Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# phen'upamaj kayam imaj viditva maricidhammaj abhisambudhano

# chetvana marassa papupphakani adassanaj maccurajassa gacche

# (DhP 46)

Sentence Translation:

Having understood that this body is like foam, having realized its mirage-like nature,
having cut off Mara's flower-tipped arrows, one should make himself invisible to the King of Death.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

phena+upamaj kayam imaj viditva marici+dhammaj abhisambudhano
| | | | | | | |
N.m. Adj.m. N.m. Pron.m. V.ger. N.f. N.m. V.ger.
| Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | | Acc.Sg. |
|________| | | | |_________| |
|___________| | | |______________|
|_____________| | |
|______________| |
|________________________|
|________________________________

List of Abbreviations

chetvana marassa papupphakani a+dassanaj maccu+rajassa gacche
| | | | | | | |
V.ger. N.m. N.n. neg. N.n. N.m. N.m. V.act.
| Gen.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Gen.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
| |________| |______| |_____| |
|_______________| |____________| |
________| |________________|
|__________________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

phen'upamaj: phen’upama-, Adj.: similar to foam. A compound of:
phena-, N.m.: foam, froth.
upama-, Adj.: similar, -like.
Euphonic combination: phena + upama = phen’upama.
Acc.Sg.m. = phen’upamaj.

kayam: kaya-, N.m.: body. Acc.Sg. = kayam.

imaj: idaj, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.m. = imaj.

viditva, V.ger.: having known, having understood. The verb root is vid- (to know).

List of Abbreviations

maricidhammaj: maricidhamma-, N.m.: having the nature of mirage.
marici-, N.f.: mirage, shimmer, glitter.
dhamma-, N.m.: here not as the Dharma (Buddha's Teaching), but rather in its
different meaning: nature.
Acc.Sg. = maricidhammaj.

abhisambudhano, V.ger.: having realized. The verb root is budh- (to wake, to understand) with the prefixes abhi- (over) and sam- (altogether).

chetvana, V.ger.: having destroyed, having cut off. The verb root is chid- (to cut off).

marassa: mara-, N.m.: Mara, personified death, the Evil One, devil. Gen.Sg. = marassa.

List of Abbreviations

papupphakani: papupphaka-, Adj.: flowered. Meaning: the arrows of Mara (of passion, hatred and ignorance) have flowers as their tips. Derived from the word puppha-, N.n.: flower, with the prefix pa- ("in front") and suffix -ka- (adjective suffix). Here as N.n.: flower-tipped arrows. Nom.Pl. = papupphakani.

adassanaj: adassana-, N.n.: invisibility, not seeing. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word dassana-, N.n.: seeing, which is derived from the verb root das- (to see).
Acc.Sg. = adassanaj.

maccurajassa: maccuraja-, N.m.: the king of death, Mara. The compound of:
maccu-, N.m.: death.
rajan-, N.m.: king. The compound form of rajan is raja-.
Gen.Sg. = maccurajassa.

gacche, V.: should go, let him go. The verb root is gam- (to go). 3.Sg.act.opt. = gacche.

List of Abbreviations

There are four rather separate sentences in this verse, although the last one can be considered as the main sentence. They are:
1) phen'upamaj kayam imaj viditva (having understood that this body is like foam). The subject is omitted. Any third person singular personal pronoun can be used. The verb is in the gerundive, viditva (having understood). The main object is the noun kayaj (body, accusative singular). It has two attributes, imaj (this, accusative singular) and phen’upamaj (like foam, accusative singular).
2) maricidhammaj abhisambudhano (having realized its mirage-like nature). The verb is again in the gerundive, abhisambudhano (having realized). The object is the word maricidhammaj (mirage-like nature, accusative singular).
3) chetvana marassa papupphakani (having cut off Mara's flower-tipped arrows). Again, the verb is a gerundive, chetvana (having cut off). The object is the noun papupphakani (flower-tipped [arrows], nominative plural) with an attribute, the noun marassa (Mara's, genitive singular).
4) adassanaj maccurajassa gacche (one should make himself invisible to the King of Death). The verb is in the optative, gacche (3rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun adassanaj (to the invisibility, accusative singular) with an attribute, the word maccurajassa (of the King of Death, genitive singular).

Commentary:

A certain monk obtained his meditation subject from the Buddha. He went to the forest and practiced diligently. But for some reason he made very little progress and was not happy. He set out on a journey back to tell the Buddha about his difficulties and to obtain another meditation subject.
But on the way he saw a mirage. He realized, that a mirage is only an illusion of water and that also his body is an illusion as well. He fixed his mind on this understanding and continued with his meditation.
Later he went for a bath to a river and there he saw the foam, how it was insubstantial and breaking up quickly. Thus he further realized the impermanent nature of the body.
The Buddha then sent him his image and told him to keep up the meditation this way. The monk attained the arahantship and escaped the King of Death forever.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:
phen'upamaj
phena
upamaj
kayam
imaj
viditva
maricidhammaj
marici
dhammaj
abhisambudhano
chetvana
marassa
papupphakani
adassanaj
maccurajassa
maccu
rajassa
gacche