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

kāsāvakaṇṭhā bahavo pāpadhammā asaññatā

pāpā pāpehi kammehi nirayaṃ te upapajjare

(DhP 307)




Sentence Translation:

There are plenty of those who are wearing monk's robe but are of evil nature and without self-control.
These evil ones will be reborn in hell because of their evil deeds.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

kāsāva+kaṇṭhā  bahavo  pāpa+dhammā asaññatā
|                |            |          |           |             |
N.n.     Adj.m.   Adj.m.  Adj.    Adj.m.    Adj.m.
|          Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl.    |     Nom.Pl.  Nom.Pl.
|_________|            |          |______|             |
       |____________|_________|__________|
                  |______|

List of Abbreviations

pāpā     pāpehi kammehi nirayaṃ    te       upapajjare
|                |            |            |           |               |
Adj.m.   Adj.n.    N.n.      N.m.   Pron.m.  V.med.in.
Nom.Pl. Ins.Pl.  Ins.Pl.   Acc.Sg. Nom.Pl.  3.Pl.pres.
|                |_______|            |           |               |
|_____________|__________|______|               |
            |           |__________|_______________|
            |                              |______|
            |____________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

kāsāvakaṇṭhā: kāsāvakaṇṭha-, Adj.: wearing a monk's robe (lit. with a robe around the neck). It is a compound of:
    kāsāva-, Adj.: yellow. As an N.n.: monk's robe.
    kaṇṭha-, N.m.: neck, throat.
Nom.Pl.m. = kāsāvakaṇṭhā.

bahavo: bahu-, Adj.: many, much, very. Nom.Pl.m. = bahavo.

pāpadhammā: pāpadhamma-, N.m.: having evil nature. It is a compound of:
    pāpa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. As an N.n.: evil, wrong doing.
    dhamma-, N.m.: here does not mean Buddha's teaching, but should be interpreted rather as "state" or "nature".
Nom.Pl.m. = pāpadhammā.

asaññatā: asaññata-, Adj.: unrestrained, without self-control. It is a p.p. of the verb yam- (to restrain, to become tranquil) with the prefix sam- (together), negated by the negative prefix a-.
Nom.Pl.m. = asaññatā.

List of Abbreviations

pāpā: pāpa-, Adj.: evil, wrong, bad. Nom.Pl.m. = pāpā.

pāpehi: pāpa-, Adj.: see above. Ins.Pl.n. = pāpehi.

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

nirayaṃ: niraya-, N.m.: hell. Acc.Sg. = nirayaṃ.

te: tat-, Pron.: that. Masculine form sa-. Nom.Pl. = te.

upapajjare, V.: are reborn, get to, rise. The verb root is pad- (to come) with the prefix upa- (near, to). 3.Pl.med.in.pres. = upapajjare.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) kāsāvakaṇṭhā bahavo pāpadhammā asaññatā (there are plenty of those who are wearing monk's robe but are of evil nature and without self-control). There are three subjects, the adjectives kāsāvakaṇṭhā (wearing monk's robe, nominative plural), pāpadhammā (of evil nature, nominative plural) and asaññatā (without self-control, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective bahavo (many, nominative plural).
    2) pāpā pāpehi kammehi nirayaṃ te upapajjare (these evil ones will be reborn in hell because of their evil deeds). The subject is the pronoun te (they, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the adjective pāpā (evil, nominative plural). The verb is upapajjare (are reborn, 3rd person, plural, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun kammehi (by deeds, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the adjective pāpehi (by evil, instrumental plural). The object is the noun nirayaṃ (to hell, accusative singular).




Commentary:

    Venerable Moggallāna once saw a group of hungry spirits (peta). When he returned to the monastery, he asked the Buddha about the spirits. The Buddha said that these were monks a long time ago. But they did not pay any attention to their spiritual development and committed a lot of evil deeds. Because of that, they were suffering in hell for a long period of time and now were still reborn in a woeful state.
    The Buddha then added this verse, saying that if a monk does not take the monkshood seriously, he can expect bad results.




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

kāsāvakaṇṭhā
kāsāva
kaṇṭhā
bahavo
pāpadhammā
pāpa
dhammā
asaññatā
pāpā
pāpehi
kammehi
nirayaṃ
te
upapajjare