Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# yo mukhasajyato bhikkhu mantabhani anuddhato

# atthaj dhammaj ca dipeti madhuraj tassa bhasitaj

# (DhP 363)

Sentence Translation:

Sweet is the speech of the monk, who has control over his mouth, speaks cleverly,
is not proud, and explains the Dharma and its meaning.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo mukha+sajyato bhikkhu manta+bhani anuddhato
| | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. N.m. Adj.m. N.m. N.m. Adj.m. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |_______| | |______| |
| |___________|_________|___________|
| |_____|
| |__________________________________________
|___________________________________________|

List of Abbreviations

atthaj dhammaj ca dipeti madhuraj tassa bhasitaj
| | | | | | |
N.n. N.m. conj. V.act.caus. Adj.n. Pron.m. N.n.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|__________| | | | |_______|
|__________| | |___________|
|___________| |
_________________| |
|_____________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

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

mukhasajyato: mukhasajyata-, Adj.: with control over mouth. It is a compound of:
mukha-, N.n.: mouth.
sajyata-, Adj.: restrained, controlled. It is derived from the verb yam- (to restrain, to become tranquil) with the prefix sam- (together).
Nom.Sg.m. = mukhasajyato.

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

mantabhani: mantabhanin-, Adj.: reciter of sacred texts, clever speaker. It is a compound of:
manta-, N.m.: religious text, sacred text, canon.
bhanin-, Adj.: speaking. It is derived from the verb root bhan-, with the possessive suffix -in.
Nom.Sg.m. = mantabhani.

anuddhato: anuddhata-, Adj.: not proud, unconceited. It is the word uddhata-, Adj,: proud, conceited (it is a p.p. of the verb root dhar-, to hold, with the prefix ud-, up) negated by the negative prefix an-. Nom.Sg.m. = anuddhato.

List of Abbreviations

atthaj: attha-, N.n.: meaning, worth, sense. Acc.Sg. = atthaj.

dhammaj: dhamma-, N.m.: Dharma, The Law, the teaching of the Buddha. Acc.Sg. = dhammaj.

ca, conj.: and.

dipeti, V.: to make bright, to illustrate, to explain. The verb root is dip- (to shine).
3.Sg.act.caus.pres. = dipeti.

madhuraj: madhura-, Adj.: sweet. Nom.Sg.n. = madhuraj.

tassa: tad-, Pron.: that. Gen.Sg.m. = tassa.

bhasitaj: bhasita-, Adj.: spoken, said. It is a p.p. of the verb root bhas- (to speak). As an N.n.: speech, word. Nom.Sg. = bhasitaj.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
1) yo mukhasajyato bhikkhu mantabhani anuddhato atthaj dhammaj ca dipeti (the monk, who has control over his mouth, speaks cleverly, is not proud, and explains the Dharma and its meaning). The subject is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It has three attributes, the adjectives mukhasajyato (with control over mouth, nominative singular), mantabhani (clever speaker, nominative singular) and anuddhato (not proud, nominative singular). The verb is dipeti (explains, 3rd person, singular, active, causative, present tense). There are two objects, the nouns atthaj (meaning, accusative singular) and dhammaj (Dharma, accusative singular). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and). The relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular) introduces the sentence and connects it to the following one.
2) madhuraj tassa bhasitaj (sweet is his speech). The subject is the noun bhasitaj (speech, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the pronoun tassa (his, genitive singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective madhuraj (sweet, nominative singular).

Commentary:

Venerable Sariputta and Venerable Moggallana were abused by a monk named Kokalika. As a result, suffering befell Kokalika. The other monks then remarked that he had to suffer because he could not control his tongue. The Buddha replied with this verse, saying that control over one's mouth is very important.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
mukhasajyato
mukha
sajyato
bhikkhu
mantabhani
manta
bhani
anuddhato
atthaj
dhammaj
ca
dipeti
madhuraj
tassa
bhasitaj