Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# kasavakantha bahavo papadhamma asabbata

# papa papehi kammehi nirayaj te upapajjare

# (DhP 307)

Sentence Translation:

There are plenty of those who are wearing monk's robe but are of evil nature and without self-control.
These evil ones will be reborn in hell because of their evil deeds.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

kasava+kantha bahavo papa+dhamma asabbata
| | | | | |
N.n. Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj. Adj.m. Adj.m.
| Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. | Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl.
|_________| | |______| |
|____________|_________|__________|
|______|

List of Abbreviations

papa papehi kammehi nirayaj te upapajjare
| | | | | |
Adj.m. Adj.n. N.n. N.m. Pron.m. V.med.in.
Nom.Pl. Ins.Pl. Ins.Pl. Acc.Sg. Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres.
| |_______| | | |
|_____________|__________|______| |
| |__________|_______________|
| |______|
|____________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

kasavakantha: kasavakantha-, Adj.: wearing a monk's robe (lit. with a robe around the neck). It is a compound of:
kasava-, Adj.: yellow. As an N.n.: monk's robe.
kantha-, N.m.: neck, throat.
Nom.Pl.m. = kasavakantha.

bahavo: bahu-, Adj.: many, much, very. Nom.Pl.m. = bahavo.

papadhamma: papadhamma-, N.m.: having evil nature. It is a compound of:
papa-, Adj.: evil, wrong. As an N.n.: evil, wrong doing.
dhamma-, N.m.: here does not mean Buddha's teaching, but should be interpreted rather as "state" or "nature".
Nom.Pl.m. = papadhamma.

asabbata: asabbata-, Adj.: unrestrained, without self-control. It is a p.p. of the verb yam- (to restrain, to become tranquil) with the prefix sam- (together), negated by the negative prefix a-.
Nom.Pl.m. = asabbata.

List of Abbreviations

papa: papa-, Adj.: evil, wrong, bad. Nom.Pl.m. = papa.

papehi: papa-, Adj.: see above. Ins.Pl.n. = papehi.

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

nirayaj: niraya-, N.m.: hell. Acc.Sg. = nirayaj.

te: tat-, Pron.: that. Masculine form sa-. Nom.Pl. = te.

upapajjare, V.: are reborn, get to, rise. The verb root is pad- (to come) with the prefix upa- (near, to). 3.Pl.med.in.pres. = upapajjare.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) kasavakantha bahavo papadhamma asabbata (there are plenty of those who are wearing monk's robe but are of evil nature and without self-control). There are three subjects, the adjectives kasavakantha (wearing monk's robe, nominative plural), papadhamma (of evil nature, nominative plural) and asabbata (without self-control, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective bahavo (many, nominative plural).
2) papa papehi kammehi nirayaj te upapajjare (these evil ones will be reborn in hell because of their evil deeds). The subject is the pronoun te (they, nominative plural). It has an attribute, the adjective papa (evil, nominative plural). The verb is upapajjare (are reborn, 3rd person, plural, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun kammehi (by deeds, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the adjective papehi (by evil, instrumental plural). The object is the noun nirayaj (to hell, accusative singular).

Commentary:

Venerable Moggallana once saw a group of hungry spirits (peta). When he returned to the monastery, he asked the Buddha about the spirits. The Buddha said that these were monks a long time ago. But they did not pay any attention to their spiritual development and committed a lot of evil deeds. Because of that, they were suffering in hell for a long period of time and now were still reborn in a woeful state.
The Buddha then added this verse, saying that if a monk does not take the monkshood seriously, he can expect bad results.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

kasavakantha
kasava
kantha
bahavo
papadhamma
papa
dhamma
asabbata
papa
papehi
kammehi
nirayaj
te
upapajjare