Gāthā Sentence Translation Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar Commentary Pronunciation
                          List of Abbreviations

ekāsanaṃ ekaseyyaṃ eko caram atandito

eko damayam attānaṃ vanante ramito siyā

(DhP 305)




Sentence Translation:

Sitting alone, sleeping in solitude, wandering alone and active,
alone subduing oneself - such a one would take delight in living in forests.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

eka+āsanaṃ    eka+seyyaṃ      eko      caram    atandito
|            |           |         |              |            |              |
Num. Adj.m. Num.  Adj.m.   Num.m.  Adj.m.    Adj.m.
|       Nom.Sg.    |    Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|_______|           |_____|              |            |________|
       |                      |                   |___________|
       |____________|_________________|________________________

List of Abbreviations

eko       damayam attānaṃ vana+ante    ramito        siyā
|                  |              |         |        |           |               |
Num.m.   Adj.m.    N.m.   N.n.  N.n.     Adj.m.     V.act.
Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg.    |   Loc.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|                  |________|         |____|            |________|
|______________|                     |_____________|
_______|                                               |
      |______________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

ekāsanaṃ: ekāsana-, Adj.: sitting alone. It is a compound of:
    eka-, Num.: one.
   āsana-, N.n.: seat, chair.
Euphonic combination: eka- + āsana- = ekāsana-.
Acc.Sg. = ekāsanaṃ. Although the accusative form is used here, it is grammatically incorrect. A nominative case should be used here: ekāsano.

ekaseyyaṃ: ekaseyya-, Adj.: sleeping alone. It is a compound of:
    eka-, Num.: one.
    seyyā-, N.f.: bed, couch.
Acc.Sg. = ekaseyyaṃ. See above for the note. The form here should be ekaseyyo.

List of Abbreviations

eko: eka-, Num.: one. As an Adj.: alone. Nom.Sg.m. = eko.

caram: carant-, Adj.: wandering, roaming. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root car- (to move, to wander about). Nom.Sg. = caram.

atandito: atandita-, Adj.: active, keen, sedulous. It is the word tandita-, Adj.: lazy, passive negated by the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.m. = atandito.

eko: see above.

damayam: damayant-, Adj.: taming, subduing, mastering. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root dam- (to tame). Nom.Sg.m. = damayam.

List of Abbreviations

attānaṃ: attan-, N.m./Pron.: self. Acc.Sg. = attānaṃ.

vanante: vananta-, N.n.: the border of the forest, the fringes of the forest. It is a compound of:
    vana-, N.n.: forest.
    anta-, N.n.: end.
Euphonic combination: vana- + anta- = vananta-.
Loc.Sg. = vanante.

ramito: enjoying, taking delight. It is a p.p. of the verb root ram- (to enjoy, to delight in).
Nom.Sg.m. = ramito.

siyā, V.: would be. The verb root is as-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = siyā.

List of Abbreviations

    There are four subjects in this sentence. They are:
    1) ekāsanaṃ (sitting alone, accusative singular).
    2) ekaseyyaṃ (sleeping in solitude, accusative singular).
    3) eko caram atandito (wandering alone and active). The subject here is the numeral eko (one, alone, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective atandito (active, nominative singular). The verb is in the active present participle, caram (wandering, nominative singular).
    4) eko damayam attānaṃ (alone subduing oneself). The subject is the numeral eko (one, alone, nominative singular). The verb is in the active present participle, damayam (subduing, nominative singular). The object is the noun/pronoun attānaṃ (oneself, accusative singular).
    The verb is siyā (should be, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It has two attributes, the past participle ramito (delighted, enjoying, nominative singular) and the noun vanante (at the edge of the forest, locative singular).




Commentary:

    Venerable Ekavihāri used to live alone, eat alone and meditating in solitude. He did not like to keep company of other monks. Some monks did not understand why he did so and reported the matter to the Buddha. The Buddha praised Ekavihāri and spoke this verse about how good it is for a monk to concentrate on meditation in seclusion.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

ekāsanaṃ
eka
āsanaṃ
ekaseyyaṃ
seyyaṃ
eko
caram
atandito
damayam
attānaṃ
vanante
vana
ante
ramito
siyā