Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# yatha pi rahado gambhiro vippasanno anavilo

# evaj dhammani sutvana vippasidanti pandita

# (DhP 82)

Sentence Translation:

Just like a lake, deep, bright and clean,
so the wise ones become tranquil, after having heard the teachings.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yatha pi rahado gambhiro vippasanno anavilo
| | | | | |
Rel.Adv. conj. N.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m.
|_________| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| | |________|_______|
| |___________|
|________________|
|__________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

evaj dhammani sutvana vippasidanti pandita
| | | | |
Adv. N.n. V.ger. V.act.in. N.m.
| Acc.Pl. | 3.Pl.pres. Nom.Sg.
| |________| |________|
| |________________|
|____________________|
_________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yatha, RelAdv.: like, just as.

pi, conj.: also, too.

rahado: rahada-, N.m.: pond, lake. Nom.Sg. = rahado.

gambhiro: gambhira-, Adj.: deep. Nom.Sg.m. = gambhiro.

vippasanno: vippasanna-, Adj.: purified, clear, bright. It is a p.p. of the verb vippasidati (to become bright). The verb root is sid- (to sit). Nom.Sg.m. = vippasanno.

anavilo: anavila-, Adj.: undisturbed, clean. It is the word avila-, Adj.: stirred up, dirty with the negative prefix an-. Nom.Sg.m. = anavilo.

List of Abbreviations

evaj, Adv.: thus, in this way.

dhammani: dhamma-, N.n.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". The meaning here is more like "teaching" in general. This word can be found as a neuter very rarely. Acc.Pl. = dhammani.

sutvana, V.ger.: having heard. The verb root is su- (to hear).

vippasidanti, V.: to become bright, to become tranquil or happy. See also under vippasanno. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = vippasidanti.

pandita: pandita-, N.m.: wise man, learned man. Nom.Pl. = pandita.

List of Abbreviations

This verse contains two related sentences. They form the first and second lines of this verse respectively.
In the first sentence, the subject is the noun rahado (lake, nominative singular). It has three attributes, adjectives gambhiro (deep, nominative singular), vippasanno (bright, nominative singular) and anavilo (clean, nominative singular). The relative adverb yatha (just as), which forms a quite common phrase yatha pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this sentence to the next one.
In the second sentence the subject is the noun pandita (wise ones, nominative plural). The verb is vippasidanti (become tranquil, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). There is a clause, dhammani sutvana. Here, the subject is the word pandita from the main sentence. The object is the noun dhammani (teachings, accusative plural). The gerundive sutvana (having heard) serves as the verb in the clause. The adverb evaj (thus, in such way) connects this sentence to the previous one.

Commentary:

In one village there lived a woman named Kana Mata. She was a devout lay disciple of the Buddha. She had a daughter Kana who was married to a man from another village. Once she was staying with her mother and her husband sent for her. But her mother told her to wait, because she wanted to send some cakes to her husband.
But the next day some monks came to the house and Kana Mata gave the cakes to them. Kana had to wait for her mother to prepare new cakes and she could not return to her husband. This happened every day for three following days. All the cakes were given to the monks.
Kana's husband then took another wife. Kana accused the monks that they have ruined her marriage and became very bitter. She would insult and abuse the monks, wherever she saw them.
The Buddha then set a new rule for the monks, not to take advantage of the devotion of the lay disciples. He went to Kana Mata's house and asked Kana if the monks took what was given or what was not given. Kana replied that they took only what was given to them and realized that she was wrong. The Buddha then gave a discourse. At the end, Kana attained the first stage of Arahantship.
King Pasenadi of Kosala heard about this, summoned Kana to the palace and one of his ministers adopted her as his daughter. Every day she gave offerings to holy people who came to her door.
The Buddha then noted that Kana's mind, originally confused and "muddy" became clear as a lake after listening to the Dharma.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yatha
pi
rahado
gambhiro
vippasanno
anavilo
evaj
dhammani
sutvana
vippasidanti
pandita