Not by all these vehicles could one go to the land previously not traveled to,
as would one who is tamed would go by himself being tamed and well controlled.

na     hi     etehi   yānehi gaccheyya agataṃ   disaṃ
|         |         |           |            |              |           |
neg. part. Pron.n.   N.n.    V.act.       Adj.f.    N.f.
|_____|     Ins.Pl.  Ins.Pl. 3.Sg.opt.   Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
     |              |______|            |              |______|
     |___________|__________|                    |
                  |____|                                      |
                       |_______________________|
                                           |____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yathā      attanā sudantena danto   dantena   gacchati
|                  |            |            |            |             |
Rel.Adv.  N.m.    Adj.m.   Adj.m.   Adj.m.  V.act.in.
|             Ins.Sg.  Ins.Sg.  Nom.Sg.  Ins.Sg.  3.Sg.pres.
|                  |            |_______|______|              |
|                  |___________|     |                         |
|                             |________|______________|
|                                            |_______|
|____________________________|

na, neg.: not.

hi, part.: indeed.

etehi: etad-, Pron.: this. Ins.Pl.n. = etehi.

yānehi: yāna-, N.n.: carriage, vehicle. Ins.Pl. = yānehi.

gaccheyya, V.: would go, could go. The verb root is gam- (to go). 3.Sg.act.opt. = gaccheyya.

agataṃ: agata-, Adj.: not traveled, not gone to. It is the word gata-, Adj. (gone, a p.p. of the verb root gam-, to go) negated by the negative prefix a-. Acc.Sg.f. = agataṃ.

disaṃ: disā-, N.f: direction. Acc.Sg. = disaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

yathā, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.

attanā: attan-, N.m.: self. Ins.Sg. = attanā.
Euphonic combination: yathā + attanā = yathāttanā.

sudantena: sudanta-, Adj.: well restrained, tamed, controlled. It is a p.p. of the verb dam- (to restrain, to control, to tame) with the prefix su- (well). Ins.Sg.m. = sudantena.

danto: danta-, Adj.: restrained, tamed, controlled. It is a p.p. of the verb dam- (to restrain, to control, to tame). Nom.Sg.m. = danto.

dantena: danta-, Adj.: see above. Ins.Sg.m. = dantena.

gacchati, V.: goes. The verb root is gam- (to go). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = gacchati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
    1) na hi etehi yānehi gaccheyya agataṃ disaṃ (not by all these vehicles could one go to the land previously not traveled to). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is gaccheyya (could go, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the noun yānehi (by vehicles, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the pronoun etehi (by these, instrumental plural). The object is the noun disaṃ (land, direction, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle agataṃ (not gone, not traveled, accusative singular). The particle hi (indeed) serves mainly metrical purposes.
    2) yathāttanā sudantena danto dantena gacchati (as would one who is tamed would go by himself being tamed and well controlled). The subject is the past participle danto (tamed, nominative singular). The verb is gacchati (goes, 3^rd person, singular). It has an attribute, the noun attanā (by oneself, instrumental singular). This word has two attributes, the past participles dantena (by tamed, instrumental singular) and sudantena (by well tamed, instrumental singular). The relative adverb yathā (as, like) connects this sentence to the previous one.

    A group of monks once saw an elephant trainer trying to subdue an elephant. The trainer could not succeed in any way he tried. One monk used to be an elephant trainer himself so he explained to the trainer how he should proceed. The elephant was then tamed very quickly.
    When the monks returned to the monastery, they reported this story to the Buddha. The Buddha admonished the monk with this verse, saying that he should first tame himself. Only in this way will he be able to reach the Nirvana. Taming elephants will not help him one little bit in pursuing this goal.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
hi
etehi
yānehi
gaccheyya
agataṃ
disaṃ
yathā
attanā
sudantena
danto
dantena
gacchati