Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation

List of Abbreviations

# ye ca kho sammadakkhate dhamme dhammanuvattino

# te jana param essanti maccudheyyaj suduttaraj

# (DhP 86)

Sentence Translation:

And those who in the well-taught Dharma behave according to it,
those people will go beyond the realm of death, that is so difficult to cross.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

ye ca kho sammad+akkhate dhamme dhamma+anuvattino
| | | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. conj. part. Adv. Adj.m. N.m. N.m. Adj.m.
Nom.Pl. | | | Loc.Sg. Loc.Sg. | Nom.Pl.
| |____| |_______| | |_______|
| | |___________| |
| | |_________________|
|______________|________________________|
|___________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

te jana param essanti maccu+dheyyaj suduttaraj
| | | | | | |
Pron.m. N.m. Adv. V.act. N.m. N.m. Adj.m.
Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. | 3.Pl.fut. | Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
|_________| |_____| |_______| |
| | |___________|
| |__________________|
|_______________________|
_______________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

ye: yat-, Rel.Pron.: those, who. Nom.Pl.m. = ye.

ca, conj.: and.

kho, part.: indeed.

sammadakkhate: sammadakkhata-, Adj.: well taught. It is a compound of:
samma-, Adv.: rightly, properly, thoroughly.
akkhata-, Adj.: taught, proclaimed. It is a p.p. of the verb root kkha- (to say, to tell)
with the prefix a- (towards).
Euphonic combination: samma + akkhata- = sammadakkhata-.
Loc.Sg. = sammadakkhate.

List of Abbreviations

dhamme: dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". Loc.Sg. = dhamme.

dhammanuvattino: dhammanuvattin-, N.m.: behaving according to the Dharma. It is a compound of:
dhamma-, N.m.: see above.
anuvattin-, Adj.: following, behaving according to. It is derived from the verb root
vat- (to turn, to act) with the prefix anu- (according to).
Euphonic combination: dhamma- + anuvattin- = dhammanuvattin-.
Nom.Pl.m. = dhammanuvattino.

te: tat-, Pron.: that. Masculine form sa. Nom.Pl. = te.

jana: jana-, N.m.: person, man. Nom.Pl. = jana.

List of Abbreviations

param: para-, Adv.: across, beyond, over. Originally Acc.Sg. of the word para-, N.n.: the other side, here as an adverb.

essanti, V.: will go. The verb root is i- (to go). 3.Pl.act.fut. = essanti.

maccudheyyaj: maccudheyya-, N.m.: the realm of death. It is a compound of:
maccu-, N.m.: death.
dheyya-, N.m.: realm, kingdom. Originally a grd. of the verb root dha- (to put, to place, to claim).
Acc.Sg. = maccudheyyaj.

suduttaraj: suduttara-, Adj.: very difficult to cross. It is the word duttara-, Adj. difficult to cross with the prefix su-. This prefix usually means "well", "good" etc., but here it further strengthens the adjective. The word duttara- itself is derived from the verb root tar- (to cross) with the prefix du- (bad, difficult).
Acc.Sg.m. = suduttaraj.

List of Abbreviations

The two lines of this verse form two related sentences.
In the first sentence, the subject is the relative pronoun ye (those who, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the compound dhammanuvattino (behaving according to the Dharma, nominative plural). This word has the noun dhamme (in the Dharma, locative singular) as an attribute. This word has in turn the compound sammadakkhate (in the well taught, locative singular). The particle kho (indeed) and the conjunction ca (and) serve only metrical purposes.
In the second sentence, the subject is the pronoun te (they, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the noun jana (people, nominative plural). The verb is essanti (will go, 3rd person, plural, active, future). It has an attribute, the adverb param (across). The object is the compound maccudheyyaj (realm of death, accusative singular). It has the adjective suduttaraj (very difficult to cross, accusative singular) as an attribute.

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical to the story for the previous one.
It is not easy to reach the Nirvana, even if we practice diligently for a long time. Most people, although they listen to the discourses, read books and meditate, are not able to really cut the ties to "this shore" and realize the arahantship. Only when one is really living the Dharma for a long time and fully, one is able to achieve this goal.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

ye
ca
kho
sammadakkhate
samma
akkhate
dhamme
dhammanuvattino
anuvattino
te
jana
param
essanti
maccudheyyaj
maccu
dheyyaj
suduttaraj