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

List of Abbreviations

# yodha pubbaj ca papaj ca bahetva brahmacariyava

# savkhaya loke carati sa ve bhikkhu ti vuccati

# (DhP 267)

Sentence Translation:

Who has warded off both good and evil here, leading a holy life,
walks through the world understanding it, he is called "a monk".

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo idha pubbaj ca papaj ca bahetva brahma+cariyava
| | | | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. Adv. N.n. conj. N.n. conj. V.ger. Adj. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | | | Nom.Sg.
| | |____| |_____| | |_______|
| | |___________| | |
| |_____________|_____________| |
| |______| |
|_______________________|___________________________|
|____________|
|_______________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

savkhaya loke carati sa ve bhikkhu ti vuccati
| | | | | | | |
V.ger. N.m. V.act.in. Pron.m. part. N.m. part. V.pas.in.
| Loc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
| |________| |______| |_____| |
|_______________| | |_________|
_______| |________________|
|___________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

idha, Adv.: here, in this world.
Euphonic combination: yo + idha = yodha.

pubbaj: pubba-, N.n.: good deed, meritorious deed, merit. Acc.Sg. = pubbaj.

ca, conj.: and.

papaj: papa-, N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Acc.Sg. = papaj.

ca: see above.

List of Abbreviations

bahetva, V.ger.: having kept away, warded off, kept outside. This verb is derived from the word bahi, Adv.: outside.

brahmacariyava: brahmacariyavant-, Adj.: leading a holy life, pious, pure. It is a compound of:
brahma-, Adj.: holy, "Brahmanic", pious.
cariyavant-, N.n.: having a conduct, behavior, acting. Derived from the verb car- (to walk, to act) with the possessive suffix -vant.
Nom.Sg.m. = brahmacariyava.

savkhaya, V.ger.: having understood, having considered with an open mind. The verb root is kha- (to calculate) with the prefix saj- (together).

loke: loka-, N.m.: world. Loc.Sg. = loke.

List of Abbreviations

carati, V.: behave, act. The verb root is car- (to behave, to act; the primary meaning is "to walk"). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = carati.

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa (the more usual form is so).

ve, part.: indeed.

bhikkhu: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu. The form bhikkhu is used in poetry.

ti, part.: a particle, symbolizing the end of direct speech. In English this is expressed by quotation marks. Sometimes it is written as iti.

vuccati, V,: is called. It is a passive form of the verb root vac- (to say). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = vuccati.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two related sentences. They are:
1) yodha pubbaj ca papaj ca bahetva brahmacariyava savkhaya loke carati (who has warded off both good and evil here, leading a holy life, walks through the world understanding it). This can be further analysed into two parts:
a) yodha pubbaj ca papaj ca bahetva brahmacariyava (who has warded off both good and evil here, leading a holy life). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the compound brahmacariyava (leading a holy life, nominative singular). The verb is in gerund, bahetva (having warded off). It has an attribute, the adverb idha (here, in this world). There are two objects, pubbaj (good, accusative singular) and papaj (evil, accusative singular). They are connected by two conjunctions ca (and).
b) savkhaya loke carati (walks through the world understanding it). The subject is the relative pronoun yo from the previous sentence. The verb is carati (walks, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has two attributes the gerund savkhaya (having understood) and the noun loke (in the world, locative singular).
2) sa ve bhikkhu ti vuccati (he is called "a monk"). The subject is the pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). The verb is vuccati (is called, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It is modified by the particle ti (quotation marks). The particle ve (indeed) serves mainly metrical purposes.

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 266).
A true monk is not the one who wears monk's robes and gets his almsfood from people, but his heart is full of worldly things. Only one, who leads a moral life and has a deep insight into the reality of things, can be called a monk.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
idha
pubbaj
ca
papaj
bahetva
brahmacariyava
brahma
cariyava
savkhaya
loke
carati
sa
ve
bhikkhu
ti
vuccati