Do not disregard evil, "It will not come to me!"
Falling drops of water can fill up even a water jar.
The fool fills himself up with evil, even if collecting it just little by little.

mā avamaññetha pāpassa na    maṃ        taṃ   āgamissati
|              |               |         |         |             |             |
neg.    V.act.         N.n.    neg.  Pron.    Pron.n.    V.act.
|       2.Pl.imp.     Gen.Sg.   |    Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.fut.
|________|              |          |_____|_______|_______|
       |____________|                    |     |____|
                  |                               |_____|
                  |____________________|

List of Abbreviations

uda+bindu+nipātena uda+kumbho pi       pūrati
|           |          |          |         |         |            |
N.n. N.m.    N.m.    N.n.   N.m.   conj.  V.act.in.
|______|      Ins.Sg.     |    Nom.Sg.  |      3.Sg.pres.
     |_________|           |_____|         |            |
             |                        |________|            |
             |__________________|__________|
                           |__________|

List of Abbreviations

bālo          pūrati   pāpassa thoka+thokam pi    ācinaṃ
|                   |             |         |           |        |           |
N.m.       V.act.in.    N.n.   Adj.     Adv.  conj.  Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Gen.Sg.  |______|        |     Nom.Sg.
|                   |_______|                |_______|            |
|                           |                            |__________|
|_______________|_____________________|
                |______|

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

avamaññetha, V.: to disregard, to consider insignificant. The verb root is man- (to think) with the prefix ava- (down, low). 2.Pl.act.imp. = avamaññetha.
Euphonic combination: mā + avamaññetha = māvamaññetha

pāpassa: pāpa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. As an N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Gen.Sg. = pāpassa.

na, neg.: not.

maṃ: Pron. aham-, I. Acc.Sg.: maṃ.

taṃ: Pron. tad-, that. Nom.Sg.n. = taṃ.

List of Abbreviations

āgamissati, V.: will come. The verb root is gam- (to go) with the prefix ā- (towards).
3.Sg.act.fut. = āgamissati.

udabindunipātena: udabindunipāta-, N.m.: fall of water drops. It is a compound of:
    uda-, N.n.: water.
    bindu-, N.m.: drop.
    nipāta-, N.m.: falling down. It is derived from the verb root pat- (fall) with the prefix ni- (down).
Ins.Sg. = udabindunipātena.

udakumbho: udakumbha-, N.m.: water jar. It is a compound of:
    uda-, N.n.: water.
    kumbha-, N.m.: jar, pitcher.
Nom.Sg. = udakumbho.

pi, conj.: also, even, too.

List of Abbreviations

pūrati, V.: becomes full. The verb root is pūr- (to fill, to be full) 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = pūrati.

bālo: bāla-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person. Nom.Sg. = bālo.

pūrati: see above.

pāpassa: see above.

thokathokam, Adv.: little by little. It is composed of two words thoka-, Adj.: little, small.
As an adverb: thokathokam.

pi, conj.: also, even, too.

ācinaṃ: ācinant-, Adj.: gathering, collecting. It is an. a.pr.p. of the verb root ci- (to heap, to collect) with the prefix ā- (towards). Nom.Sg.m. = ācinaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) māvamaññetha pāpassa na maṃ taṃ āgamissati (do not disregard evil, "It will not come to me!"). This can be further subdivided into the main sentence a) and the direct speech b):
    a) māvamaññetha pāpassa (do not disregard evil). The subject is omitted. The second person plural pronoun is implied. The verb is avamaññetha (disregard, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). It is negated by the negative particle mā (do not). The object is the adjective/noun pāpassa (of evil, genitive singular).
    b) na maṃ taṃ āgamissati (it will not come to me). The subject is the personal pronoun taṃ (it, nominative singular). The verb is āgamissati (will come, 3^rd person, singular, active, future). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the personal pronoun maṃ (to me, accusative singular).
    2) udabindunipātena udakumbho pi pūrati (falling drops of water can fill up even a water jar). The subject is the compound udakumbho (water jar, nominative singular). It is modified by the conjunction pi (even). The verb is pūrati (becomes full, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the compound udabindunipātena (by falling water drops, instrumental singular).
    3) bālo pūrati pāpassa thokathokam pi ācinaṃ (the fool fills himself up with evil, even if collecting it just little by little). The subject is the noun bālo (fool, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the active present participle ācinaṃ (collecting, nominative singular). This word also has an attribute, the adverb thokathokaṃ (little by little). It is modified by the conjunction pi (even). The verb is pūrati (becomes full, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective/noun pāpassa (of evil, genitive singular).

    A certain monk would use a piece of furniture for some time and then leave it outside in the monastery yard, exposing it to sun and rain. Other monks tried to admonish him, but he always said only that it is not his intention to destroy the things, and that no serious harm was actually done.
    When the Buddha found out about this, he sent for the monk and told him this verse, saying that one should not disregard evil, however small, because a hundred small evils is actually equal to one big evil. Moreover, if one gets used to small evils, a bad habit is established, and a great evil then does not seem so terrible to such a person.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

mā
avamaññetha
pāpassa
na
maṃ
taṃ
āgamissati
udabindunipātena
uda
bindu
nipātena
udakumbho
kumbho
pi
pūrati
bālo
thokathokam
thoka
ācinaṃ