A fool does not realize when he is committing bad deeds.
The stupid person is tormented by his own deeds just as if burned by fire.

atha  pāpāni kammāni karaṃ    bālo      na     bujjhati
|             |           |           |            |          |            |
Adv.  Adj.n.    N.n.    Adj.m.     N.m.   neg.   V.act.in.
|        Acc.Pl. Acc.Pl. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.  |     3.Sg.pres.
|             |______|           |            |           |______|
|                   |_________|            |                |
|                            |___________|_________|
|                                       |_____|
|________________________|

List of Abbreviations

sehi    kammehi dummedho aggi+daḍḍho  va    tappati
|               |              |            |         |          |          |
Pron.n.  N.n.        N.m.     N.m. Adj.m.  pron. V.act.in.
Ins.Pl.  Ins.Pl.     Nom.Sg.    |    Nom.Sg.   |     3.Sg.pres.
|________|               |           |_____|          |           |
        |                      |                |________|           |
        |                      |_____________|                   |
        |___________________|_________________|
                        |__________|

atha, Adv.: then.

pāpāni: pāpa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. Acc.Pl.n. = pāpāni.

kammāni: kamma-, N.n.: deed, action. Derived from the verb kar- (to do). Acc.Pl. = kammāni.

karaṃ: karont- (or karant-), Adj.: doing. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root kar- (to do).
Nom.Sg.m. = karaṃ.

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

na, neg.: not.

bujjhati, V.: realizes, understands. The verb root is budh- (tu understand). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = bujjhati.

sehi: sa-, Pron.: own, one's own. Ins.Pl.n. = sehi.

List of Abbreviations

kammehi: kamma-, N.n.: deed, action. Derived from the verb kar- (to do). Ins.Pl. = kammehi.

dummedho: dummedha-, Adj.: stupid. Derived from the word medhā-, N.f.: wisdom, intelligence, by adding the prefix du- (lacking something, away from). The double m is due to the euphonic combination (du- + medha- = dummedha-). Nom.Sg.m. = dummedho.

aggidaḍḍho: aggidaḍḍha-, Adj.: burned by fire. It is a compound of:
    aggi-, N.n.: fire.
    daḍḍha-,: Adj.: burned. It is a p.p. of the verb root dah- (to burn).
Nom.Sg.m. = aggidaḍḍho.

va, part.: as, like.

tappati, V.: to be tormented, to be consumed by remorse. Pass. of tap- (to be hot, to burn). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = tappati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) atha pāpāni kammāni karaṃ bālo na bujjhati (a fool does not realize when he is committing bad deeds).The subject is the noun bālo (fool, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the active present participle karaṃ (doing, nominative singular). This word has the noun kammāni (deeds, accusative plural) as an attribute and that word in turn has the adjective pāpāni (bad, accusative plural) as an attribute. The verb is bujjhati (understands, 3^rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The adverb atha (then) serves only for metrical purposes.
    2) sehi kammehi dummedho aggidaḍḍho va tappati (the stupid person is tormented by his own deeds just as if burned by fire). The subject is the adjective dummedho (stupid, nominative singular). It has a dependent clause, aggidaḍḍho va (like burned by fire). Here the subject is the compound aggidaḍḍho (burned by fire, nominative singular). It is connected to the subject of the main sentence by the particle va (like). The verb is tappati (is tormented, 3^rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun kammehi (by deeds, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the pronoun sehi (by [his] own, instrumental plural).

    Venerable Moggallāna once went on an alms-round with Venerable Lakkhaṇa. On the way from a certain hill he smiled as if he saw something strange. When they were back at the monastery, Lakkhaṇa asked him about this incident.
    Moggalāna said that he saw a ghost in the form of a snake, being burned by flames. The Buddha told them that he also saw that particular ghost and revealed to them his story.
    A long time ago there was a thief who repeatedly burned a house of a certain man. Not satisfied with that he also set fire to a monastery, donated by that man. As a result of these deeds, he was reborn as that ghost-snake, burned by flames.
    At the end the Buddha added this verse, saying that even though a fool does not realize evilness of his actions, the consequences will certainly reach him.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

atha
pāpāni
kammāni
karaṃ
bālo
na
bujjhati
sehi
kammehi
dummedho
aggidaḍḍho
aggi
daḍḍho
va
tappati