O Wise Ones, you should protect the mind, which is very difficult to see, very subtle
and jumping at whatever it desires. Protected mind brings happiness.

sududdasaṃ sunipuṇaṃ   yattha+kāma+nipātinaṃ
     |                     |               |         |             |
 Adj.n.            Adj.n.     Rel.Adv. N.m.    Adj.n.
Acc.Sg.         Acc.Sg.           |_____|        Acc.Sg.
     |                     |                    |__________|
     |____________|________________|
                                    |_____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

cittaṃ  rakkhetha  medhāvī  cittaṃ     guttaṃ sukha+āvahaṃ
  |               |              |             |              |          |         |
N.n.        V.act.      N.m.       N.n.       Adj.n.   N.m. Adj.n.
Acc.Sg.  2.Pl.opt.  Voc.Pl.  Nom.Sg.  Nom.Sg.   |     Nom.Sg.
__|             |________|             |________|          |_____|
 |_____________|                            |____________|

sududdasaṃ: sududdasa-, Adj.: very difficult to see. The word duddasa-, Adj. difficult to see with the prefix su-. This prefix usually means "well", "good" etc., but here it further strengthens the adjective. The word duddasa- itself is derived from the verb root das- (to see) with the prefix du- (bad, difficult). Acc.Sg.n. = sududdasaṃ.

sunipuṇaṃ: sunipuṇa-, Adj.: very subtle. The word nipuṇa-, Adj.: subtle, fine, with the prefix su- (well, very; strengthening prefix). Acc.Sg.n. = sunipuṇaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

yatthakāmanipātinaṃ: yatthakāmanipātin-, Adj: jumping at whatever it desires. It is a complex compound of:
    yatthakāmaṃ, Adv.: according to one's desire. The disappearance of the final -ṃ is
    only an omission, perhaps due to the metrical requirements. It can be further analyzed as:
        yattha, Rel.Adv.: where.
        kāma-, N.m.: desire, pleasure.
    nipātin-, Adj.: falling down, chancing upon. It is derived (by the way of adding
    the possessive suffix -in) from the verb root pat- (fall) with the prefix ni- (down).
Acc.Sg.n. = yatthakāmanipātinaṃ.

cittaṃ: citta-, N.n.: mind. Acc.Sg. = cittaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

rakkhetha, V.: should protect. The verb root rakkh-. 2.Pl.act.imp. = rakkhetha.

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

cittaṃ: citta-, N.n.: mind (see also above). Nom.Sg. = cittaṃ.

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

sukhāvahaṃ: sukhāvaha-, Adj.: bringing happiness. A compound of:
    sukha-, N.n.: happiness.
    āvaha-, Adj.: bringing, causing. Derived from the verb root vah- (to carry) with
    the prefix ā- (towards, to).
Nom.Sg.n. = sukhāvahaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two grammatically separated sentences. One is: sududdasaṃ sunipuṇaṃ yatthakāmanipātinaṃ cittaṃ rakkhetha medhāvī (o Wise Ones, you should protect the mind, which is very difficult to see, very subtle and jumping at whatever it desires). Here the subject is the word medhāvī (o Wise Ones, vocative plural). The verb is rakkhetha (you should protect, 2nd person plural, active, optative). The object is cittaṃ (mind, accusative singular) with three attributes: 1) sududdasaṃ (very difficult to see), 2) sunipuṇaṃ (very subtle), 3) yatthakāmanipātinaṃ (jumping at whatever it desires). They all have to agree with the object and are therefore in accusative singular.
    The second sentence is cittaṃ guttaṃ sukhāvahaṃ (restrained mind brings happiness). Here the subject is the word cittaṃ (mind, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle guttaṃ (protected, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, the verb "to be" again being implied. The word sukhāvahaṃ (happiness-bringing, nominative singular) forms an attribute to this verb.

    Once in the city of Sāvatthi, there lived a son of a banker. He asked a monk who came to his house for alms food, how to be liberated from the ills of life. The monk instructed him to divide his property into three parts. One he was to do business with, one to support his family, one for charity. The man did so and then asked what to do next. He was instructed to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and to observe five precepts. But the man was still not satisfied. So the monk told him to renounce the world and to become a monk too.
    As a monk he was taught Dharma by one teacher and Vinaya by another. Thus he felt that there was too much to learn, the rules were too strict and there was no freedom. He wanted to return to lay life. He began to have doubts, was discontent and unhappy, neglected his meditation. The Buddha told him that if he only could control his mind, he had nothing else to control. Then he told him this verse. The monk attained arahantship.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sududdasaṃ
sunipuṇaṃ
yatthakāmanipātinaṃ
yatthakāma
nipātinaṃ
cittaṃ
rakkhetha
medhāvī
guttaṃ
sukhāvahaṃ
sukha
āvahaṃ