Not only by the act of speech or by beauty of complexion
is a man respectable, if he is envious, selfish and deceitful.

na    vāk+karaṇa+mattena vaṇṇa+pokkharatāya vā
|         |         |            |           |                |           |
neg. N.f.   N.n.     Adj.n.    N.m.         N.f.      conj.
|         |_____|       Ins.Sg.       |          Ins.Sg.        |
|              |_________|            |_________|           |
|                      |_________________|                  |
|                                     |___________________|
|                                                        |_________________________I.
|_________________________________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

sādhu+rūpo      naro         hoti         issukī  maccharī  saṭho
|             |            |               |              |             |            |
Adj.  Adj.m.     N.m.     V.act.in.    Adj.m.    Adj.m.   Adj.m.
|      Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.  3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|_______|            |                |              |_______|_______|
II.__|__________|_________|                     |
I.___|____|          |_____________________|
        |__|                                |
          |___________________|

na, neg.: not.

vākkaraṇamattena: vākkaraṇamatta-, Adj.: just only act of speech. It is a compound of:
    vāk-, N.f.: speech.
    karana-, N.n.: doing, acting. It is derived from the verb kar- (to do).
    matta-, Adj.: measure, just only, mere.
Ins.Sg. = vākkaraṇamattena.

vaṇṇapokkharatāya: vaṇṇapokkharatā-, N.f.: beauty of complexion. Lit. beauty and splendidness. It is a compound of:
    vaṇṇa-, N.m.: color, beauty.
    pokkharatā-, N.f.: splendidness, lotus-likeness. It is derived from the word pokkhara-, N.n.: lotus.
Ins.Sg. = vaṇṇapokkharatāya.

vā, conj.: or.

List of Abbreviations

sādhurūpo: sādhurūpa-, Adj.: good, respectable, having good appearance. It is a compound of:
    sādhu-, Adj.: good, virtuous.
    rūpa-, N.n.: form, appearance, figure.
Nom.Sg.m. = sādhurūpo.

naro: nara-, N.m.: man, person. Nom.Sg. = naro.

hoti, V.: is. The verb root is bhū- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = bhavati or hoti.

issukī: issukin-, Adj.: envious, jealous. It is derived from the word issā-, N.f.: envy, jealousy. Nom.Sg.m. = issukī.

maccharī: maccharin-, Adj.: stingy, selfish, greedy. It is derived from the word macchera-, N.n.: avarice, stinginess, envy. Nom.Sg.m. = maccharī.

saṭho: saṭha-, Adj.: deceitful, treacherous, fraudulent. Nom.Sg.m. = saṭho.

List of Abbreviations

    The subject of this sentence is the noun naro (man, nominative singular). It has three attributes, the adjectives issukī (envious, nominative singular), maccharī (selfish, nominative singular) and saṭho (deceitful, nominative singular). The verb is hoti (is, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has two attributes, the compounds vākkaraṇamattena (only by the act of speech, instrumental singular) and vaṇṇapokkharatāya (by beauty of complexion, instrumental singular). They are connected by the conjunction vā (or). The object is the adjective sādhurūpo (respectable, nominative singular).

The elder monks usually had some young novices as their students. It was custom that these novices would attend on their teachers, wash their robes, get water for them to drink and other small services. Some monks who had no students started to envy these elders. So they suggested to the Buddha that the novices should have more teachers to receive more guidance. Of course, the Buddha knew their real motive (to get some work done by the novices) so he refused this. He further admonished the monks by this verse (and the following one, DhP 263).

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
vākkaraṇamattena
vāk
karaṇa
mattena
vaṇṇapokkharatāya
vaṇṇa
pokkharatāya
vā
sādhurūpo
sādhu
rūpo
naro
hoti
issukī
maccharī
saṭho