Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# ayasa va malaj samutthitaj tatutthaya tam eva khadati

# evaj atidhonacarinaj sani kammani nayanti duggatij

# (DhP 240)

Sentence Translation:

Just like rust eats the very iron from which it has arisen,
so the one who is indulging too much in the use of four requisites of a monk is led to a miserable existence by his own deeds.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

ayasa va malaj samutthitaj tat+utthaya tam eva khadati
| | | | | | | | |
N.n. part. N.n. Adj.n. Pron. V.ger. Pron.n. part. V.act.in.
Abl.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. |_____| Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|_______|_____|________| | |_____| |
| |__| |__________| |
| | |______________|
| |_______________________________|
|___________________|
|____________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

evaj atidhonacarinaj sani kammani nayanti duggatij
| | | | | |
Adv. Adj.m. Adj.n. N.n. V.act.in. N.f.
| Acc.Sg. Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres. Acc.Sg.
| | |______| |________|
| |____________|________________|
| |______|
|____________________|
__________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

ayasa: ayo-, N.n.: iron. Abl.Sg. = ayasa.

va, part.: as, like.

malaj: mala-, N.n.: impurity, stain, dirt. Nom.Sg. = malaj.

samutthitaj: samutthita-, Adj.: arisen, originated. It is a p.p. of the verb root tha- (to stand) with the prefixes sam- (together) and ut- (up). Nom.Sg.n. = samutthitaj.

tatutthaya, V.ger.: having arisen from it. It is a compound of:
tat-, Pron.: it, that.
utthaya, V.ger.: having arisen. The verb root is tha- (to stand) with the prefix ut- (up).

tam: tad-, Pron.: that. Nom.Sg.n. = tam.

List of Abbreviations

eva, part.: just, only.

khadati, V.: eats. The verb root is khad-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = khadati.

evaj, Adv.: thus, in this way.

atidhonacarinaj: atidhonacarin-, Adj.: indulging too much in the use of four requisites of a monk. It is the word dhonacarin-, Adj.: using the four requisites of a monk, with the prefix ati- (overly, too much). This word is a compound of:
dhona-, N.n.: one of four requisites of a monk. Meant are: 1) robes, 2) almsfood, 3) shelter and 4) medicine.
carin-, Adj.: living, acting. Derived by the suffix -in from the verb car- (to walk, to act).
Acc.Sg.m. = atidhonacarinaj.

List of Abbreviations

sani: sa-, Adj.: one's own. Nom.Pl.n. = sani.

kammani: kamma-, N.n.: deed, action. Derived from the verb kar- (to do). Nom.Pl. = kammani.

nayanti, V.: lead. The verb root is ni-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = nayanti.

duggatij: duggati-, N.f.: a miserable existence, a realm of misery, undesirable rebirth. Composed of:
du-, pref.: bad, difficult.
gati-, N.f.: existence, rebirth. Derived from the verb gam- (to go).
Acc.Sg. = duggatij.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
1) ayasa va malaj samutthitaj tatutthaya tam eva khadati (just like rust eats the very iron from which it has arisen). The subject is the noun malaj (rust, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle samutthitaj (arisen) with its own attribute, the noun ayasa (from iron, ablative singular). The verb is khadati (eats, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the pronoun tam (that, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the compound tatutthaya (having arisen from that). It is further stressed by the particle eva (just). The particle va (as, like) introduces the sentence and connects it to the following one.
2) evaj atidhonacarinaj sani kammani nayanti duggatij (so the one who is indulging too much in the use of four requisites of a monk is led to a miserable existence by his own deeds). The subject is the noun kammani (deeds, nominative plural) with its attribute, the adjective sani (one's own, nominative plural). The verb is nayanti (lead, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun duggatij (miserable existence, accusative singular). The object is the adjective atidhonacarinaj (one who is indulging too much in the use of four requisites of a monk, accusative singular). The sentence is introduced by the adverb evaj (thus), which connects it to the previous sentence.

Commentary:

A certain monk named Tissa received a beautiful robe and was very happy. He prepared to wear them the next day, but that very night he died. Because he was too attached to the robe, he was born as an insect in it.
The monks decided to share his former robe amongst themselves. The insect was very angry and shouted, "They are destroying my robe!" The Buddha heard this and told the monks to leave the robe untouched for seven days.
Later the insect died and was reborn in a happy state because of his former good deeds. The Buddha explained to the monks that if they were to use the robe while the insect was stile alive, he would feel hate and anger and would have to be born in miserable existence. The Buddha then told this verse, saying that the monks should not be attached to anything, especially not to their four requisites.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

ayasa
va
malaj
samutthitaj
tatutthaya
tat
utthaya
tam
eva
khadati
evaj
atidhonacarinaj
dhona
carinaj
sani
kammani
nayanti
duggatij