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

List of Abbreviations

# passa cittakataj bimbaj arukayaj samussitaj

# aturaj bahusavkappaj yassa n'atthi dhuvaj thiti

# (DhP 147)

Sentence Translation:

Look at this mind-created image, a compounded heap of sores,
diseased, with many plans, which does not have any permanence or stability.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

passa citta+kataj bimbaj aru+kayaj samussitaj
| | | | | | |
V.act. N.n. Adj.n. N.n. N.n. N.m. Adj.m.
2.Sg.imp. | Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
| |_____| | |_____| |
| |_________| |__________|
| |__________________|__________________________________
|_______________________|

List of Abbreviations

aturaj bahu+savkappaj yassa na atthi dhuvaj thiti
| | | | | | | |
Adj.n. Adj. N.n. Rel.Pron.n. neg. V.act.in. N.n. N.f.
Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. Gen.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |_______| | |______| |________|
_|__________| | |______________|
| |_________________|
|______________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

passa, V.: see, look at. The verb root is dis- (to see). 2.Sg.act.imp. = passa.

cittakataj: cittakata-, Adj.: mind-created. It is a compound of:
citta-, N.n.: mind.
kata-, Adj.: done, made, created. It is a p.p. of the verb root kar- (to do).
Acc.Sg.n. = cittakataj.

bimbaj: bimba-, N.n.: shape, image. Here it refers to the human body. Acc.Sg. = bimbaj.

arukayaj: arukaya-, N.m.: a heap of sores. It is a compound of:
aru-, N.n.: sore, wound.
kaya-, N.m.: body, collection, heap.
Acc.Sg. = arukayaj.

samussitaj: samussita-, Adj.: elevated, proud. Here means "compounded", "put together".
Acc.Sg.m. = samussitaj.

List of Abbreviations

aturaj: atura-, Adj.: sick, diseased, miserable. Acc.Sg.m. = aturaj.

bahusavkappaj: bahusavkappa-, Adj.: with many plans. It is a compound of:
bahu-, Adj.: large, much, very.
savkappa-, N.m.: thought, plan, hope.
Acc.Sg.m. = bahusavkappaj.

yassa: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Gen.Sg.m. = yassa (whose).

na, neg.: not.

atthi, V.: is. The verb root is as- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = atthi.
Euphonic combination: na + atthi = n'atthi.

dhuvaj: dhuva-, Adj.: firm, permanent, stable. As an N.n.: permanence, stability. Nom.Sg. = dhuvaj.

thiti: thiti-, N.f.: stability, continuance, duration. Nom.Sg. = thiti.

List of Abbreviations

In this sentence, the subject is omitted. The verb implies the second person singular pronoun. The verb is in imperative, passa (look at, 2nd person, singular, active, imperative). There are two objects: bimbaj (image, accusative singular) with its attribute, the compound cittakataj (mind-created, accusative singular) and the compound arukayaj (heap of sores, accusative singular) with the adjective samussitaj (compounded, accusative singular). This last object has two more attributes, the adjective aturaj (diseased, accusative singular) and the compound bahusavkappaj (with many plans, accusative singular). It also has a dependent clause, yassa n'atthi dhuvaj thiti (which does not have any permanence or stability). Here there are two subjects, the nouns dhuvaj (permanence, nominative singular) and thiti (stability, nominative singular). The verb is atthi (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The relative pronoun yassa (whose, genitive singular) connects the clause to the object of the main sentence.

Commentary:

In Rajagaha there lived a beautiful courtesan named Sirima. She was a devoted disciple of the Buddha and used to offer almsfood to the monks every day. One monk mentioned to his friends how generous and beautiful she was, how delicious the food offered by her was. One young monk heard this and fell in love with Sirima without even seeing her.
The next day he joined the monks who went to her house. Although Sirima was sick, she still paid her respects to the monks and gave them almsfood. After seeing her, the young monk desired her even more.
But that night Sirima died. The Buddha wanted to teach the young monk a lesson, so asked the king to keep the corpse for few days without burying it. On the fourth day the dead body was put to the cemetery ground. It was no longer beautiful, it was bloated, stinky and full of worms. The Buddha told the young monk if he wanted to go to see Sirima. The monk has not heard about her death so he was very happy to agree. How terrible his shock was when they got to the cemetery and he saw Sirima’s corpse!
The Buddha then asked the king to announce, that anybody who paid one thousand coins, could spend the night with Sirima. But nobody wanted to do so. The price went gradually down, until she was available for free. But even then there was nobody willing to spend the night with the corpse.
The Buddha then told the monks to realize, that few days ago many men would willing to pay even more than one thousand for a night with the courtesan, but now nobody wants her even for free. He further spoke on the subject of non-attachment to the body. The young monk gained insight into the true nature of the body and his love for Sirima disappeared.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

passa
cittakataj
citta
kataj
bimbaj
arukayaj
aru
kayaj
samussitaj
aturaj
bahusavkappaj
bahu
savkappaj
yassa
na
atthi
dhuvaj
thiti