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

List of Abbreviations

# asaddho akatabbu ca sandhicchedo ca yo naro

# hatavakaso vantaso sa ve uttamaporiso

# (DhP 97)

Sentence Translation:

A man who is not blindly trusting, who knows the Nirvana, who has broken the connections,
who has cut off the opportunities and who has given up all wishes - he is a greatest person indeed.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

asaddho akata+bbu ca sandhi+cchedo ca yo naro
| | | | | | | | |
Adj.m. Adj. Adj.m. conj. N.m. Adj.m. conj. Rel.Pron.m. N.m.
Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | | Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |____| | |______| | |__________|
| |_______| |__________| |
|_______________|________________|_________________|________________I.
|_______|
|___________________II.

List of Abbreviations

hata+avakaso vanta+aso sa ve uttama+poriso
| | | | | | | |
Adj.m. N.m. Adj. Adj.m. Pron.m. part. Adj. N.m.
| Nom.Sg. | Nom..Sg. Nom.Sg. | | Nom.Sg.
|________| |____| | | |_____|
I.___|____________| |_____|_______|
|__|
II._________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

asaddho: asaddha-, Adj.: not credulous, without blind trust. It is the word saddha-, Adj.: credulous, trusting, negated by the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.m.: asaddho.

akatabbu: akatabbu-, Adj.: who knows the Nirvana. It is a compound of:
akata-, Adj.: uncreated, not made. It is the word kata-, Adj: done, made (it is a p.p. of the
verb root kar-, to do) with the negative prefix a-.
-bbu-, Adj.suf.: knowing. It is derived from the verb root ba- (to know).
Nom.Sg.m. = akatabbu.

ca, conj.: and.

List of Abbreviations

sandhicchedo: sandhiccheda-, Adj.: one, who has broken the connection, one who has put an end to the round of rebirths. It is a compound of:
sandhi-, N.m.: connection, joint, combination.
cheda-, N.m.: cutting, destruction, breaking. It is derived from the verb root chid- (to cut, to break).
Euphonic combination: sandhi- + cheda- = sandhiccheda-.
Nom.Sg.m. = sandhicchedo.

ca: see above.

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

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

List of Abbreviations

hatavakaso: hatavakasa-, Adj.: one, who has cut off every opportunity (for further rebirth). It is a compound of:
hata-, Adj.: cut off, destroyed. It is a p.p. of the verb han- (to strike).
avakasa-, N.m.: occasion, opportunity.
Euphonic combination: hata- + avakasa- = hatavakasa-.
Nom.Sg.m. = hatavakaso.

vantaso: vantasa-, Adj.: one who has given up all wishes.
vanta-, Adj.: given up, thrown up. It is p.p. of vam- (to throw up, to discard).
a sa-, N.f.: wish, expectation, desire.
Euphonic combination: vanta- + asa- = vantasa, compound form (as an adjective): vantasa-.
Nom.Sg.m. = vantaso.

List of Abbreviations

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa.

ve, part.: indeed, surely.

uttamaporiso: uttamaporisa-, N.m.: noble person. It is a compound of:
uttama-, Adj.: highest, noble.
porisa-, N.m.: person, man.
Nom.Sg. = uttamaporiso.

List of Abbreviations

This verse contains two related sentences. They are:
1) asaddho akatabbu ca sandhicchedo ca yo naro hatavakaso vantaso (A man who is not blindly trusting, who knows the Nirvana, who has broken the connections, who has cut off the opportunities and who has given up all wishes). The subject is the relative pronoun yo (who, nominative singular). It has the noun naro (man, person, nominative singular) as an attribute. This word has several attributes: asaddho (not blindly trusting, nominative singular), akatabbu (knowing the Nirvana, nominative singular), sandhicchedo (who has broken the connections, nominative singular), hatavakaso (who has cut off all the opportunities, nominative singular) and vantaso (who has given up all wishes). The second and third one are connected by the conjunction ca (and).
2) sa ve uttamaporiso (he is a greatest person indeed). The subject is the pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective compound uttamaporiso (highest person, nominative singular). The particle ve (indeed) serves only for the strengthening.

Commentary:

A group of monks came from a village to pay their respects to the Buddha. The Buddha sent for Sariputta and asked him, "Sariputta, do you believe, that one can attain Nirvana by being mindful of the senses?" Sariputta replied, "I do not simply believe in this because I have faith on you and your teaching. Only those who have no personal experience accept the facts from others." The monks did not understand it and thought that Sariputta doesn't have faith in the Buddha, that he did not given up wrong views yet.
The Buddha explained that Sariputta accepts the fact that Nirvana can be attained by being mindful of senses by his own personal experience, because he already attained arahantship. He does not simply trust blindly in his teacher's words without testing them with his own practice. Blind faith has no place in Buddhism, only the trust in the method, which must be followed by one's own personal experience.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

asaddho
akatabbu
akata
bbu
ca
sandhicchedo
sandhi
chedo
yo
naro
hatavakaso
hata
avakaso
vantaso
vanta
aso
sa
ve
uttamaporiso
uttama
poriso