| Gāthā | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
| Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
Few are those amongst people, who have gone to the other
shore.
And these other people just follow this shore.
appakā
te manussesu
ye janā
pāra+gāmino
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Adj.m. Pron.m. N.m.
Rel.Pron.m. N.m. N.n. Adj.m.
Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Loc.Pl. Nom.Pl.
Nom.Pl. | Nom.Pl.
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List of Abbreviations
atha ayaṃ
itarā
pajā tīram
eva anudhāvati
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Adv. Pron.f. Adj.f.
N.f. N.n. part. V.act.in.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. | 3.Pl.pres.
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appakā: appaka-, Adj.: little, few. Nom.Pl.m. = appakā.
te: tat-, Pron.: that. Masculine form sa-. Nom.Pl. = te.
manussesu: manussa-, N.m.: human, person, man. Loc.Pl. = manussesu.
ye: yat-, Rel.Pron.: those, who. Nom.Pl.m. = ye.
janā: jana-, N.m.: person, man. Nom.Pl. = janā.
pāragāmino:
pāragāmin-,
Adj.: going to the other shore. It is a compound of:
pāra-,
N.n.: the opposite shore, the other side.
gāmin-,
Adj.: going, leading to. It is derived from the verb gam- (to go).
Nom.Pl.m. = pāragāmino.
List of Abbreviations
atha, Adv.: and also, and then.
ayaṃ: idaṃ,
Pron.: this. Nom.Sg.f. = ayaṃ.
Euphonic combination: atha + ayaṃ
= athāyaṃ.
itarā: itara-, Adj.: other, different. Nom.Sg.f. = itarā.
pajā: pajā-, N.f.: beings, people, mankind. Nom.Sg. = pajā.
tīram: tīra-, N.n.: a shore, bank. Acc.Sg. = tīraṃ.
eva, part.: just.
anudhāvati, V.: follow. The verb root is dhāv- (to run) with the prefix anu- (following). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = anudhāvati.
List of Abbreviations
This verse consists of two sentences.
They are formed by the first and second lines of this verse respectively.
The first sentence can be subdivided
into two segments:
1) appakā
te manussesu (few are those amongst people). The subject is the personal
pronoun te (they, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying
the verb "to be". This verb has an attribute, the adjective appakā
(few, nominative plural). This word has itself an attribute, the noun
manussesu (amongst people, locative plural).
2) ye janā
pāragāmino
(who have gone to the other shore). The subject is the relative pronoun
ye (who, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the noun janā
(people, nominative plural). This word has itself an attribute, the compound
pāragāmino
(gone to the other shore, nominative plural).
In the second sentence, the subject
is the noun pajā (people, mankind,
nominative singular). It has two attributes, the pronoun ayaṃ
(this, nominative singular) and the adjective itarā
(other, nominative singular). The verb is anudhāvati
(follow, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense).
This verb has an attribute, the noun tīram
(shore, accusative singular) that is stressed by the particle eva
(just). The adverb atha (and then) introduces the sentence and connects
it to the previous one.
One day, a group of people came to
the monastery to give offerings to the monks and listen to the discourses.
It was arranged that they could stay the whole night and listen to the
monks explaining the Dharma.
But some of them did not have enough
energy and they returned home early. Some stayed for the night, but were
sleepy and did not pay much attention to what was being said. Only a few
were able to listen attentively to the discourses.
In the morning the Buddha was told
about what happened. He replied by this verse, saying that most people
are too attached to this world, only a few are able to reach the other
shore and attain Nirvana.
He reminded the monks to strive diligently
for the goal; only those who will do se will be able to reach the perfection
of mind.
Word pronunciation:
appakā
te
manussesu
ye
janā
pāragāmino
pāra
gāmino
atha
ayaṃ
itarā
pajā
tīram
eva
anudhāvati