Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# asahasena dhammena samena nayati pare

# dhammassa gutto medhavi dhammattho ti pavuccati

# (DhP 257)

Sentence Translation:

[continued from DhP 256]
judging others without haste, justly and impartially,
such a wise person, guardian of law, is called "righteous".

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

asahasena dhammena samena nayati pare
| | | | |
Adv. Adv. Adv. V.act.in. Adj.m.
|____________|________| 3.Sg.pres. Acc.Pl.
|_____________________| |
|__________________|

List of Abbreviations

dhammassa gutto medhavi dhamma+ttho ti pavuccati
| | | | | | |
N.m. Adj.m. N.m. N.m. Adj.m. part. V.pas.in.
Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|____________| | |_____| | |
|_____________| |________| |
| |__________|
|___________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

asahasena: Adv.: without haste, with consideration, not arbitrarily. It is derived from the word asahasa-, N.n.: absence of hastiness, peacefulness. Ins.Sg. = asahasena. Here as an Adv.

dhammena, Adv.: justly, rightly, with justice, properly. It is derived from the word dhamma-, N.m.: here meaning "truth", "reality". Ins.Sg. = dhammena. Here as an Adv.

samena, Adv.: impartially, with justice. It is derived from the word sama-, Adj.: same, even.
Ins.Sg. = samena. Here as an Adv.

nayati, V.: lit.: to lead. Here: to draw a conclusion, to judge, to take as, to understand. The verb root is ni-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = nayati. The form nayati is used in poetry.

pare: para-, Adj.: other. Acc.Pl.m. = pare.

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

List of Abbreviations

gutto: gutta-, Adj.: protected, protector. It is a p.p. of the verb root gup- (to protect).
Nom.Sg.m. = gutto.

medhavi: medhavin-, N.m.: intelligent person, wise one. Voc.Pl. = medhavi.

dhammattho: dhammattha-, Adj.: standing in or based on the Dharma, righteous, just. 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".
-ttha-, Adj. suffix: standing. It is derived from the verb root tha- (to stand).
Nom.Sg.m. = dhammattho.

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

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

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) asahasena dhammena samena nayati pare (judging others without haste, justly and impartially). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular. The verb is nayati (judges, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has three attributes, the adverbs asahasena (without haste), dhammena (justly), and samena (impartially). The object is the adjective pare (others, accusative plural).
2) dhammassa gutto medhavi dhammattho ti pavuccati (such a wise person, guardian of law, is called "righteous"). There are two subjects, the adjective gutto (protector, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun dhammassa (of the law, genitive singular) and the noun medhavi (wise one, nominative singular). The verb is pavuccati (is called, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective dhammattho (righteous, nominative singular). It is modified by the particle ti (in place of quotation mark).

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verse (DhP 257).
It is very easy to judge others, to point out others' mistakes or bad qualities. Therefore we have to be very thorough when we have to judge others. We have to listen to every possible point of view; we have to look at the problem from all angles. Only then can we be able to judge according to truth and we can call ourselves "righteous".

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

asahasena
dhammena
samena
nayati
pare
dhammassa
gutto
medhavi
dhammattho
dhamma
ttho
ti
pavuccati