Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# dunniggahassa lahuno yatthakamanipatino

# cittassa damatho sadhu cittaj dantaj sukh'avahaj

# (DhP 35)

Sentence Translation:

Good is the taming of the mind, which is difficult to restrain, quick,
jumping at whatever it desires. Restrained mind brings happiness.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

dunniggahassa lahuno yattha+kama+nipatino
| | | | |
Adj.n. Adj.n. Rel.Adv. N.m. Adj.n.
Gen.Sg. Gen.Sg. |______| Gen.Sg.
| | |_________|
|__________|______________|
|____________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

cittassa damatho sadhu cittaj dantaj sukha+avahaj
| | | | | | |
N.n. N.m. Adv. N.n. Adj.n. N.m. Adj.n.
Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
___| | | |_______| |______|
|_________| | |______________|
|__________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

dunniggahassa: dunniggaha-, Adj.: difficult to restrain. The word niggaha-, N.m.: restraining is derived from the verb root gah- (to hold) with the prefix ni- (down). The word is transformed to and adjective by the prefix du- (difficult, bad). The double n is due to the euphonic combination (du + niggaha = dunniggaha). Gen.Sg.n. = dunniggahassa.

lahuno: lahu-, Adj.: light, quick. Gen.Sg.n. = lahuno.

yatthakamanipatino: yatthakamanipatin-, Adj: jumping at whatever it desires. It is a complex compound of:
yatthakamaj, Adv.: according to one's desire. The disappearance of the final -j is only
an omission, perhaps due to the metrical requirements. It can be further analyzed as:
yattha, Rel.Adv.: where.
kama-, N.m.: desire, pleasure.
nipatin-, Adj.: falling down, chancing upon. It is derived (by the way of adding
the possessive suffix -in) from the verb root pat- (fall) with the prefix ni- (down).
Gen.Sg.n. = yatthakamanipatino.

List of Abbreviations

cittassa: citta-, N.n.: mind. Gen.Sg. = cittassa.

damatho: damatha-, N.m.: taming, subduing, restraint, control. Derived from the verb dam- (to restrain, to control, to tame). Nom.Sg. = damatho.

sadhu, Adv.: good, well.

cittaj: citta-, N.n.: mind (see also above). Nom.Sg. = cittaj.

List of Abbreviations

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

sukh'avahaj: sukh'avaha-, Adj.: bringing happiness. A compound of:
sukha-, N.n.: happiness.
a vaha-, Adj.: bringing, causing. Derived from the verb root vah- (to carry) with
the prefix a- (towards, to).
Nom.Sg.n. = sukh'avahaj.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two grammatically separated sentences. One is: dunniggahassa lahuno yatthakamanipatino cittassa damatho sadhu (good is the taming of the mind, which is difficult to restrain, quick, jumping at whatever it desires). Here the subject is damatho (taming, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, therefore we have to supply the verb "to be". An attribute to this verb is the adverb sadhu (well). The object is the word cittassa (of the mind, genitive singular). It has three attributes; 1) dunniggahassa (of the difficult to restrain one), 2) lahuno (of the quick one), 3) yatthakamanipatino (of the jumping-at-whatever-it-desires one). They all have to agree with the object and are therefore in genitive singular.
The second sentence is cittaj dantaj sukh'avahaj (restrained mind brings happiness). Here the subject is the word cittaj (mind, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle dantaj (restrained, nominative singular). The verb is again omitted, the verb "to be" again being implied. The word sukh'avahaj (happiness-bringing, nominative singular) forms an attribute to this verb.

Commentary:

Sixty monks received their meditation subjects from the Buddha and they went to the village of Matika. There the mother of the village headman, called Matikamata, built a monastery for them and gave them alms food regularly. So they decided to spend the Rain Retreat there. She asked them to teach her some Dharma and they taught her the 32 body parts and awareness of the body's decay. She practiced diligently and attained the third (last but one) stage of awakenment. She also attained some supernormal powers; she was able to read other people's minds. She used this power and saw that the sixty monks have not so far attained anything. She saw, that they all had potential for arahantship, but they needed proper food. So she gave them alms food and soon they all became arahants.
At the end of the retreat they went back to the Buddha and reported what happened. A certain monk decided to go to the same village. Matikamata personally came to the monastery and gave him alms food. He asked her about her supernormal powers, but she evaded this subject. He got scared that she will see his impure mind and left the village.
He told the Buddha about his fears, but the Buddha sent him back, telling him to control his mind under all circumstances. So the monk went back, thinking only about his meditation subject. Matikamata made sure that he had enough alms food and the monk too attained arahantship soon.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

dunniggahassa
lahuno
yatthakamanipatino
yatthakama
nipatino
cittassa
damatho
sadhu
cittaj
dantaj
sukh'avahaj
sukha
avahaj