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List of Abbreviations

# anavatthitacittassa saddhammaj avijanato

# pariplavapasadassa pabba na paripurati

# (DhP 38)

Sentence Translation:

The wisdom of a person, whose mind is unsteady, who does not understand the True Dharma and whose confidence is wavering will not become perfect.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

an+avatthita+cittassa sad+dhammaj a+vijanato
| | | | | | |
neg. Adj. N.m. Adj. N.m. neg. Adj.m.
|______| Gen.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Gen.Sg.
|__________| |_______| |_____|
| |____________|
|____________________|______________________________________

List of Abbreviations

pariplava+pasadassa pabba na paripurati
| | | | |
Adj. N.m. N.f. neg. V.act.in.
| Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|__________| | |______|
_______| | |
|__________________| |
|__________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

anavatthitacittassa: anavatthitacitta-, N.m.: a person of unsteady or unsettled mind. It is a compound of:
anavatthita-, Adj.: unsteady, unsettled. It is a negated (by the negative prefix an-)
word avatthita-, Adj.: steady, firm, settled. This word is a p.p. of the verb
t ha- (to stand) with the prexif ava- (down).
citta-, N.n.: mind.
Gen.Sg. = anavatthitacittassa.

saddhammaj: saddhamma-, N.m.: true Dharma. It is a compound of:
sad-, Adj.: good, true. Original meaning: existing. The full form (sant-) is an a.pr.p.
of the verb as- (to be). The compound form of sant- = sat-.
dhamma-, N.m.: Dharma, Buddha's teaching.
Euphonic combination: sat- + dhamma- = saddhamma-.
Acc.Sg. = saddhammaj.

List of Abbreviations

avijanato: avijanant-, Adj.: not understanding. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word vijanant-, Adj.: knowing, which is an a.pr.p. of the verb ba- (to know) with the prefix vi- (intensifying sense). Gen.Sg. = avijanato.

pariplavapasadassa: pariplavapasada-, Adj.:
pariplava-, Adj.: unsteady, wavering. Derived from the verb plu- (to float, to swim)
with the prefix pari- (around).
pasada-, N.m.: confidence, faith. Derived from the verb sad- (to sit) with the
strengthening prefix pa-. Thus pa+sad-: to make clear, to become tranquil.
Gen.Sg.m. = pariplavapasadassa.

List of Abbreviations

pabba: pabba, N.f.: wisdom. Nom.Sg. = pabba.

na, neg.: not.

paripurati, V.: become full, become perfect. The verb pur- (to fill) with the prefix pari- (all around). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = paripurati.

List of Abbreviations

The subject of this sentence is the word pabba (wisdom, nominative singular) and the verb is paripurati (becomes perfect, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense) which is negated by the negative particle na.
The subject has three attributes, namely: 1) anavatthitacittassa (of the unsteady-minded one, genitive singular), 2) avijanato (of the not understanding one, genitive singular); this word has its own attribute, the word saddhammaj (the true Dharma, accusative singular) and 3) pariplavapasadassa (of the one, whose confidence is wavering, genitive singular).

Commentary:

A certain man from Saavatthi was once looking for his ox lost in the forest. He got hungry so he went to a village monastery, where the monks gave him the remains of the morning meal. While eating, he realized that he was working hard every day, but did not even have enough food. What if he became a monk? So he asked the monks to grant him an ordination. As a monk he had plenty of food, soon he was quite fat.
After some time he grew tired of going for alms and so he decided to become a layman again. Later he again changed his mind, thinking the life too strenuous and became a monk. In this way he left the Order and came back six times.
While he was going back and forth, his wife became pregnant. Once he entered their bedroom when she was asleep. She was almost naked, snoring loudly, saliva trickling down the mouth. This and her bloated stomach made her look like a corpse. He was able to perceive impermanence and unpleasantness of the body. He was thinking that he was a monk for several times and only because of this woman he was not able to stay. So he left home for seventh time, repeating as he went the words "impermanence" and "suffering" and on the way to the monastery he attained the first stage of awakenment. But the monks did not want to permit him into the Order, joking: "You have been shaving your head so often, that it looks like a whetting stone." He asked once more and the monks granted him the ordination one last time. Within few days he attained arahantship.
The monks were surprised to see him staying so long, so they asked what happened. The man said he had no attachments any more, so why would he leave. But they did not believe him and asked the Buddha, who said it was the truth. The man was an arahant now, who discarded both the ideas of good and evil.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

anavatthitacittassa
anavatthita
cittassa
saddhammaj
avijanato
pariplavapasadassa
pariplava
pasadassa
pabba
na
paripurati