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

List of Abbreviations

# yavajivam pi ce balo panditaj payirupasati

# na so dhammaj vijanati dabbi suparasaj yatha

# (DhP 64)

Sentence Translation:

A fool can attend on a wise man even for whole his life,
he will not understand the Dharma, like a spoon does not know the taste of the soup.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yava + jivam pi ce balo panditaj payirupasati
| | | | | | |
Rel.Adv. N.n. part. part. N.m. N.m. V.act.in.
|_________| |____| Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|___________| |________|________|
| |_____|
|__________________|
|___________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

na so dhammaj vijanati dabbi supa+rasaj yatha
| | | | | | | |
neg. Pron.m. N.m. V.act.in. N.f. N.m. N.m. Rel.Adv.
| Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. |
|______|_______|________| | |_____| |
|___| | |________| |
|_________| |_____________|
_________| |
|_____________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yavajivam, Adv.: all one's life, for a life time. It is a compound of:
yava, Rel.Adv.: as long as.
jiva-, N.n.: life. Nom.Sg. = jivam.
As an Adv.: yavajivam.

pi, part.: also, as well, even (often spelled api).

ce, part.: if.

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

panditaj: pandita-, N.m.: wise man, learned man. Acc.Sg. = panditaj.

List of Abbreviations

payirupasati, V.: to attend on, "to sit close around". The verb root is as- (to sit) with prefixes pari- (around) and upa- (close to, near).
Euphonic combination: pari + upa = payirupa-.
3.Sg.act.in.pres. = payirupasati.

na, neg.: not.

so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.

dhammaj: dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold.
Thus dhamma "holds the world together". Acc.Sg. = dhammaj.

List of Abbreviations

vijanati, V.: to understand, to realize. The verb root is ba- or ja- (to know) with the prefix vi- (intensifying prefix). 3.Sg.act.in.pres.: vijanati.

dabbi: dabbi-, N.f.: spoon, ladle. Nom.Sg. = dabbi.

suparasaj: suparasa-, N. : taste of the soup. It is a compound of:
supa-, N.m.: soup, sauce.
rasa-, N.m.: flavor, taste.
Acc.Sg. = suparasaj.

yatha, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.

List of Abbreviations

Two lines of this verse form two related sentences.
In the first sentence, the subject is the noun balo (fool, nominative singular). The verb is payirupasati (attends on, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun panditaj (a wise man, accusative singular). The sentence is introduced and connected to the second sentence by the adverb yavajivam (for a whole life). There are two particles, pi (also, even) and ce (if) which form a phrase pi ce (even if).
The subject of the second sentence is the personal pronoun so (he, nominative singular). The verb is vijanati (understands, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the noun dhammaj (Dharma, accusative singular). There is a clause in this sentence, dabbi suparasaj yatha (like a spoon the taste of the soup). The subject here is the noun dabbi (spoon, nominative singular) and the object the noun suparasaj (the taste of the soup, accusative singular). The verb is omitted in the clause; the negated verb na vijanati (does not know) from the main sentence is implied. The relative adverb yatha (just like) connects the clause to the main sentence.

Commentary:

There was a monk named Udayi, who was very ignorant. He used to sit on the platform from which the best teachers delivered the discourses. Once a group of traveling monks took him for a learned monk and gave him some questions on the Dharma. But Udayi could not answer, because he actually did not know anything about the Dharma. The monks were surprised that somebody can stay close to the Buddha for such a long time and still know so very little.
The Buddha explained by this verse that although a fool associates with somebody wise even for whole his life, he still does not realize the Dharma, just as a spoon can never taste the soup, although it is used it for eating the very soup.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yavajivam
yava
jivam
pi
ce
balo
panditaj
payirupasati
na
so
dhammaj
vijanati
dabbi
suparasaj
supa
rasaj
yatha