Gāthā | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
Something else are worldly gains, something
else is the path leading to the Nirvana.
Thus let a monk, the Buddha's student, having fully understood
this,
not rejoice at worship, but let him devote himself to solitude.
aññā hi lābh+'ūpanisā
aññā nibbāna+gāminī
| | | | | |
|
Adj.f. part. N.m. N.f. Adj.f. N.m. Adj.f.
Nom.Sg. | | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|________| |_____| | |_______|
|____________| |________|
|_______________________|
List of Abbreviations
evam etaṃ abhiññāya bhikkhu buddhassa
sāvako
| | | | | |
Adv. Pron.n. V.ger. N.m. N.m. N.m.
| Acc.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| | | | |_______|
| | | |____________|
| | |_____________|
| |____________|
|____________|
|___________________________________________________________
List of Abbreviations
sakkāraṃ na abhinandeyya vivekam anubrūhaye
| | | | |
N.m. neg. V.act. N.m. V.act.
Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
| |_______| |_________|
|____________| |
|_______________________|
__________________|
aññā: añña-, Adj.: other, different. Nom.Sg.f. = aññā.
hi, part.: indeed, truly.
lābhūpanisā: lābhūpanisā-, N.f.: means of gain. It is a compound of:
lābha-, N.m.: gain, possession.
upanisā-, N.f.: means, cause.
Euphonic combination: lābha- + upanisā- = lābhūpanisā-.
Nom.Sg. = lābhūpanisā.
aññā: see above.
List of Abbreviations
nibbānagāminī:
nibbānagāmin-, Adj.: going or leading to the Nirvana. It is a compound
of:
nibbāna-, N.n.: Nirvana, the goal of Buddhism.
gāmin-, Adj.: going, leading to. It is derived from
the verb gam- (to go).
Nom.Sg.f. = nibbānagāminī.
evam, Adv.: thus, in this way.
etaṃ: etad-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.n. = etaṃ.
abhiññāya, V.ger.: having fully understood. The verb root is ñā- (to know) with the prefix abhi- (intensifying sense).
bhikkhu: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu.
List of Abbreviations
buddhassa: buddha-, Adj.: awakened. Here as a title, N.m.: Awakened One, the Buddha. P.p. of the verb budh- (to awaken). Gen.Sg.: buddhassa.
sāvako: sāvaka-, N.m.: , "listener", student, pupil. It is derived from the verb root su- (to hear, to listen). Nom.Sg. = sāvako.
sakkāraṃ: sakkāra-, N.m.: worship, honor. Acc.Sg. = sakkāraṃ.
na, neg.: not.
List of Abbreviations
abhinandeyya, V.: let him rejoice
at, let him find pleasure in. The verb root is nand- (to be happy, to
delight in) with the prefix abhi- (intensifying sense).
3.Sg.act.opt. = abhinandeyya.
Euphonic combination: na + abhinandeyya = nābhinandeyya.
vivekam: viveka-, N.m.: solitude, seclusion. Acc.Sg. = vivekam.
anubrūhaye, V.: let him practice, devote. The verb root is brah- (to develop) with the prefix anu- (along, to). 3.Sg.act.opt = anubrūhaye.
List of Abbreviations
This verse consists of two syntactically
separated sentences. The first line forms the first sentence; the second and
third lines form the second sentence.
The first sentence has two paratactic parts. The first is aññā
hi lābhūpanisā (something else are worldly gains). The subject here is lābhūpanisā
(means of gain, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". This verb has an attribute, the adjective aññā (different,
nominative singular). This word is strengthened by the particle hi (indeed).
The second part is aññā nibbānagāminī (something else is [the path] leading
to the Nirvana). The subject here is the adjective nibbānagāminī (leading
to the Nirvana, nominative singular). The verb is again omitted; the verb "to
be" is implied. This verb has the adjective aññā (different, nominative
singular) for an attribute.
The second sentence consists also of two main segments. The
first is evam etaṃ abhiññāya bhikkhu buddhassa sāvako (thus a monk, the
Buddha's student, having fully understood this). The subject of this sentence
is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It has an attribute,
the noun sāvako (student, nominative singular). This word has its own
attribute, the noun buddhassa (the Buddha's, genitive singular). The
verb is in the gerundive, abhiññāya (having understood). The object is
the pronoun etaṃ (this, accusative singular) with its attribute, the
adverb evam (thus, in such way).
The second segment (sakkāraṃ nābhinandeyya vivekam anubrūhaye
- let him not rejoice at worship, but let him devote himself to solitude) contains
two paratactic parts: 1) sakkāraṃ nābhinandeyya (let him not rejoice
at worship). The subject is omitted, implying the subject of the previous segment
(bhikkhu). The verb is abhinandeyya (let him rejoice, 3rd person,
singular, active, optative). It is negated by the negative particle na (not).
The object is the noun sakkāraṃ (worship, accusative singular). 2) vivekam
anubrūhaye (let him devote himself to solitude). The subject is again the
noun bhikkhu from the main segment (here omitted). The verb is anubrūhaye
(let him practice, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is
the noun vivekam (solitude, accusative singular).
In the city of Sāvatthi lived a
well-known man. He often offered alms food to the monks and especially to Venerable
Sāriputta. He had a son named Tissa. At the age of seven, the young boy Tissa
became a novice under Sāriputta. While living at the Jetavana monastery, relatives
would visit him often and bring him many presents. Soon he was tired of these
visits so he took a subject of meditation from the Buddha and moved away to
the forest monastery. While there, he devoted himself to meditation. Whenever
villagers offered him alms, he said just, "May you be well and happy!"
After three months of meditation he attained arahantship.
Then Venerable Sāriputta, Moggallāna, and other senior monks
paid visit to Tissa. Villagers requested Sāriputta to deliver a discourse, but
he let speak Tissa instead. Villagers were not pleased, because they never heard
anything from Tissa except for the words "May you be well and happy!"
They thought he did not really understand Dharma.
But Tissa gave a discourse and spoke for the whole night.
Villagers were impressed and felt lucky that they have such a wise monk with
them. But still they were a bit angry with him for not speaking earlier.
Then the Buddha came to the village and told the villagers how lucky
they were. If it was not for Tissa, would they all, the Buddha and so many senior
monks, come to the village? The villagers realized their luck and did not think
about the past any more.
Word pronunciation:
aññā
hi
lābhūpanisā
lābha
upanisā
nibbānagāminī
nibbāna
gāminī
evam
etaṃ
abhiññāya
bhikkhu
buddhassa
sāvako
sakkāraṃ
na
abhinandeyya
vivekam
anubrūhaye