List of Abbreviations
na taṃ mātā pitā kayirā aññe
vā pi ca ñātakā
sammāpaṇihitaṃ cittaṃ seyyaso
naṃ tato kare
(DhP 43)
Sentence Translation:
What a mother, father
or even other relatives can not do,
a well directed
mind can do even far better than that.
Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations
na taṃ
mātā pitā kayirā aññe vā pi ca ñātakā
| |
| | | | | | |
|
neg. Pron.n.
N.f. N.m. V.act. Adj.m. conj. conj. conj. N.m.
| Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.
Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Pl. | | | Nom.Pl.
| |
| | | | |____|____| |
| | |
| | |________|____________|
| | |________|_______|____________| |
|_______|_______________________| |_____________|
|___| |
|________________________________________|
List of Abbreviations
sammā+paṇihitaṃ cittaṃ
seyyaso naṃ tato kare
| |
| | | | |
Adv. Adj.n.
N.n. Adv. Pron.m. Adv. V.act.
| Nom.Sg.
Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt.
|__________| | |______|______| |
|_____________|
| |_____________|
| |_________|
|____________________|
_____________________|
Vocabulary and
Grammar:
List of Abbreviations
na, neg.:
not.
taṃ: tad,
Pron.: that. Acc.Sg.n.: taṃ.
mātā:
mātar, N.f.: mother. Nom.Sg. = mātā.
pitā: pitar.
N.m.: father. Nom.Sg. = pitā.
kayirā, V.:
would do. The verb root kar- (to do). 3.Sg.act.opt. = kayirā.
List of Abbreviations
aññe:
añña-, Adj.: other. Nom.Pl.m.: aññe.
vā, conj.:
or.
pi, conj.:
also.
ca, conj.:
and.
ñātakā:
ñātaka-, N.m.: relative. Nom.Pl. = ñātakā.
List of Abbreviations
sammāpaṇihitaṃ: sammāpaṇihita-, Adj: well directed. A compound of:
sammā,
Adv.: well.
paṇihita-,
Adj.: directed, applied. It is a p.p. of the verb dhā- (to put) with
prefixes
pa- (strengthening) and ni- (down).
Nom.Sg. = sammāpaṇihitaṃ.
cittaṃ:
citta-, N.n.: mind. Acc.Sg. = cittaṃ.
seyyaso,
Adv: still better.
List of Abbreviations
naṃ: ena-,
Pron.: he. Acc.Sg. = enaṃ or naṃ.
tato, Adv.: than that.
kare, V.: would do. The verb
root kar- (to do). 3.Sg.act.opt. = kare. Note, that for 3.Sg.act.opt.
both kayirā (see above) and kare are possible.
List of Abbreviations
The two lines
form two sentences. In the first one, the subject is triple: mātā (mother),
pitā (father) and ñātakā (relatives). They are all in nominative
singular, except for the last one (ñātakā), which is in nominative
plural. This word has an attribute, the adjective aññe (others, nominative
plural). The verb is kayirā (can do, 3rd person, singular, active,
optative), negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is
the pronoun taṃ (that, accusative singular). The three conjunctions
(vā, or; pi, also; ca, and) connect the subjects together,
but mainly they serve metrical purposes.
In the second
sentence, the subject is the word cittaṃ (mind, nominative singular).
It has an attribute, the compound sammāpaṇihitaṃ (well directed, nominative
singular). The verb is kare (can do, 3rd person, singular, active,
optative) with an attribute, the adverb seyyaso (even better). The
object is naṃ (him, accusative singular). The adverb tato (than
that) connects this sentence to the first one.
Commentary:
In the city of Soreyya, there once
lived a son of rich man. His name was also Soreyya. Once he was going with friend
in a luxurious carriage to take a bath. They saw
Mahākaccāyana Thera adjusting his robe before he entered Soreyya
to get his alms food. Soreyya said: "I wish the monk was my wife, or my
wife had a complexion like he has!" With that he changed to a woman. He
was ashamed and ran away and began to travel to the city of Taxila. His friend
was looking for him everywhere, but did not find any trace.
Soreyya (now woman) offered her ring to some people, going to Taxila,
and they took her with them in a carriage. When they got there, the people told
one young rich man about the beautiful girl who came with them to the city.
The man married her. She gave birth to two sons, but also had two sons from
the previous marriage as a man.
Once a merchant from Soreyya came to Taxila to do some business. She
sent for him, because she recognized an old friend in him. But of course, he
did not know who she was. She asked many questions about her old family and
other friends. The man related to her the story about the disappeared man. She
revealed her identity and told him all what happened. The man advised her to
ask pardon from the Thera.
Mahākaccāyana was invited to her house and she offered him alms food.
The lady explained what happened and asked for pardon. The Thera said: "Get
up, I forgive you." With that she became a man again.
But he kept thinking how during a single life his body could undergo
two changes of sex and have children both as a man and as a woman. He felt these
things were very repulsive and decided to leave the lay life.
People often asked him if he loved more the two sons he had
as a man or the two sons he had as a woman. He always answered that the sons
whom he (as a woman) personally delivered were closer to him. People asked him
this question so often that he became ashamed and annoyed. He stayed by himself,
diligently meditating on the decay of the body. Soon he attained arahantship.
When people again asked him the same question, he said he had no affection for
any one in particular.
Others thought he does not speak the truth, so they asked
the Buddha about it. But he told them that Soreyya does not lie. Now he is an
arahant, his well directed mind brought him a well being which neither the father
nor the mother could bestow on him.
Sentence pronunciation:
Sentence
pronunciation
Word pronunciation:
sammāpaṇihitaṃ
sammā
paṇihitaṃ
cittaṃ
seyyaso
naṃ
tato
kare