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

List of Abbreviations

# yo ca vassasataj jive dussilo asamahito

# ekahaj jivitaj seyyo silavantassa jhayino

# (DhP 110)

Sentence Translation:

Who would live for hundred years, with bad morality, without a firm mind,
better is the life for one day of somebody who is virtuous and meditating.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo ca vassa+sataj jive dussilo asamahito
| | | | | | |
Rel.Pron. conj. N.n. Num.n. V.act. Adj.m. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. | | Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|__________| |_____| | |________|
|___________|__________|___________|
| |__________|
|__________|
|_______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

eka+ahaj jivitaj seyyo silavantassa jhayino
| | | | | |
Num. N.n. N.n. Adj.n. Adj.m. Adj.m.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Gen.Sg.
|______| | | |_________|
|__________| | |
|_____________|____________|
|______|
__________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

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

ca, conj.: and.

vassasataj: vassasata-, N.n.: hundred years, century. It is a compound of:
vassa-, N.n.: year.
sata-, Num.n.: hundred.
Acc.Sg. = vassasataj.

jive, V.: should live. The verb root is jiv-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = jive.

dussilo: dussila-, Adj.: of bad morality. It is the word sila-, N.n.: virtue, morality, with a prefix du- (bad). Euphonic combination: du- + sila- = dussila-. Nom.Sg.m. = dussilo.

asamahito: asamahita-, Adj.: not settled, not firm. It is the word samahita- (Adj., p.p. of the verb dha-, to put, with the prefixes saj-, together and a-, towards. Thus samahita- means settled, composed, firm) with the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.m. = asamahito.

List of Abbreviations

ekahaj: ekaha-, N.n.: one day. It is a compound of:
eka-, Num.: one.
aha-, N.n.: day.
Euphonic combination: eka- + aha- = ekaha-.
Nom.Sg. = ekahaj.

jivitaj: jivita-, N.n.: life. Originally it is a p.p. of the verb jiv- (to live). Nom.Sg. = jivitaj.

seyyo: seyya-, Adj.: better. Nom.Sg.n. = seyyo.

silavantassa: silavant-, Adj.: virtuous. As an N.m.: virtuous person. It is the word sila-, N.n.: virtue, with a possessive suffix -vant. Gen.Sg.m. = silavantassa.

jhayino: jhayin-, Adj.m.: meditating. Derived from the verb jhe- (to meditate). Gen.Sg. = jhayino.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two related sentences. They both form the first and the second lines of this verse respectively.
In the first sentence, the subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has two attributes, the adjectives dussilo (with bad morality, nominative singular) and asamahito (not firm, nominative singular). The verb is jive (should live, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It has an attribute, the compound vassasataj (hundred years, accusative singular). The conjunction ca (and) serves only for metrical purposes.
In the second line, the subject is the adjective/noun jivitaj (life, nominative singular). It has three attributes. First of them is the compound ekahaj (one day, nominative singular). Second and third are the adjectives silavantassa (of a virtuous one, genitive singular) and jhayino (of a meditating one, genitive singular). The object is the adjective seyyo (nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be".

Commentary:

A group of monks took a subject of meditation from the Buddha and went to a forest village to practice. There were robbers in the jungle around the village. They wanted to make a human sacrifice and they decided to offer one of the monks to the spirits of the forest. They went to the monastery and told the monks to select one of them who would follow them to the jungle and be sacrificed. All of the monks volunteered. There was a young novice with them, named Samkicca. Although he was very young, he was already an Arahant. He told the monks that Venerable Sariputta sent him to that place with the task to be the one to go with the robbers. Although the other monks did not like it a lot, still they trusted in Sariputta's judgment and so let Samkicca go.
The bloody sacrifice was prepared deep in the jungle and the leader of the robbers took a sword and wanted to cut the young novice's head. At that time, Samkicca was in deep meditation and the sword did not cut him, but just curled up. The robber took another sword and hit again - only to find that the sword has bent upward. Samkicca was still unharmed. The robbers were terrified; all of them knelt down at the novice's feet and asked for forgiveness. They also asked his permission to become monks. He complied with this request and returned to the monastery with the new monks.
Everybody was very happy that Samkicca was unharmed and that he managed to bring the robbers into the Sangha. They all left for Savatthi to pay homage to the Buddha and Venerable Sariputta. The Buddha then admonished them with this verse, saying that it is better to live just for one day, but virtuously and in meditation, than to live a very long life, but immorally and without any self-control.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
ca
vassasataj
vassa
sataj
jive
dussilo
asamahito
ekahaj
eka
ahaj
jivitaj
seyyo
silavantasssa
jhayino