Who hurts with a stick beings that desire happiness,
searching for happiness himself, he will not reach happiness after death.

sukha+kāmāni bhūtāni        yo     daṇḍena vihiṃsati
|               |           |               |             |            |
N.n.     Adj.n.    N.n.   Rel.Pron.m.  N.m.   V.act.in.
|          Acc.Pl. Acc.Pl.    Nom.Sg.   Ins.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|________|            |               |             |_______|
       |___________|               |                    |
                 |______________|___________|
                              |            |_________________________________________I.
                              |_____________________|
                                                |______________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

attano   sukham   esāno   pecca     so        na    labhate   sukhaṃ
|                 |            |           |          |           |          |             |
N.m.       N.n.     Adj.m.  V.ger. Pron.m.  neg.  V.med.in.   N.n.
Gen.sg. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.     |     Nom.Sg.    |     3.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg.
|__________|           |           |           |           |______|             |
        |____________|           |           |                 |__________|
I.__________|                     |______|______________|
                                                     |______|
II._______________________________|

sukhakāmāni: sukhakāma-, Adj.: desiring happiness. It is a compound of:
    sukha-, N.n.: happiness.
    kāma-, N.m.: wish, desire.
Acc.Pl.n. = sukhakāmāni.

bhūtāni: bhūta-, N.n.: being, creature. Acc.Pl. = bhūtāni.

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

daṇḍena: daṇḍa-, N.m.: stick, club, punishment. Ins.Sg. = daṇḍena.

vihiṃsati, V.: hurts. The verb root is hiṃs- (to hurt) with the prefix vi- (intensifying sense). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = vihiṃsati.

attano: attan-, N.m./Pron.: self, oneself. Gen.Sg. = attano.

List of Abbreviations

sukham: sukha-, N.n.: happiness. Acc.Sg. = sukham.

esāno: asana-, Adj.: searching, striving for. It is an med.pr.p. of the verb esati (to search, to strive for). The verb root is is- (to wish) with the prefix ā- (towards). Nom.Sg.m. = esāno.

pecca, V.ger.: after death. It is a ger. of the verb i- (to go) with the prefix pa- (directional prefix of forward motion). This verb means literally "to go over", it is used as an euphemism for "to die".

so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.

na, neg.: not.

labhate, V.: obtains, gets. The verb root is labh-. 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = labhate.

sukhaṃ: see above (sukham).

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two connected sentences. They are:
    1) sukhakāmāni bhūtāni yo daṇḍena vihiṃsati attano sukham esāno (who hurts with a stick beings that desire happiness, searching for happiness himself). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the medium present participle esāno (searching, nominative singular). This word has its own attribute, the noun sukham (happiness, accusative singular) with the noun/pronoun attano (one's own, genitive singular) as an attribute. The noun is vihiṃsati (hurts, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun daṇḍena (with a stick, instrumental singular). The object is the noun bhūtāni (beings, accusative plural) with its attribute, the compound sukhakāmāni (desiring happiness, accusative plural).
    2) pecca so na labhate sukhaṃ (he will not reach happiness after death). The subject is the personal pronoun so (he, nominative singular). The verb is labhate (obtains, reaches, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the gerund pecca (having gone over, after death). The object is the noun sukhaṃ (happiness, accusative singular).

    The Buddha once saw a group of young men from Sāvatthi beating a snake with sticks. He asked why were they doing such thing. The youths answered that they were afraid of being bitten by the snake therefore they beat it. The Buddha told them this verse, saying that if we do not wish to be harm by some being the first step is not to harm it ourselves.
    The young men attained the first stage of Awakenment after hearing this discourse.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sukhakāmāni
sukha
kāmāni
bhūtāni
yo
daṇḍena
vihiṃsati
attano
sukham
esāno
pecca
so
na
labhate