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

List of Abbreviations

# yo ca buddhaj ca dhammaj ca savghaj ca saranaj gato

# cattari ariyasaccani sammappabbaya passati

# (DhP 190)

Sentence Translation:

And who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
sees with a true wisdom Four Noble Truths.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yo ca buddhaj ca dhammaj ca savghaj ca saranaj gato
| | | | | | | | | |
Rel.Pron.m. conj. N.m. conj. N.m. conj. N.m. conj. N.n. Adj.m.
Nom.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. Nom.Sg.
|____________| |______| |______| |_____| | |
| |___________|___________| | |
| |_____________| |
| |______________|
|_____________________________________________|
|____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

cattari ariya+saccani samma+ppabbaya passati
| | | | | |
Num.n. Adj. N.n. Adv. N.f. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Ins.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
| |______| |_______| |
|____________| |___________|
|________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.: that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

ca, conj.: and.

buddhaj: buddha-, Adj.: Awakened One, Enlightened One. It is a pp. of the verb root budh-, to awaken. Here as an N.m.: a being who has attained Nirvana. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Acc.Sg.: buddhaj.

ca: see above.

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

ca: see above.

savghaj: savgha-, N.m.: community, the community of the Buddha's followers. It is of two kinds: the savgha of lay followers and the savgha of monks and nuns. Acc.Sg.: savghaj.

ca: see above.

saranaj: sarana-, N.n.: refuge. Acc.Sg.: saranaj.

gato: gata-, Adj.: gone. It is a p.p. of the verb gam- (to go). Nom.Sg.m. = gato.

cattari: catur-, Num.: four. Acc.Pl.n. = cattari.

List of Abbreviations

ariyasaccani: ariyasacca-, N.n.: Noble Truth, the core of Buddhist teaching. It is a compound of:
ariya-, Adj.: noble, distinguished, good.
sacca-, N.n.: truth.
Acc.Pl. = ariyasaccani.

sammappabbaya: sammappabba-, N.f.: true wisdom. It is a compound of:
samma-, Adv.: properly, rightly, as it should be, truly. Compound form: samma-.
pabba-, N.f.: wisdom.
Euphonic combination: samma- + pabba- = sammappabba-.
Ins.Sg. = sammappabbaya.

passati: sees. The verb root is dis- (to see). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = passati.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
1) yo ca buddhaj ca dhammaj ca savghaj ca saranaj gato (and who has gone for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha). The subject of this sentence is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). The verb is in the past participle, gato (gone, nominative singular). The object is the noun saranaj (to refuge, accusative singular). It has three attributes, the nouns buddhaj (to the Buddha, accusative singular), dhammaj (to the Dharma, accusative singular) and savghaj (to the Sangha, accusative singular). These are connected to each other by multiple conjunctions ca (and).
2) cattari ariyasaccani sammappabbaya passati (sees with a true wisdom Four Noble Truths). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is passati (sees, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the compound sammappabbaya (with a true wisdom, instrumental singular). The object is the compound ariyasaccani (Noble Truths, accusative plural) with its attribute, the numeral cattari (four, accusative plural).

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with the one for the preceding verses (DhP 188, DhP 189) and the following ones (DhP 191, DhP 192).
The Triple Gem, the Buddha (Awakened One), the Dharma (his teaching) and the Sangha (the community of his followers) are the highest possible refuge, because the Buddha has reached Awakenment, the Dharma is the teaching how to reach this goal and the Sangha is the community of people who are on the way to reach it.
Having taken refuge in this Triple Gem, one can clearly see the Four Noble Truths, the most important of all the Buddhist teachings. They are: 1) The truth of Suffering, 2) The truth of Origin of Suffering, 3) The truth of Extinction of Suffering and 4) The truth of the Path, leading to the Extinction of Suffering.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yo
ca
buddhaj
dhamma j
sa v gha j
sara n a j
gato
cattari
ariyasaccani
ariya
saccani
sammappabbaya
samma
pabbaya
passati