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

List of Abbreviations

# madhuj va mabbati balo yava papaj na paccati

# yada ca paccati papaj atha dukkhaj nigacchati

# (DhP 69)

Sentence Translation:

The fool thinks it is as honey, as long as the evil is not ripe.
When the evil is ripe, then he undergoes suffering.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

madhuj va mabbati balo yava papaj na paccati
| | | | | | | |
N.n. part. V.act.in. N.m. Rel.Adv. N.n. neg. V.pas.in.
Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|________| | | | | |______|
|___________| | | |________|
|____________| |____________|
|____________________|
|______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yada ca paccati papaj atha dukkhaj nigacchati
| | | | | | |
Rel.Adv. conj. V.pas.in. N.n. Adv. N.n. V.act.in.
| | 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|_________| |________| | |_________|
|_______________| |_________|
|______________________|
_______________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

madhuj: madhu-, N.n.: honey. Acc.Sg. = madhuj.

va, part.: like, as (another form of this word is iva).

mabbati, V.: to consider as, to think about as. The verb root is man- (to think).
3.Sg.act.in.pres. = mabbati.

balo: bala-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person. Nom.Sg. = balo.

yava, Rel.Adv.: as long as, as far as.

papaj: papa-, N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Nom.Sg. = papaj.

List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

paccati, V.: to be cooked, fig.: to ripe. It is a pas. of the verb pac- (to cook). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = paccati.

yada, Rel.Adv.: when.

ca, conj.: and.

paccati: see above.

List of Abbreviations

papaj: see above.

atha, Adv.: then.

dukkhaj: dukkha-, N.n.: suffering. Acc.Sg. = dukkhaj.

nigacchati, V.: to come to, to undergo. It is the verb root gam- (to go) and the prefix ni- (down, to). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = nigacchati.

List of Abbreviations

Two lines of this verse form two syntactically separate sentences.
The first line consists of two sentences. The first is madhuj va mabbati balo (the fool thinks it is as honey). The subject here is the noun balo (fool, nominative singular) and the verb mabbati (thinks, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun madhuj (honey, accusative singular) with the particle va (as, like). The first sentence is yava papaj na paccati (as long as the evil is not ripe). The subject is the noun papaj (evil, nominative singular). The verb is paccati (is cooked, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense), which is negated by the negative prefix na (not). The relative adverb yava (as long as) connects this sentence to the previous one.
The second line also consists of two sentences. One is yada ca paccati papaj (when the evil is ripe). The subject here is the noun papaj (evil, nominative singular). The verb is paccati (is cooked, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The conjunction ca (and) serves mainly metrical purposes but it also fulfills the role of connecting the two lines together. The relative adverb yada (when) connects this sentence to the following one. The second sentence is atha dukkhaj nigacchati (then he undergoes suffering). The subject is omitted, implying a personal pronoun. The verb is nigacchati (undergoes, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun dukkhaj (suffering, accusative singular). The adverb atha (then) connects this sentence to the previous one.

Commentary:

In the city of Savatthi lived a beautiful girl named Uppalavanna. The news of her beauty traveled very far and she had many suitors from near and afar. Amongst them was her cousin Nanda who fell in love with her hopelessly. But she decided not to marry any of them and became a nun instead. One day after lightening a lamp she kept her mind fixed on the flame as her object of meditation and she attained arahantship.
Later she moved to the forest and lived in solitude. Once Nanda came to her hut when she was not there and hid under the couch. He was determined to take her by force if she did not agree to marry him. Uppalavanna returned and he jumped up. She tried to warn him, told him that he would have to bear consequences for his actions, but he did not listen and raped her. For this he indeed had to suffer a long period of time.
When the Buddha heard about this, he told King Pasenadi of Kosala about the dangers that nuns living by themselves in the forest had to face. The king built a monastery within the city and from that time on the nuns lived only in the city.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

madhuj
va
mabbati
balo
yava
papaj
na
paccati
yada
ca
atha
dukkhaj
nigacchati