Having abandoned the bad states let the wise man develop the good states.
having come from the house into houselessness, into solitude, which is not fit for pleasures..

kaṇhaṃ dhammaṃ vippahāya sukkaṃ  bhāvetha paṇḍito
|                   |               |             |              |             |
Adj.m.      N.m.        V.ger.     Adj.m.    V.med.     N.m.
Acc.Sg.   Acc.Sg.         |          Acc.Sg.  3.Sg.opt.  Nom.Sg.
|__________|               |              |________|             |
        |______________|                      |                     |
                    |____________________|                     |
                                    |_______________________|
                                                          |__________________________________

List of Abbreviations

okā      anokam āgamma viveke  yattha   dūramaṃ
|               |             |            |          |              |
N.n.       N.n.      V.ger.    N.m.  Rel.Adv.   Adj.n.
Abl.Sg. Acc.Sg.       |       Loc.Sg.    |         Nom.Sg.
|               |_______|             |          |________|
|____________|                    |_________|
           |______________________|
__________________|

kaṇhaṃ: kaṇha-, Adj.: bad, black, dark. Acc.Sg.m. = kaṇhaṃ.

dhammaṃ: dhamma-, N.m.: here not as the Dharma (Buddha's Teaching), but rather in its different meaning: state, thing. Acc.Sg. = dhammaṃ.

vippahāya, V.ger.: having abandoned or given up. A ger. of the verb hā- (to leave, to give up) with the strengthening prefix pa- and the prefix vi- (separation).

sukkaṃ: sukka-, Adj.: good, clear, light. Acc.Sg.m. = sukkaṃ.

bhāvetha, V.: let him develop. The verb root is bhāv- (to develop, to meditate).
3.Sg.med.opt. = bhāvetha.

paṇḍito: paṇḍita-, N.m.: wise man, learned man. Nom.Sg. = paṇḍito.

List of Abbreviations

okā: oka-, N.n.: home, house, abode, shelter. Abl.Sg. = okā.

anokam: anoka-, N.n.: houselessness, homelessness. It is the word oka- (see above) negated by the negative prefix an-. Acc.Sg. = anokam.

āgamma, V.ger.: having come. The verb root is gam- (to go) with the prefix ā- (towards).

viveke: viveka-, N.m.: solitude, seclusion. Loc.Sg. = viveke.

yattha, Rel.Adv.: where.

dūramaṃ: dūrama-, Adj.: difficult to enjoy, not fit for pleasures. It is derived from the verb root ram- (to enjoy, to delight in) with the prefix du- (difficult, bad).
Euphonic combination du- + rama- = dūrama-.
Nom.Sg.n. = dūramaṃ.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse contains two loosely connected sentences. They form the first and the second lines of this verse respectively.
    The first sentence can be further subdivided into two sentences. They are:
    1) kaṇhaṃ dhammaṃ vippahāya (having abandoned the bad states). The subject is omitted in this segment, pointing to the subject of the second sentence (see below). The gerundive vippahāya (having abandoned) serves as the verb. The object is the noun dhammaṃ (state, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective kaṇhaṃ (dark, bad, accusative singular).
    2) sukkaṃ bhāvetha paṇḍito (let the wise man develop the good states). The subject is the word paṇḍito (wise man, nominative singular). The verb is bhāvetha (let him develop, 3^rd person, singular, medium, optative). The object is the word dhammaṃ from the previous sentence. It has the adjective sukkaṃ (good, bright, accusative singular) as an attribute.
    In the second sentence, the subject is omitted, implying the subject of the previous sentence, the noun paṇḍito. The verb is āgamma (having come, gerundive). There are two objects. One is the noun anokam (to the houselessness, accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun okā (from the house, ablative singular). The second one is the noun viveke (in the solitude, locative singular). This word has an attribute clause yattha dūramaṃ (where it is difficult to enjoy oneself). In the clause, the subject is the adjective dūramaṃ (difficult to enjoy, nominative singular). The relative adverb yattha (where) connects the clause to the word viveke.

    A group of monks came to see the Buddha and asked him for advice on meditation. The Buddha advised them with this verse and with the two following ones (DhP 88, DhP 89).
    In order to be able to devote oneself completely to the practice of meditation, one must "give up the bad states". These are evil deeds, evil thoughts. Then one must develop "good states", or good deeds and good thoughts. If one wants to practice wholeheartedly, it is very good to "go the houselessness", or in other words to became a monk or a nun and meditate diligently in solitude. That is extremely difficult, because in solitude there is nothing "to enjoy", nothing for our mind to occupy itself with, we are left only with ourselves and have to concentrate on the practice.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

kaṇhaṃ
dhammaṃ
vippahāya
sukkaṃ
bhāvetha
paṇḍito
okā
anokam
āgamma
viveke
yattha
dūramaṃ