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

sabbadānaṃ dhammadānaṃ jināti

sabbarasaṃ dhammaraso jināti

sabbaratiṃ dhammarati jināti

taṇhakkhayo sabbadukkhaṃ jināti

(DhP 354)



Sentence Translation:

The gift of Dharma conquers all gifts.
The taste of Dharma excels all tastes.
The joy of Dharma excels all joys.
The destruction of thirst conquers all suffering.



Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

sabba+dānaṃ dhamma+dānaṃ      jināti
|              |            |            |              |
Adj.      N.n      N.m.      N.n.     V.act.in.
|         Acc.Sg.      |       Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|________|           |_______|              |
       |______________|____________|
                    |_______|

List of Abbreviations

sabba+rasaṃ dhamma+raso       jināti
|             |           |           |              |
Adj.    N.m.    N.m.     N.m.    V.act.in.
|        Acc.Sg.     |      Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|_______|           |______|               |
       |_____________|___________|
                  |_______|

List of Abbreviations

sabba+ratiṃ dhamma+rati           jināti
|             |          |          |                 |
Adj.    N.f.     N.m.    N.f.        V.act.in.
|        Acc.Sg.    |      Nom.Sg.  3.Sg.pres.
|_______|          |______|                 |
      |_____________|____________|
                 |_______|

List of Abbreviations

taṇha+kkhayo sabba+dukkhaṃ     jināti
|              |          |            |               |
N.f.     N.m.    Adj.       N.n.      V.act.in.
|        Nom.Sg.    |       Acc.Sg.   3.Sg.pres.
|________|          |______|                |
       |                        |____________|
       |____________________|



Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

sabbadānaṃ: sabbadāna-, N.n.: all gifts. It is a compound of:
    sabba-, Adj.: all.
    dāna-, N.n.: giving [in charity], distribution [of gifts].
Acc.Sg. = sabbadānaṃ.

dhammadānaṃ: dhammadāna-, N.n.: the gift of Dharma. It is a compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: Law, Buddha's teaching, righteousness. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold.
    dāna-, N.n.: see above.
Nom.Sg. = dhammadānaṃ.

jināti, V.: conquers, overpowers. The verb root is ji- (to conquer, to win). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = jināti.

sabbarasaṃ: sabbarasa-, N.n.: all tastes. It is a compound of:
    sabba-, Adj.: all.
    rasa-, N.m.: juice, taste.
Acc.Sg. = sabbarasaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

dhammaraso: dhammarasa-, N.n.: the taste of Dharma. It is a compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: see above.
    rasa-, N.m.: see above.
Nom.Sg. = dhammaraso.

jināti: see above.

sabbaratiṃ: sabbarati-, N.f.: all pleasures. It is a compound of:
    sabba-, Adj.: all.
    rati-, N.f.: joy, pleasure.
Acc.Sg. = sabbaratiṃ.

dhammarati: dhammarati-, N.f.: the joy of Dharma. It is a compound of:
    dhamma-, N.m.: see above.
    rati-, N.f.: see above.
Nom.Sg. = dhammarati.

List of Abbreviations

jināti: see above.

taṇhakkhayo: taṇhakkhaya-, N.m.: destruction of thirst. It is a compound of:
    taṇhā-, N.f.: thirst, craving.
    khaya-, N.m.: destruction, dissolution, end.
Euphonic combination: taṇhā- + khaya- = taṇhakkhaya-.
Nom.Sg. = taṇhakkhayo.

sabbadukkhaṃ: sabbadukkha-, N.n.: all suffering. It is a compound of:
    sabba-, Adj.: all.
    dukkha-, N.n.: suffering.
Acc.Sg. = sabbadukkhaṃ.

jināti: see above.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of four syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) sabbadānaṃ dhammadānaṃ jināti (the gift of Dharma conquers all gifts). The subject is the compound dhammadānaṃ (the gift of Dharma, nominative singular). The verb is jināti (conquers, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the compound sabbadānaṃ (all gifts, accusative singular).
    2) sabbarasaṃ dhammaraso jināti (the taste of Dharma excels all tastes). The subject is the compound dhammaraso (the taste of Dharma, nominative singular). The verb is jināti (conquers, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the compound sabbarasaṃ (all tastes, accusative singular).
    3) sabbaratiṃ dhammarati jināti (the joy of Dharma excels all joys). The subject is the compound dhammarati (the joy of Dharma, nominative singular). The verb is jināti (conquers, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the compound sabbaratiṃ (all joys, accusative singular).
    4) taṇhakkhayo sabbadukkhaṃ jināti (the destruction of thirst conquers all suffering). The subject is the compound taṇhakkhayo (the destruction of thirst, nominative singular). The verb is jināti (conquers, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the compound sabbadukkhaṃ (all suffering, accusative singular).



Commentary:

    The gods were once arguing about four questions: Which is the best of all gifts? Which is the best among tastes? Which is the best of joys? How to conquer all suffering? They could not agree on an answer, so Sakka, the king of gods, went to see the Buddha and asked him these questions. The Buddha replied with this verse.
    Sakka then requested that he gods be invited to share the merit accumulated by the gift of Dharma. The Buddha agreed and from that time on it is a custom to invite the gods to partake of the merit whenever a good deed is done.



Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sabbadānaṃ
sabba
dānaṃ
dhammadānaṃ
dhamma
jināti
sabbarasaṃ
rasaṃ
dhammaraso
raso
sabbaratiṃ
ratiṃ
dhammarati
rati
taṇhakkhayo
taṇhā
khayo
sabbadukkhaṃ
dukkhaṃ