Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# digha jagarato ratti dighaj santassa yojanaj

# digho balanaj sajsaro saddhammaj avijanataj

# (DhP 60)

Sentence Translation:

Long is the night for a wakeful; long is a yojana for a tired.
Long is the Samsara for the fools who do not know the true Dharma.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

digha jagarato ratti dighaj santassa yojanaj
| | | | | |
Adj.f. Adj.m. N.f. N.n. Adj.m. N.n.
Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|__________|_______| |_______|_______|
|_____| |___|

List of Abbreviations

digho balanaj sajsaro saddhammaj a+vijanataj
| | | | | |
Adj.m. N.m. N.m. N.m. neg. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. Gen.Pl. Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Gen.Pl.
| | | | |_____|
| | | |__________|
| |______|______________|
|________________| |
|______________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

digha:digha-, Adj.: long. Nom.Sg.f. = digha.

jagarato: jagarant-, Adj.: wakeful, awake. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb jagar- (to be awake).
Gen.Sg.m. = jagarato.

ratti: ratti-, N.f.: night. Nom.Sg. = ratti.

dighaj: digha-, Adj.: long. Nom.Sg.n. = dighaj.

santassa: santa-, Adj.: tired. It is a p.p. of the verb sam- (to be weary, to be tired).
Gen.Sg.m. = santassa.

List of Abbreviations

yojanaj: yojana-, N.n.: a measure of length, as much as can be traveled with one yoke of oxen. A distance of about 10-11 km. Nom.Sg. = yojanaj.

digho: digha-, Adj.: long. Nom.Sg.m. = digho.

balanaj: bala-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person.
Gen.Pl. = balanaj.

sajsaro: sajsara-, N.m.: Samsara, perpetual wandering, round of rebirth. It is derived from the verb root sar- (to flow, to move along) with the prefix saj- (together). Thus sajsarati = to move about continuously.
Nom.Sg. = sajsaro.

List of Abbreviations

saddhammaj: saddhamma-, N.m.: true Dharma. It is a compound of:
sat-, Adj.: good, true. Original meaning: existing. The full form (sant-) is an a.pr.p.
of the verb as- (to be). The compound form of sant- = sat-.
dhamma-, N.m.: Dharma, Buddha's teaching.
Euphonic combination: sat- + dhamma- = saddhamma-.
Acc.Sg. = saddhammaj.

avijanataj: avijanant-, Adj.: not understanding. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word vijanant-, Adj.: knowing, which is an a.pr.p. of the verb ba- (to know) with the prefix vi- (intensifying sense). Gen.Pl.m. = avijanataj.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of three syntactically separated sentences.
The first sentence is digha jagarato ratti (long is the night for a wakeful). Here, the subject is the word ratti (night, nominative singular). It has the adjective digha (long, nominative singular) as an attribute. The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the active present participle jagarato (for the wakeful, genitive singular).
The second sentence is dighaj santassa yojanaj (long is a yojana for a tired). The subject is the word yojanaj (yojana, nominative singular) with the adjective dighaj (long, nominative singular) as an attribute. The verb is again omitted, as before implying the verb "to be". The object is the past participle santassa (for a tired, genitive singular).
The third sentence is digho balanaj sajsaro saddhammaj avijanataj (long is the samsara for the fools who do not know the true Dharma). The subject is the noun sajsaro (samsara, nominative singular) with an attribute, the adjective digho (long, nominative singular). As before, the verb is "to be", therefore it is not really needed and is omitted. The object is the noun balanaj (for the fools, genitive plural). It has an attribute, the active present participle avijanataj (for the not knowing, genitive plural). This word has itself an attribute, the noun saddhammaj (the true Dharma, accusative singular).

Commentary:

King Pasenadi of Kosala once saw a beautiful woman in the city. He instantly fell in love with her. He found out that she was already married and so he gave her husband a job in the palace. Then the king sent the young man on an impossible mission. He told him to collect some lotus flowers and red earth from the underground world and to return to the city the same day. He thought of course that the man will never complete the task and so will never dare to come back. Thus the king could take the wife to himself.
The young man set out on his mission. On the way he shared his food with some traveler. Then he threw the rest of the food to the river and called the guardian spirits, telling them that he shares with them his merit obtained from sharing the food with others. The guardian spirit of the river then brought him the flowers and earth from the underworld.
The young man returned to the city only to find the gates closed. The king had the city gates closed early in fear that the man will complete the task in time. So he put the flowers and earth on the ground, declared loudly that his mission is complete and went for the night to the monastery of Jetavana.
The king was obsessed with his desire for the young woman, so he could not sleep that night. He heard some strange sounds. In the morning he went to see the Buddha about them. The Buddha told him that the sounds he heard came from the men who desired others' wives and now suffer in hell.
The king realized foolishness of his actions and reflected that now he knows how long is the night for the sleepless. Also the young man realized how long is the journey for one who is tired.
The Buddha told them by this verse that longest is the Samsara for those who are foolish and do not know the Dharma.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

digha
jagarato
ratti
dighaj
santassa
yojanaj
digho
balanaj
sajsaro
saddhammaj
sad
dhammaj
avijanataj