Those gray bones, thrown away like pumpkins in fall.
Seeing them, what love can there be?

yāni            imāni   apatthāni alābūni   eva sārade
|                      |            |             |          |       |
Rel.Pron.n. Pron.n.   Adj.n.      N.n.   part. Adj.m.
Nom.Pl.     Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl.   |    Loc.Sg.
|                      |            |             |_____|____|
|                      |            |                  |__|
|                      |            |___________|__________________________I.
|                      |____________|          |
|                                 |____________|
|________________________|
                     |_____________________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

kāpotakāni aṭṭhīni     tāni    disvāna   kā          rati
|                     |            |          |           |             |
Adj.n.          N.n.    Pron.n. V.ger.  Pron.f.     N.f.
Nom.Pl.    Nom.Pl. Acc.Pl.     |     Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|____________|           |______|           |_______|
I._____|                            |_____________|
II.___________________________|

yāni: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Pl.n. = yāni.

imāni: idaṃ-, Pron.: this. Nom.Pl.n. = imāni.
Euphonic combination: yāni + imāni = yān'imāni.

apatthāni: apattha-, Adj.: thrown away. It is a p.p. of the verb root as- (to throw) with the prefix apa- (away). Nom.Pl.n. = apatthāni.

alābūni: alābu-, N.n.: gourd, pumpkin (long and white). Nom.Pl. = alābūni.

eva, part.: just, only.
Euphonic combination alābūni + eva = alābun'eva.

sārade: sārada-, Adj.: autumnal. Here probably we should read sarade: sarada-, N.m.: fall, autumn. Loc.Sg. = sārade.

List of Abbreviations

kāpotakāni: kāpotaka-, Adj.: gray. Lit. "dove-colored" from kapota-, N.m.: dove.
Nom.Pl.n. = kāpotakāni.

aṭṭhīni: aṭṭhi-, N.n.: bone. Nom.Pl. = aṭṭhīni.

tāni: tat-, Pron.: that. Acc.Pl.n. = tāni.

disvāna, V.: having seen. It is a ger. from the verb dis-, to see.

kā: kim-, Inter.Pron.: who. Nom.Sg.f. = kā.

rati: rati-, N.f.: love, attachment, liking for. Nom.Sg. = rati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two dependent sentences. They are:
    1) yān'imāni apatthāni alābūn'eva sārade kāpotakāni aṭṭhīni (those gray bones, thrown away like pumpkins in fall). The subject is the noun aṭṭhīni (bones, nominative plural). It has three attributes, the adjective kāpotakāni (gray, nominative plural), the past participle apatthāni (thrown away, nominative plural) and the pronoun imāni (these, nominative plural). It also has a dependent clause, alābūn'eva sārade (like pumpkins in fall). Here the subject is the noun alābūni (pumpkins, nominative plural) and the adjective/noun sārade (in fall, locative singular) is the attribute. The particle eva (just [like]) connects the clause to the subject of the main sentence. The relative adverb yāni (those, which; nominative plural) introduces the sentence and connects it to the following one.
    2) tāni disvāna kā rati (seeing them, what love can there be?). This can be further analysed into two parts:
    a) tāni disvāna (having seen those). The noun tāni (those, accusative plural) is the object in this sentence. The verb is in gerund form, disvāna (having seen).
    b) kā rati (what love [can there be]). The subject is the noun rati (love, nominative singular). The interrogative pronoun kā (what, nominative singular) forms it attribute.

    A group of monks once went to the forest to practice meditation. They were very diligent and very soon they attained very deep mental absorption (jhāna). They mistook this attainment for the Arahantship. Happily they returned to the Buddha and intended to tell him about their achievements.
    When they were about to approach, the Buddha asked Venerable Ānanda to send them to the cemetery first. Buddha knew about their mistaking jhāna for Awakenment and had an idea how to make them realize this mistake.
    The monks went to the cemetery and saw different corpses there. When they saw old decaying bodies and bones, they were able to perceive them with equanimity. But when they saw some fresh corpses, they realized they still had some sensual desires left in them! The Buddha exhorted them with this verse. The monks finally understood how little had they achieved so far.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yāni
imāni
apatthāni
alābūni
eva
sārade
kāpotakāni
aṭṭhīni
tāni
disvāna
kā
rati