there lived an old woman who was looking after a monk named Kāla. She often expressed her wish to go to the Jetavana monastery to hear the teaching from the Buddha’s own mouth. Three times she told Kāla about her wish and three times he advised her not to go.
    However, one day she went to the monastery in spite of his objections. Kāla thought that she would have no more use for him, if she hears the Buddha to speak. So he went to the Buddha and told him not to teach the woman anything deep, because she was very stupid.
    The Buddha knew the real reason for Kāla's words and he admonished him with this verse, saying that one who abuses the Teaching, is only destroying himself.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
sāsanaṃ
arahataṃ
ariyānaṃ
dhammajīvinaṃ
dhamma
jīvinaṃ
paṭikkosati
dummedho
diṭṭhiṃ
nissāya
pāpikaṃ
phalāni
kaṭṭhakassa
iva
attaghaññāya
atta
ghaññāya
phallati