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

List of Abbreviations

# na vakkaranamattena vannapokkharataya va

# sadhurupo naro hoti issuki macchari satho

# (DhP 262)

Sentence Translation:

Not only by the act of speech or by beauty of complexion
is a man respectable, if he is envious, selfish and deceitful.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na vak+karana+mattena vanna+pokkharataya va
| | | | | | |
neg. N.f. N.n. Adj.n. N.m. N.f. conj.
| |_____| Ins.Sg. | Ins.Sg. |
| |_________| |_________| |
| |_________________| |
| |___________________|
| |_________________________I.
|_________________________________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

sadhu+rupo naro hoti issuki macchari satho
| | | | | | |
Adj. Adj.m. N.m. V.act.in. Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m.
| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|_______| | | |_______|_______|
II.__|__________|_________| |
I.___|____| |_____________________|
|__| |
|___________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

vakkaranamattena: vakkaranamatta-, Adj.: just only act of speech. It is a compound of:
vak-, N.f.: speech.
karana-, N.n.: doing, acting. It is derived from the verb kar- (to do).
matta-, Adj.: measure, just only, mere.
Ins.Sg. = vakkaranamattena.

vannapokkharataya: vannapokkharata-, N.f.: beauty of complexion. Lit. beauty and splendidness. It is a compound of:
vanna-, N.m.: color, beauty.
pokkharata-, N.f.: splendidness, lotus-likeness. It is derived from the word pokkhara-, N.n.: lotus.
Ins.Sg. = vannapokkharataya.

va, conj.: or.

List of Abbreviations

sadhurupo: sadhurupa-, Adj.: good, respectable, having good appearance. It is a compound of:
sadhu-, Adj.: good, virtuous.
rupa-, N.n.: form, appearance, figure.
Nom.Sg.m. = sadhurupo.

naro: nara-, N.m.: man, person. Nom.Sg. = naro.

hoti, V.: is. The verb root is bhu- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = bhavati or hoti.

issuki: issukin-, Adj.: envious, jealous. It is derived from the word issa-, N.f.: envy, jealousy. Nom.Sg.m. = issuki.

macchari: maccharin-, Adj.: stingy, selfish, greedy. It is derived from the word macchera-, N.n.: avarice, stinginess, envy. Nom.Sg.m. = macchari.

satho: satha-, Adj.: deceitful, treacherous, fraudulent. Nom.Sg.m. = satho.

List of Abbreviations

The subject of this sentence is the noun naro (man, nominative singular). It has three attributes, the adjectives issuki (envious, nominative singular), macchari (selfish, nominative singular) and satho (deceitful, nominative singular). The verb is hoti (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has two attributes, the compounds vakkaranamattena (only by the act of speech, instrumental singular) and vannapokkharataya (by beauty of complexion, instrumental singular). They are connected by the conjunction va (or). The object is the adjective sadhurupo (respectable, nominative singular).

Commentary:

The elder monks usually had some young novices as their students. It was custom that these novices would attend on their teachers, wash their robes, get water for them to drink and other small services. Some monks who had no students started to envy these elders. So they suggested to the Buddha that the novices should have more teachers to receive more guidance. Of course, the Buddha knew their real motive (to get some work done by the novices) so he refused this. He further admonished the monks by this verse (and the following one, DhP 263).

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
vakkaranamattena
vak
karana
mattena
vannapokkharataya
vanna
pokkharataya
va
sadhurupo
sadhu
rupo
naro
hoti
issuki
macchari
satho