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

List of Abbreviations

# na hi etehi yanehi gaccheyya agataj disaj

# yathattana sudantena danto dantena gacchati

# (DhP 323)

Sentence Translation:

Not by all these vehicles could one go to the land previously not traveled to,
as would one who is tamed would go by himself being tamed and well controlled.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na hi etehi yanehi gaccheyya agataj disaj
| | | | | | |
neg. part. Pron.n. N.n. V.act. Adj.f. N.f.
|_____| Ins.Pl. Ins.Pl. 3.Sg.opt. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
| |______| | |______|
|___________|__________| |
|____| |
|_______________________|
|____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yatha attana sudantena danto dantena gacchati
| | | | | |
Rel.Adv. N.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. V.act.in.
| Ins.Sg. Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. Ins.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
| | |_______|______| |
| |___________| | |
| |________|______________|
| |_______|
|____________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

hi, part.: indeed.

etehi: etad-, Pron.: this. Ins.Pl.n. = etehi.

yanehi: yana-, N.n.: carriage, vehicle. Ins.Pl. = yanehi.

gaccheyya, V.: would go, could go. The verb root is gam- (to go). 3.Sg.act.opt. = gaccheyya.

agataj: agata-, Adj.: not traveled, not gone to. It is the word gata-, Adj. (gone, a p.p. of the verb root gam-, to go) negated by the negative prefix a-. Acc.Sg.f. = agataj.

disaj: disa-, N.f: direction. Acc.Sg. = disaj.

List of Abbreviations

yatha, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.

attana: attan-, N.m.: self. Ins.Sg. = attana.
Euphonic combination: yatha + attana = yathattana.

sudantena: sudanta-, Adj.: well restrained, tamed, controlled. It is a p.p. of the verb dam- (to restrain, to control, to tame) with the prefix su- (well). Ins.Sg.m. = sudantena.

danto: danta-, Adj.: restrained, tamed, controlled. It is a p.p. of the verb dam- (to restrain, to control, to tame). Nom.Sg.m. = danto.

dantena: danta-, Adj.: see above. Ins.Sg.m. = dantena.

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

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically related sentences. They are:
1) na hi etehi yanehi gaccheyya agataj disaj (not by all these vehicles could one go to the land previously not traveled to). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is gaccheyya (could go, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the noun yanehi (by vehicles, instrumental plural) with its attribute, the pronoun etehi (by these, instrumental plural). The object is the noun disaj (land, direction, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle agataj (not gone, not traveled, accusative singular). The particle hi (indeed) serves mainly metrical purposes.
2) yathattana sudantena danto dantena gacchati (as would one who is tamed would go by himself being tamed and well controlled). The subject is the past participle danto (tamed, nominative singular). The verb is gacchati (goes, 3rd person, singular). It has an attribute, the noun attana (by oneself, instrumental singular). This word has two attributes, the past participles dantena (by tamed, instrumental singular) and sudantena (by well tamed, instrumental singular). The relative adverb yatha (as, like) connects this sentence to the previous one.

Commentary:

A group of monks once saw an elephant trainer trying to subdue an elephant. The trainer could not succeed in any way he tried. One monk used to be an elephant trainer himself so he explained to the trainer how he should proceed. The elephant was then tamed very quickly.
When the monks returned to the monastery, they reported this story to the Buddha. The Buddha admonished the monk with this verse, saying that he should first tame himself. Only in this way will he be able to reach the Nirvana. Taming elephants will not help him one little bit in pursuing this goal.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
hi
etehi
yanehi
gaccheyya
agataj
disaj
yatha
attana
sudantena
danto
dantena
gacchati