Who offends against an uncorrupted man, against a trusting and pure person,
the evil will fall back upon such a fool, like minute dust thrown against the wind.

yo         appaduṭṭhassa narassa    dussati   saddhassa posassa anaṅgaṇassa
|                      |               |               |             |              |               |
Rel.Pron.m. Adj.m.       N.m.     V.act.in.   Adj.m.      N.m.       Adj.m.
Nom.Sg.     Gen.Sg.    Gen.Sg.  3.Sg.pres. Gen.Sg.   Gen.Sg.    Gen.Sg.
|                      |________|                |             |________|________|
|                             |_____________|____________|
|_______________________|
                  |___________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

tam        eva  bālaṃ    pacceti    pāpaṃ  sukhumo    rajo paṭivātaṃ va   khitto
|               |        |              |             |             |             |          |         |        |
Pron.m. part.  N.m.    V.act.in.     N.n.      Adj.m.    N.m.    Adv.  part.  Adj.m.
Acc.Sg.    |    Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.   |         |    Nom.Sg.
|________|_____|              |             |             |_______|           |_____|____|
        |_________________|             |                    |_____________|   |
                       |________________|                                 |________|
                                      |_______________________________|
___________________________________|

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

appaduṭṭhassa: apaduṭṭha-, Adj.: uncorrupted, not spoilt. It is the word paduṭṭha-, Adj. (a p.p. of the verb dus-, to become bad or damaged, preceded by the strengthening prefix pa-) with the negative prefix a-. Euphonic combination: a- + paduṭṭha- = appaduṭṭha-. Gen.Sg.m. = apaduṭṭhassa.

narassa: nara-, N.m.: man, person. Gen.Sg. = narassa.

dussati, V.: offends against, does wrong to. The verb root is dus- (to become bad or damaged). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = dussati.

saddhassa: saddha-, Adj.: trusting, having confidence. Gen.Sg.m. = saddhassa.

posassa: posa-, N.m.: person. It is a contraction of the word purisa-, N.m.: person. Gen.Sg. = posassa.

List of Abbreviations

anaṅgaṇassa: anaṅgaṇa-, Adj.: clear, without specks. It is the word aṅgaṇa-, N.m.: speck, freckle, with the negative prefix an-. Gen.Sg.m. = anaṅgaṇassa.

tam: tad-, Pron.: it. Masculine form so-, he. Acc.Sg. = tam (him).

eva, part.: just, only.

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

pacceti, V.: falls back upon comes back to, returns. The verb root is i- (to go) with the prefix paṭi- (against, back). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = pacceti.

pāpaṃ: pāpa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. As an N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Nom.Sg. = pāpaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

sukhumo: sukhuma-, Adj.: subtle, minute, fine. Nom.Sg.m. = sukhumo.

rajo: rajo-, N.m.: dust, dirt. Nom.Sg. = rajo.

paṭivātaṃ, Adv.: against the wind. It is a compound of:
    paṭi-, pref.ind.: against.
    vāta-, N.m.: wind.
As an Adv.: paṭivātaṃ.

va, part.: as, like.

khitto: khitta-, Adj.: thrown, cast. It is a p.p. of the verb khip- (to throw, to cast). Nom.Sg.m. = khitto.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two related sentences. They are:
    1) yo appaduṭṭhassa narassa dussati saddhassa posassa anaṅgaṇassa (who offends against an uncorrupted man, against a trusting and pure person). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is dussati (offends against, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). There are two objects, narassa (of a man, genitive singular) with its attribute appaduṭṭhassa (of uncorrupted, genitive singular) and posassa (of a person, genitive singular) with two attributes, saddhassa (of trusting, genitive singular) and anaṅgaṇassa (of pure, genitive singular).
    2) tam eva bālaṃ pacceti pāpaṃ sukhumo rajo paṭivātaṃ va khitto (the evil will fall back upon such a fool, like minute dust thrown against the wind). This can be further subdivided into the main sentence a) and the clause b):
    a) tam eva bālaṃ pacceti pāpaṃ (the evil will fall back upon such a fool). The subject is the noun pāpaṃ (evil, nominative singular). The verb is pacceti (falls back upon, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun bālaṃ (fool, accusative singular) with its attribute, the pronoun tam (that, accusative singular). The object is stressed by the particle eva (just).
    b) sukhumo rajo paṭivātaṃ va khitto (like minute dust thrown against the wind). The subject is the noun rajo (dust, nominative singular), with its attribute, the adjective sukhumo (minute, nominative singular). The past participle khitto (thrown, nominative singular) serves as a verb in this clause. It has an attribute, the adverb paṭivātaṃ (against the wind). The particle va (like, as) connects the clause to the main sentence.

    A hunter named Koka was leaving the city to hunt with his dogs. He met a monk who was entering the city to obtain some almsfood. The hunter took this for a bad sign and thought that that day he wouldn’t catch any animal. And that also happened - he did not get anything. Angry he went back home. On entering the city he met the same monk who obtained his food and was returning to the monastery. The hunter became so angry that he sent his dogs to kill the monk. But he climbed a tree and the dogs were unable to reach him. The hunter took an arrow and pricked the monk's feet with it. The monk was in pain and his robe fell down.
    It just happened that the hunter was standing directly bellow. The robe fell onto him. His dogs thought that the monk fell down and attacked him. The monk threw some branches down and only then the dogs realized that they attacked their own master and ran away. The monk climbed down and found out that the hunter was already dead.
    When he returned to the monastery, he went to see the Buddha, because he felt responsible for the hunter's death. But the Buddha told him that he was not responsible at all. Only hunter himself and his foolish actions caused him the untimely death. The Buddha then added this verse, saying that whoever wants to harm an innocent, calls evil on himself. Just like trying to throw dust against the wind - it will just come back and fall upon the very person who threw it.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
appaduṭṭhassa
narassa
dussati
saddhassa
posassa
anaṅgaṇassa
tam
eva
bālaṃ
pacceti
pāpaṃ
sukhumo
rajo
paṭivātaṃ
paṭi
vātaṃ
va
khitto