Empty this boat, monk! Empty it will travel quickly.
Having cut off passion and hatred, you will approach the Nirvana.

siñca        bhikkhu   imaṃ   nāvaṃ    sittā          te     lahum  essati
|                    |            |            |            |             |          |          |
V.act.         N.m.    Pron.f.    N.f.     Adj.f.    Pron.m. Adv.   V.act.
2.Sg.imp.  Voc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg.     |    3.Sg.fut.
|                    |            |_______|           |              |          |______|
|___________|___________|                 |              |_________|
         |______|                                     |_____________|

List of Abbreviations

chetvā  rāgaṃ    ca   dosaṃ    ca   tato nibbānam    ehisi
|               |          |         |         |       |          |              |
V.ger.   N.m.   conj.   N.m.  conj. Adv.   N.n.       V.act.
|          Acc.Sg.    |    Acc.Sg.    |       |    Acc.Sg.   2.Sg.fut.
|               |_____|          |_____|       |          |________|
|                    |___________|           |__________|
|_________________|                               |
                 |_________________________|

siñca, V.: empty. The verb root is sic-. The usual meaning of this verb is "to sprinkle", "to make wet". In connection with boats it means "empty the boat of water". 2.Sg.act.imp. = siñca.

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

imaṃ: idaṃ-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.f. = imaṃ.

nāvaṃ: nāvā-, N.f.: boat, ship. Acc.Sg. = nāvaṃ.

sittā: sitta-, Adj.: emptied. It is a p.p. of the verb root sic- (to make wet, but here "to empty"; see above under siñca). Nom.Sg.f. = sittā.

te: tvaṃ-, Pron.: you. Gen.Sg. = te.

lahum, Adv.: quickly. It is derived from the word lahu-, Adj.: light, quick.

essati, V.: will go. The verb root is i- (to go). 3.Sg.act.fut. = essati.

List of Abbreviations

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

rāgaṃ: rāga-, N.m.: passion, lust. It is derived from the verb raj- (to color). Acc.Sg. = rāgaṃ.

ca, conj.: and.

dosaṃ: dosa-, N.m.: ill-will, hatred, anger. Acc.Sg. = dosaṃ.

ca, conj.: and.

tato, Adv.: from that, than that.

nibbānam: nibbāna-, N.n.: Nirvana, the goal of Buddhism. Acc.Sg. = nibbānam.

ehisi, V.: [you will] go to, approach. The verb root is i- (to go). 2.Sg.act.fut. = ehisi.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) siñca bhikkhu imaṃ nāvaṃ (empty this boat, monk). The subject is the noun bhikkhu (monk, vocative singular). The verb is siñca (empty, 2^nd person, singular, active, imperative). The object is the noun nāvaṃ (boat, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the pronoun imaṃ (this, accusative singular).
    2) sittā te lahum essati (empty it will travel quickly for you). The subject is the past participle sittā (empty, nominative singular). The verb is essati (will go, 3^rd person, singular, active, future). It has two attributes, the adverb lahum (quickly) and the pronoun te (for you, genitive singular).
    3) chetvā rāgaṃ ca dosaṃ ca tato nibbānam ehisi (having cut off passion and hatred, you will approach the Nirvana). This can be further analysed into two parts:
    a) chetvā rāgaṃ ca dosaṃ ca (having cut off passion and hatred). The subject is omitted. The verb is in gerund, chetvā (having cut off). There are two objects, rāgaṃ (passion, accusative singular) and dosaṃ (hatred, accusative singular). They are connected by two conjunctions ca (and).
    b) tato nibbānam ehisi (because of that you will approach the Nirvana). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person singular pronoun. The verb is ehisi (you will go, 2^nd person, singular, active, future). The object is the noun nibbānaṃ (to the Nirvana, accusative singular). The adverb tato (from that, because of that) connects the sentence to the previous one.

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 368) and for the seven following verses (DhP 370 - DhP 376).
    Our striving for the peace of mind, the Nirvana, is often compared with crossing a river. If our boat (our mind) is filled with water (passion and hatred) it is extremely hard or almost impossible to cross to the other shore. We have to empty the boat of our mind of water (consisting mainly but not only of passion and hatred) to be able to make it to the other shore of Nirvana quickly and safely.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

siñca
bhikkhu
imaṃ
nāvaṃ
sittā
te
lahum
essati
chetvā
rāgaṃ
ca
dosaṃ
tato
nibbānam
ehisi