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

asāhasena dhammena samena nayatī pare

dhammassa gutto medhāvī dhammaṭṭho ti pavuccati

(DhP 257)




Sentence Translation:

[continued from DhP 256]
judging others without haste, justly and impartially,
such a wise person, guardian of law, is called "righteous".




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

asāhasena dhammena samena nayatī     pare
|                      |              |           |            |
Adv.            Adv.        Adv.  V.act.in.  Adj.m.
|____________|________|    3.Sg.pres. Acc.Pl.
          |_____________________|             |
                             |__________________|

List of Abbreviations

dhammassa gutto    medhāvī dhamma+ṭṭho     ti    pavuccati
|                     |            |              |          |         |           |
N.m.         Adj.m.     N.m.       N.m.  Adj.m.  part. V.pas.in.
Gen.Sg.    Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.       |    Nom.Sg.   |     3.Sg.pres.
|____________|            |              |_____|          |           |
           |_____________|                   |________|           |
                        |                                      |__________|
                        |___________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

asāhasena: Adv.: without haste, with consideration, not arbitrarily. It is derived from the word asāhasa-, N.n.: absence of hastiness, peacefulness. Ins.Sg. = asāhasena. Here as an Adv.

dhammena, Adv.: justly, rightly, with justice, properly. It is derived from the word dhamma-, N.m.: here meaning "truth", "reality". Ins.Sg. = dhammena. Here as an Adv.

samena, Adv.: impartially, with justice. It is derived from the word sama-, Adj.: same, even.
Ins.Sg. = samena. Here as an Adv.

nayatī, V.: lit.: to lead. Here: to draw a conclusion, to judge, to take as, to understand. The verb root is nī-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = nayati. The form nayatī is used in poetry.

pare: para-, Adj.: other. Acc.Pl.m. = pare.

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

List of Abbreviations

gutto: gutta-, Adj.: protected, protector. It is a p.p. of the verb root gup- (to protect).
Nom.Sg.m. = gutto.

medhāvī: medhāvin-, N.m.: intelligent person, wise one. Voc.Pl. = medhāvī.

dhammaṭṭho: dhammaṭṭha-, Adj.: standing in or based on the Dharma, righteous, just. It is a compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together".
    -ṭṭha-, Adj. suffix: standing. It is derived from the verb root ṭhā- (to stand).
Nom.Sg.m. = dhammaṭṭho.

ti, part.: a particle, symbolizing the end of direct speech. In English this is expressed by quotation marks. Sometimes it is written as iti.

pavuccati, V,: is called. It is a passive form of the verb root vac- (to say), with the strengthening prefix pa-. 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = pavuccati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) asāhasena dhammena samena nayatī pare (judging others without haste, justly and impartially). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular. The verb is nayatī (judges, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has three attributes, the adverbs asāhasena (without haste), dhammena (justly), and samena (impartially). The object is the adjective pare (others, accusative plural).
    2) dhammassa gutto medhāvī dhammaṭṭho ti pavuccati (such a wise person, guardian of law, is called "righteous"). There are two subjects, the adjective gutto (protector, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun dhammassa (of the law, genitive singular) and the noun medhavī (wise one, nominative singular). The verb is pavuccati (is called, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective dhammaṭṭho (righteous, nominative singular). It is modified by the particle ti (in place of quotation mark).




Commentary:

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 257).
    It is very easy to judge others, to point out others' mistakes or bad qualities. Therefore we have to be very thorough when we have to judge others. We have to listen to every possible point of view; we have to look at the problem from all angles. Only then can we be able to judge according to truth and we can call ourselves "righteous".




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

asāhasena
dhammena
samena
nayatī
pare
dhammassa
gutto
medhāvī
dhammaṭṭho
dhamma
ṭṭho
ti
pavuccati