Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# yassa jitaj navajiyati jitam assa no yati koci loke

# taj buddham anantagocaraj apadaj kena padena nessatha

# (DhP 179)

Sentence Translation:

Whose victory cannot be turned into defeat, nobody in the world can pursue his victory.
By what way will you destroy such an Awakened one, trackless and of endless sphere?

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yassa jitaj na avajiyati jitam assa no yati koci loke
| | | | | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. N.n. neg. V.pas.in. N.n. Pron.m. neg. V.act.in. Pron.m. N.m.
Gen.Pl. Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres. Acc.Sg. Gen.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Loc.Sg.
|_____________| |_______| | | |______| |________|
|_______________| |______| | |
| |_____________| |
| |_____________________|
|______________________________________|

List of Abbreviations

taj buddham ananta+gocaraj apadaj kena padena nessatha
| | | | | | | |
Pron.m. N.m. Adj. Adj.m. Adj.m. Pron.n. N.n. V.act.caus.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Ins.Sg. Ins.Sg. 2.Pl.fut.
| | |______| | |______| |
|_________|__________|___________| |___________|
|________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

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

jitaj: jita-, N.n.: victory, conquered thing. As an Adj.: conquered, mastered. It is a p.p. of the verb ji- (to win, to conquer). Nom.Sg. = jitaj.

na, neg.: not.

avajiyati, V.: is lost, is undone. It is a passive of the verb root jar- (to decay, to get old), with the prefix ava- (off, away). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = avajiyati.
(Euphonic combination: na + avajiyati = navajiyati.

jitaj: see above.

assa: idam- Pron.: it. Gen.Sg.m. = assa (his).

List of Abbreviations

no, neg.: not. It is the particle na (not), strengthened by adding the particle u; na + u = no.

yati, V.: goes, pursues. The verb root is ya- (to go). 3.Sg.in.act.pres. = yati.

koci: kibci-, Pron.: whatever. Nom.Sg.m. = koci.
The tradition explains this word "whoever" as greed, hatred and delusion, the three roots of evil.

loke: loka-, N.m.: world. Loc.Sg. = loke.

taj: tad-, Pron.: that. Acc.Sg.m. = taj.

buddham: buddha-, Adj.: awakened. It is a p.p. of the verb root budh- (to awaken). As a N.m.: Awakened One, Enlightened One, a being who has attained the Nirvana. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Acc.Sg. = buddham.

List of Abbreviations

anantagocaraj: anantagocara-, Adj.: having an endless sphere. It is a compound of:
ananta-, Adj.: endless, infinite. It is the word anta-, N.n.: end, with the negative prefix an-.
gocara-, N.m.: pasture, sphere. This can be further analyzed as:
go-, N.m.: cow
cara-, N.m.: going, walking. Derived from the verb car- (to walk, to roam).
Acc.Sg.m. = anantagocaraj.

apadaj: apada-, Adj.: trackless. It is the word pada-, N.n.: track, with the negative prefix a-.
Acc.Sg.m. = apadaj.

kena: kij-, Inter.Pron.: who, what. Ins.Sg.n. = kena.

padena: pada-, N.n.: track, path. Ins.Sg. = padena.

nessatha, V.: [you] will destroy, will ruin. It is a future tense of the caus. of the verb root nas- (to perish, to be destroyed). 2.Pl.act.caus.fut. = nessatha.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) yassa jitaj navajiyati jitam assa no yati koci loke (whose victory cannot be turned into defeat, nobody in the world can pursue his victory). This can be further analyzed into two sentences:
a) yassa jitaj navajiyati (whose victory cannot be turned into defeat). The subject is the noun jitaj (victory, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the relative pronoun yassa (whose, genitive singular). The verb is avajiyati (is undone, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not).
b) jitam assa no yati koci loke (nobody in the world can pursue his victory). The subject is the interrogative pronoun koci (whosoever, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun loke (in the world, locative singular). The verb is yati (goes, pursues; 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle no (not). The object is the noun jitaj (victory, accusative singular) with its attribute, the pronoun assa (his, genitive singular).
2) taj buddham anantagocaraj apadaj kena padena nessatha (by what way will you destroy such an Awakened one, trackless and of endless sphere?). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is nessatha ([you] will destroy, 2nd person, plural, active, causative, future). It has an attribute, the noun padena (by way, instrumental singular). This in turn has the interrogative pronoun kena (by what, instrumental singular) as an attribute. The object is the noun buddham (Awakened One, accusative singular). It has three attributes, the pronoun taj (that, accusative singular), the compound anantagocaraj (of endless sphere, accusative singular) and the adjective apadaj (trackless, accusative singular).

Commentary:

In the Kuru country there lived a Brahmin named Magandiya. He had a very beautiful daughter. Many young men desired to marry her, but her father turned all of them down, thinking they were not good enough for her.
One morning, Magandiya went to perform his daily fire worship. On the way he met the Buddha. Immediately he decided, that the Buddha would be an ideal husband for his daughter. Quickly he returned home and took his wife and daughter with him back to the place he met the Buddha.
In the meantime, the Buddha left his footprints at that place and went to another spot nearby. When Magandiya's wife saw the footprints, she remarked, that these footprints belong to somebody, who has given up all cravings. But her husband did not pay any attention to that and proceeded to find the Buddha and offer his daughter to him.
The Buddha said he was not interested. He told them how the beautiful daughters of Mara tried to seduce him. He gave up all passions, all cravings, and all attachments. Even when he saw the most beautiful women - the daughters of Mara, he felt no desire. Compared with them, Magandiya's daughter was nothing - why should he want even to touch her?
Both the Brahmin and his wife attained the third stage of Awakenment on hearing these words. Later they became a monk and a nun and soon attained Arahantship. But their daughter, Magandiya, felt insulted and promised to take revenge on the Buddha.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yassa
jitaj
na
avajiyati
assa
no
yati
koci
loke
taj
buddham
anantagocaraj
ananta
gocaraj
apadaj
kena
padena
nessatha