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

List of Abbreviations

# dhammaramo dhammarato dhammaj anuvicintayaj

# dhammaj anussaraj bhikkhu saddhamma na parihayati

# (DhP 364)

Sentence Translation:

The monk who is delighting in the Dharma, devoted to the Dharma, pondering the Dharma
and always bearing the Dharma in mind, will never fall away from the true Dharma.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

dhamma+aramo dhamma+rato dhammaj anuvicintayaj
| | | | | |
N.m. Adj.m. N.m. Adj.m. N.m. Adj.m.
| Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|___________| |______| |__________|
|_______________|_______________|____________________

List of Abbreviations

dhammaj anussaraj bhikkhu sad+dhamma na parihayati
| | | | | | |
N.m. Adj.m. N.m. Adj. N.m. neg. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Abl.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|_____________| | |______| |______|
______| | |___________|
|__________________| |
|________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

dhammaramo: dhammarama-, Adj.: delighting in the Dharma. It is a compound of:
dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together".
a rama-, N.m.: delight, pleasure. It is derived from the verb root ram- (to enjoy)
with the prefix a- (to).
Euphonic combination: dhamma- + arama- = dhammarama-.
Nom.Sg.m. = dhammaramo.

dhammarato: dhammarata-, Adj.: devoted to the Dharma. It is a compound of:
dhamma-, N.m.: see above.
rata-, Adj.: devoted. It is a p.p. of the verb ram- (to delight in, to be devoted to).
Nom.Sg.m. = dhammarato.

dhammaj: dhamma-, N.m.: see above. Acc.Sg. = dhammaj.

anuvicintayaj: anuvicintayant-, Adj.: thinking about, pondering. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root cint- (to think) with the prefixes anu- (along, on, to) and vi- (intensifying sense).
Nom.Sg.m. = anuvicintayaj.

List of Abbreviations

dhammaj: see above.

anussaraj: anussarant-, Adj.: being aware, remembering, bearing in mind. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root sar- (to remember) with the prefix anu- (along, on, to). Nom.Sg.m. = anussaraj.

bhikkhu: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu.

saddhamma: saddhamma-, N.m.: true Dharma. It is a compound of:
sad-, Adj.: good, true. Original meaning: existing. The full form (sant-) is an a.pr.p. of the verb as- (to be). The compound form of sant- = sat-.
dhamma-, N.m.: Dharma, Buddha's teaching.
Euphonic combination: sat- + dhamma- = saddhamma-.
Abl.Sg. = saddhamma.

na, neg.: not.

parihayati, V.: fall away from. It is derived from the verb root ha- (to leave, to abandon) with the prefix pari- (all around, completely). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = parihayati.

List of Abbreviations

The subject of this sentence is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It has four attributes:
1) the compound dhammaramo (delighting in the Dharma, nominative singular),
2) the compound dhammarato (devoted to the Dharma, nominative singular),
3) the present active participle anuvicintayaj (pondering, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun dhammaj (the Dharma, accusative singular),
4) the present active participle anussaraj (bearing in mind, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun dhammaj (the Dharma, accusative singular).
The verb is parihayati (falls away from, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the compound saddhamma (from the true Dharma, ablative singular).

Commentary:

Close to the age of eighty years, the Buddha announced that he would attain the Parinibbana (pass away) very soon. The monks who had not attained the Awakenment yet, were very distressed and spent all the time with the Buddha, never leaving his presence. But there was a monk named Dhammarama who did not come to see the Buddha but kept to himself. Other monks thought he was disrespectful towards the teacher. But Dhammarama explained that in his opinion the highest homage to the Buddha would be if he could attain the Awakenment before the Buddha's passing away.
The Buddha praised Dhammarama by this verse saying that a monk who really wants to pay homage to him should act as Dhammarama did.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

dhammaramo
dhamma
aramo
dhammarato
rato
dhammaj
anuvicintayaj
anussaraj
bhikkhu
saddhamma
sad
dhamma
na
parihayati