It is better to eat an iron ball, hot like a fire's crest,
than to eat a country's almsfood, immoral and without self-control.

seyyo      ayo+guḷo      bhutto     tatto      aggi+sikhā+upamo
|               |        |             |             |           |         |         |
Adj.m.   N.n.   N.m.    Adj.m.    Adj.m.  N.m.  N.f.   Adj.m.
Nom.Sg.   |   Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.   |_____|    Nom.Sg.
|               |_____|            |             |                |________|
|                    |                 |             |_____________|
|                    |                 |______________|
|                    |________________|
|___________________|
              |________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yaṃ             ce  bhuñjeyya dussīlo raṭṭha+piṇḍam asaññato
|                    |          |             |          |           |            |
Rel.Pron.n. part.  V.act.     Adj.m.   N.n.    N.m.     Adj.m.
Acc.Sg.         |    3.Sg.opt. Nom.Sg.    |     Acc.Sg.  Nom.Sg.
|___________|           |            |          |______|             |
          |                     |_______|_________|                  |
          |                                  |        |_______________|
          |                                  |____________|
          |_________________________|
_________________|

seyyo: seyya-, Adj.: better. Nom.Sg.n. = seyyo.

ayoguḷo: ayoguḷa-, N.m.: iron ball. It is a compound of:
    ayo-, N.n.: iron.
    guḷa-, N.m.: ball.
Nom.Sg. = ayoguḷo.

bhutto: bhutta-, Adj.: eaten, devoured. It is a p.p. of the verb root bhuj- (to eat, to devour).
Nom.Sg.m. = bhutto.

tatto: tatta-, Adj.: heated, hot, glowing. It is a p.p. of the verb root tap- (to be hot). Nom.Sg.m. = tatto.

aggisikhūpamo: aggiskhūpama-, Adj.: similar to the crest of fire. It is a compound of:
    aggi-, N.n.: fire.
    sikhā-, N.f.: crest, edge, point.
    upama-, Adj.: similar to, like.
Euphonic combination: aggi- + sikhā- + upama- = aggisikhūpama-.
Nom.Sg.m. = aggisikhūpamo.

List of Abbreviations

yaṃ: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Nom.Sg.n.: yaṃ.

ce, part.: if.

bhuñjeyya, V.: may eat. The verb root is bhuj- (to eat). 3.Sg.act.opt. = bhuñjeyya.

dussīlo: dussīla-, Adj.: of bad morality. It is the word sīla-, N.n.: virtue, morality, with a prefix du- (bad). Euphonic combination: du- + sīla- = dussīla-. Nom.Sg.m. = dussīlo.

raṭṭhapiṇḍam: raṭṭhapiṇḍa-, N.m.: the country's almsfood. It is a compound of:
    raṭṭha-, N.n.: country, kingdom.
    piṇḍa-, N.m.: alms, almsfood, a lump [of food given in alms].
Acc.Sg. = raṭṭhapiṇḍam.

asaññato: asaññata-, Adj.: unrestrained, without self-control. It is a p.p. of the verb yam- (to restrain, to become tranquil) with the prefix sam- (together), negated by the negative prefix a-.
Nom.Sg.m. = asaññato.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two related sentences. They are:
    1) seyyo ayoguḷo bhutto tatto aggisikhūpamo (it is better to eat an iron ball, hot like a fire's crest). The subject is the compound ayoguḷo (iron ball, nominative singular). It has three attributes, the past participles bhutto (eaten, nominative singular) and tatto (heated, nominative singular). The third attribute is the compound adjective aggisikhūpamo (similar to a fire's crest, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective seyyo (better, nominative singular).
    2) yaṃ ce bhuñjeyya dussīlo raṭṭhapiṇḍam asaññato (than to eat a country's almsfood, immoral and without self-control). There are two subjects, the adjectives dussīlo (immoral, nominative singular) and asaññato (without self-control, nominative singular). The verb is bhuñjeyya (should eat, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the compound raṭṭhapiṇḍam (country's almsfood, accusative singular). The relative pronoun yaṃ (that, what; nominative singular) and the particle ce (if) form two parts of the phrase yaṃ ce (than). It connects this part of the sentence to the previous one.

    Once there was a famine. In order to have enough food, some monks pretended in front of lay followers that they have attained Arahantship. The lay followers offered them only the best food, leaving almost nothing for themselves.
    At the end of the Rain Retreat, the monks went to see the Buddha. Whereas all the other monks were pale and undernourished, this group was very healthy and fat. The Buddha asked them how that was possible. They told him what happened. The Buddha spoke this verse, saying that for a monk to pretend some level of attainment was one of the worst things to do.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

seyyo
ayoguḷo
ayo
guḷo
bhutto
tatto
aggisikhūpamo
aggi
sikhā
upamo
yaṃ
ce
bhuñjeyya
dussīlo
raṭṭhapiṇḍam
raṭṭha
piṇḍam
asaññato