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

sabbaso nāmarūpasmiṃ yassa natthi mamāyitaṃ

asatā ca na socati sa ve bhikkhū ti vuccati

(DhP 367)




Sentence Translation:

Who is not attached to anything in his whole mind and body,
who does not grieve for nonexistent things, he is truly called a monk.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

sabbaso nāma+rūpasmiṃ   yassa         na       atthi    mamāyitaṃ
|               |             |              |              |           |              |
Adv.      N.n.       N.n.    Rel.Pron.m.  neg.  V.act.in.     N.n.
|               |        Loc.Sg.    Gen.Sg.        |    3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.
|               |_______|               |              |______|              |
|____________|                      |                    |                   |
          |___________________|___________|                   |
                                             |        |_________________|
                                             |______________|
                                                          |______________________________

List of Abbreviations

asatā      ca    na    socati          sa        ve   bhikkhū    ti      vuccati
|              |       |         |               |           |         |           |           |
Adj.n.  conj. neg. V.act.in.    Pron.m.  part.   N.m.    part.  V.pas.in.
Ins.Sg.     |       |   3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.     |    Nom.Sg.   |     3.Sg.pres.
|________|       |_____|               |______|         |______|           |
       |___________|                          |                    |_________|
__________|                                   |________________|
        |__________________________________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

sabbaso, Adv.: altogether, thoroughly. It is derived from the word sabba-, Adj.: all.

nāmarūpasmiṃ: nāmarūpa-, N.n.: mind and body. It is a compound of:
    nāma-, N.n.: mind, immaterial factors of an individual.
    rūpa-, N.n.: form, body, figure, material factors of an individual.
Loc.Sg. = nāmarūpasmiṃ.

yassa: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Gen.Sg.m. = yassa (whose).

na, neg.: not.

atthi, V.: is. The verb root is as- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = atthi.
Euphonic combination: na + atthi = natthi.

List of Abbreviations

mamāyitaṃ: mamāyita-, Adj.: cherished, beloved. It is a p.p. of the verb mamāyati (to be fond of, to be attached to). This verb is derived from the word mama, Pron. (my, mine). As an N.n.: attachment, fondness for. Nom.Sg. = mamāyitaṃ.

asatā: asant-, Adj.: untrue, nonexistent. It is the word sant-, Adj. (this is an a.pr.p. of the verb root as-, to be), negated by the negative prefix a-. Ins.Sg.n. = asatā.

ca, conj.: and.

na, neg.: not.

List of Abbreviations

socati,V.: mourns, grieves. The verb root is suc-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = socati.

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa (the more usual form is so).

ve, part.: indeed.

bhikkhū: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu. The form bhikkhū is used in poetry.

ti, part.: a particle, symbolizing the end of direct speech. In English this is expressed by quotation marks. Sometimes it is written as iti.

vuccati, V,: is called. It is a passive form of the verb root vac- (to say). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = vuccati.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically connected sentences. They are:
    1) sabbaso nāmarūpasmiṃ yassa natthi mamāyitaṃ (who is not attached to anything in his whole mind and body). The subject is the noun mamāyitaṃ (attachment, nominative singular). The verb is atthi (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the compound nāmarūpasmiṃ (in mind and body, locative singular). This word has its own attribute, the adverb sabbaso (altogether). The relative pronoun yassa (whose, genitive singular) connects the sentence to the following one.
    2) asatā ca na socati (who does not grieve for nonexistent things). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is socati (grieves, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the adjective asatā (for nonexistent, instrumental singular). The conjunction ca (and) serves mainly for metrical purposes. It also connects this sentence to the previous one.
    3) sa ve bhikkhū ti vuccati (he is truly called a monk). The subject is the pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). It is stressed by the particle ve (indeed). The verb is vuccati (is called, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It is modified by the particle ti (marks the end of the direct speech).




Commentary:

    In Sāvatthi lived a Brahmin and his wife who were followers of the Buddha. Often they offered almsfood to him and the monks.
    One day the Buddha came to their house to ask for some almsfood. The Brahmin was already eating and his wife was afraid that if her husband saw the Buddha he would offer all their food to him and she would have to cook again. So she went out and told the Buddha they had not food left that day. The Buddha knew they were both close to attaining the third stage of Awakenment, so he just shook his head and kept standing there. The wife could not help herself and started laughing.
    Her husband came out and immediately offered all their food to the Buddha. Then he asked how a monk should be judged, what makes a true monk. The Buddha replied with this verse, saying that a true monk is not attached to anything in his body or his mind. Hearing this, the Brahmin and his wife attained the third stage of Awakenment (called anāgāmi).




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sabbaso
nāmarūpasmim
nāma
rūpasmim
yassa
na
atthi
mamāyitaṃ
asatā
ca
socati
sa
ve
bhikkhū
ti
vuccati