Cut off the forest of passions, not just the single trees. From the forest, fear is born.
Having cut off the forest and the undergrowth, be without the forest of passions, monks.

vanaṃ  chindatha mā  rukkhaṃ vanato   jāyate     bhayaṃ
|                  |         |          |            |            |              |
N.n.        V.act.   neg.   N.m.      N.n.   V.med.in.    N.n.
Acc.Sg. 2.Pl.imp.   |    Acc.Sg.  Abl.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.
|__________|         |______|           |_______|              |
                                                           |___________|

List of Abbreviations

chetvā vanaṃ   ca vanathaṃ ca  nibbanā   hotha  bhikkhave
|              |          |        |         |         |             |            |
V.ger.   N.n.   conj.  N.m.  conj. Adj.m.    V.act.     N.m.
|         Acc.Sg.    |   Acc.Sg.    |   Nom.Pl. 2.Pl.imp. Voc.Pl.
|              |_____|         |_____|         |_______|             |
|                   |__________|                     |___________|
|________________|                                         |
             |________________________________|

vanaṃ: vana-, N.n.: forest. Acc.Sg. = vanaṃ.

chindatha, V.: cut off, destroy. The verb root is chid-. 2.Pl.act.imp. = chindatha.

mā, neg.: not, do not. Used with verbs in imperative instead of the more usual negative particle na.

rukkhaṃ: rukkha-, N.m.: tree. Acc.Sg. = rukkhaṃ.

vanato: vana-, N.n.: forest. Abl.Sg. = vanato.

jāyate, V.: is born. The verb root is jan- (to be born). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = jāyate.

bhayaṃ: bhaya-, N.n.: fear. Nom.Sg. = bhayaṃ.

chetvā, V.ger.: having destroyed, having cut off. The verb root is chid- (to cut off).

List of Abbreviations

vanaṃ: see above.

ca, conj.: and.

vanathaṃ: vanatha-, N.m.: undergrowth, thicket, under-brush. Acc.Sg. = vanathaṃ.

ca: see above.

nibbanā: nibbana-, Adj.: free of forest, woodless. It is the word vana- (see above) with the prefix ni- (without). Nom.Pl.m. = nibbanā.

hotha, V.: be. The verb root is (b)hū-. 2.Pl.act.imp. = hotha.

bhikkhave: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Voc.Pl. = bhikkhave.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of four syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) vanaṃ chindatha (cut off the forest [of passions]). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is chindatha (cut off, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). The object is the noun vanaṃ (forest, accusative singular).
    2) mā rukkhaṃ (do not [cut off] the tree). The subject is omitted; the verb (chindatha from the previous sentence) implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is negated by the negative particle mā (don't). The object is the noun rukkhaṃ (tree, accusative singular).
    3) vanato jāyate bhayaṃ (from the forest, fear is born). The subject is the noun bhayaṃ (fear, nominative singular). The verb is jāyate (is born, 3^rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun vanato (from the forest, ablative singular).
    4) chetvā vanaṃ ca vanathaṃ ca nibbanā hotha bhikkhave (having cut off the forest and the undergrowth, be without the forest [of passions], monks). This can be further analysed into two segments:
    a) chetvā vanaṃ ca vanathaṃ ca (having cut off the forest and the undergrowth). The subject is omitted; the subject from the second part of the sentence is implied. The verb is in the gerund, chetvā (having cut off). There are two objects, nouns vanaṃ (forest, accusative singular) and vanathaṃ (undergrowth, accusative singular). They are connected by two conjunctions ca (and).
    b) nibbanā hotha bhikkhave (be without the forest [of passions], monks). The subject is the noun bhikkhave (monks, vocative plural). The verb is hotha (be, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). The object is the adjective nibbanā (without forest, nominative plural).

    In the city of Sāvatthi there lived five friends. When they became old, they all went forth and became monks. But they had the habit of going to their old homes for almsfood. Especially a former wife of one of them was a very good cook. So they went to her house often and she looked after them. But one day, this old lady fell sick and died. The five friends wept and lamented, praising her virtues.
    The Buddha overheard this and told them this verse (and the following one, DhP 284), saying that sorrow comes from ignorance, greed and hatred. Especially in this case, greed was the main factor. So he taught them to cut off "the forest" of greed and passions in order to be free from sorrow.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

vanaṃ
chindatha
mā
rukkhaṃ
vanato
jāyate
bhayaṃ
chetvā
ca
vanathaṃ
nibbanā
hotha
bhikkhave