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

List of Abbreviations

# yatha pi puppharasimha kayira malagune bahu

# evaj jatena maccena kattabbaj kusalaj bahuj

# (DhP 53)

Sentence Translation:

Just as from the heap of flowers one can do a lot of garlands,
so a born mortal should do a lot of meritorious deeds.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yatha pi puppha+rasimha kayira mala+gune bahu
| | | | | | | |
Rel.Adv. conj. N.n. N.m. V.act. N.f. N.n. Adj.n.
|_________| | Abl.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. | Acc.Pl. Acc.Pl.
| |_______| | |_____| |
| | | |_________|
| | |______________|
| |_________________|
|_____________________|

List of Abbreviations

evaj jatena maccena kattabbaj kusalaj bahuj
| | | | | |
Adv. Adj.m. N.m. Adj.n. N.n. Adj.n.
| Ins.Sg. Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |______| | |_________|
| | |_____________|
| |_________________|
|___________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yatha, Rel.Adv.: just as.

pi, conj.: also, too.

puppharasimha: puppharasi-, N.m.: heap of flowers. A compound of:
puppha-, N.n.: flower.
rasi-, N.m.: heap, quantity, mass.
Abl.Sg. = puppharasimha.

kayira, V.: can do. The verb root is kar- (to do). 3.Sg.act.opt. = kayira. The form kayira is sometimes used in poetry.

List of Abbreviations

malagune: malaguna-, N.n.: "garland-string", a cluster of garlands. A compound of:
mala-, N.f.: garland.
guna-, N.n.: string, cord.
Acc.Pl. = malagune.

bahu: bahu-, Adj.: many, much, a lot. Acc.Pl.n. = bahu.

evaj, Adv.: thus, so.

jatena: jata-, Adj.: born. It is a p.p. of the verb jan- (to be born). Ins.Sg.m. = jatena.

List of Abbreviations

maccena: macca-, N.m.: mortal man. Originally it is a grd. from the verb root mar- (to die). Nom.Sg. = maccena.

kattabbaj: kattabba-, Adj.: should be done. It is a grd. of the verb kar- (to do).
Nom.Sg.n. = kattabbaj.

kusalaj: kusala-, Adj.: good, right, meritorious. As an N.n.: meritorious deed, merit. Nom.Sg. = kusalaj.

bahuj: bahu-, Adj.: see above. Nom.Sg.n. = bahuj.

List of Abbreviations

In the first sentence (the first line) the subject is omitted. A third person singular pronoun is meant. The verb is the optative kayira (can do, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The verb has an attribute, the compound puppharasimha (from the heap of flowers, ablative singular). The object is the noun malagune (garlands, accusative plural). It has an attribute, the adjective bahu (many, accusative plural). The relative adverb yatha (just as), which forms quite a common phrase yatha pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this sentence to the next one.
The second sentence (second line) is passive. The subject is the word maccena (by a mortal, instrumental singular) with an attribute, the past participle jatena (by a born, instrumental singular). The verb is in the gerund, kattabbaj (should be done, nominative singular). The object is the noun kusalaj (merit, nominative singular) with the adjective bahuj (nominative singular) as an attribute.

Commentary:

The traditional commentary for this verse contains the famous story of the chief Buddha's benefactress Visakha.
She married Punnavaddhana, the son of Migara, a rich man who lived in the city of Savatthi. Once, when her father-in-law was eating his lunch, a monk came to their house on his alms-round. Migara ignored him completely. Visakha told the monk: "Sorry, venerable sir, my father-in-law only eats stale food". Migara became very angry with her. She explained, that he was only reaping rewards of his good deeds from previous lives, not creating any merit in this life. Therefore she spoke about "stale food".
Migara understood and allowed her to invite the Buddha with the monks for the alms-food. Migara listened to Buddha's discourse from behind a curtain (because he was a lay disciple of some ascetic teacher and he did not want Migara to show himself in front of the Buddha). After hearing Buddha's speech, Migara attained the first stage of Awakenment. He was very grateful to Visakha and declared that she would be like a mother to him.
Once she went to the monastery and carried her gem-entrusted cloak with her. She gave it to her maid to carry and she forgot it in the monastery. Visakha then wanted to donate the cloak to the monks but they would not accept. So Visakha tried to sell the cloak and donate the money for the use of the Sangha. But the cloak was so expensive that nobody could afford to buy it. Visakha then bought it back herself. With the money she built a monastery for the Sangha.
Visakha was very happy - all her desires were fulfilled. The Buddha explained that she was strongly inclined to do good deeds, had done much good in the past and will do a lot of good deeds in the future - just as one can do many garlands from the heap of flowers.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yatha
pi
puppharasimha
puppha
rasimha
kayira
malagune
bahu
evaj
jatena
maccena
kattabbaj
kusalaj
bahuj