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

List of Abbreviations

# abba hi labh'upanisa abba nibbanagamini

# evam etaj abhibbaya bhikkhu buddhassa savako

# sakkaraj n'abhinandeyya vivekam anubruhaye

# (DhP 75)

Sentence Translation:

Something else are worldly gains, something else is the path leading to the Nirvana.
Thus let a monk, the Buddha's student, having fully understood this,
not rejoice at worship, but let him devote himself to solitude.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

abba hi labh+'upanisa abba nibbana+gamini
| | | | | | |
Adj.f. part. N.m. N.f. Adj.f. N.m. Adj.f.
Nom.Sg. | | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|________| |_____| | |_______|
|____________| |________|
|_______________________|

List of Abbreviations

evam etaj abhibbaya bhikkhu buddhassa savako
| | | | | |
Adv. Pron.n. V.ger. N.m. N.m. N.m.
| Acc.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| | | | |_______|
| | | |____________|
| | |_____________|
| |____________|
|____________|
|___________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

sakkaraj na abhinandeyya vivekam anubruhaye
| | | | |
N.m. neg. V.act. N.m. V.act.
Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
| |_______| |_________|
|____________| |
|_______________________|
__________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

abba: abba-, Adj.: other, different. Nom.Sg.f. = abba.

hi, part.: indeed, truly.

labh'upanisa: labh'upanisa-, N.f.: means of gain. It is a compound of:
labha-, N.m.: gain, possession.
upanisa-, N.f.: means, cause.
Euphonic combination: labha- + upanisa- = labh'upanisa-.
Nom.Sg. = labh'upanisa.

abba: see above.

List of Abbreviations

nibbanagamini: nibbanagamin-, Adj.: going or leading to the Nirvana. It is a compound of:
nibbana-, N.n.: Nirvana, the goal of Buddhism.
gamin-, Adj.: going, leading to. It is derived from the verb gam- (to go).
Nom.Sg.f. = nibbanagamini.

evam, Adv.: thus, in this way.

etaj: etad-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.n. = etaj.

abhibbaya, V.ger.: having fully understood. The verb root is ba- (to know) with the prefix abhi- (intensifying sense).

bhikkhu: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu.

List of Abbreviations

buddhassa: buddha-, Adj.: awakened. Here as a title, N.m.: Awakened One, the Buddha. P.p. of the verb budh- (to awaken). Gen.Sg.: buddhassa.

savako: savaka-, N.m.: , "listener", student, pupil. It is derived from the verb root su- (to hear, to listen). Nom.Sg. = savako.

sakkaraj: sakkara-, N.m.: worship, honor. Acc.Sg. = sakkaraj.

na, neg.: not.

List of Abbreviations

abhinandeyya, V.: let him rejoice at, let him find pleasure in. The verb root is nand- (to be happy, to delight in) with the prefix abhi- (intensifying sense).
3.Sg.act.opt. = abhinandeyya.
Euphonic combination: na + abhinandeyya = n'abhinandeyya.

vivekam: viveka-, N.m.: solitude, seclusion. Acc.Sg. = vivekam.

anubruhaye, V.: let him practice, devote. The verb root is brah- (to develop) with the prefix anu- (along, to). 3.Sg.act.opt = anubruhaye.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically separated sentences. The first line forms the first sentence; the second and third lines form the second sentence.
The first sentence has two paratactic parts. The first is abba hi labh’upanisa (something else are worldly gains). The subject here is labh’upanisa (means of gain, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". This verb has an attribute, the adjective abba (different, nominative singular). This word is strengthened by the particle hi (indeed). The second part is abba nibbanagamini (something else is [the path] leading to the Nirvana). The subject here is the adjective nibbanagamini (leading to the Nirvana, nominative singular). The verb is again omitted; the verb "to be" is implied. This verb has the adjective abba (different, nominative singular) for an attribute.
The second sentence consists also of two main segments. The first is evam etaj abhibbaya bhikkhu buddhassa savako (thus a monk, the Buddha's student, having fully understood this). The subject of this sentence is the noun bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun savako (student, nominative singular). This word has its own attribute, the noun buddhassa (the Buddha's, genitive singular). The verb is in the gerundive, abhibbaya (having understood). The object is the pronoun etaj (this, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adverb evam (thus, in such way).
The second segment (sakkaraj n'abhinandeyya vivekam anubruhaye - let him not rejoice at worship, but let him devote himself to solitude) contains two paratactic parts: 1) sakkaraj n'abhinandeyya (let him not rejoice at worship). The subject is omitted, implying the subject of the previous segment (bhikkhu). The verb is abhinandeyya (let him rejoice, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is the noun sakkaraj (worship, accusative singular). 2) vivekam anubruhaye (let him devote himself to solitude). The subject is again the noun bhikkhu from the main segment (here omitted). The verb is anubruhaye (let him practice, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun vivekam (solitude, accusative singular).

Commentary:

In the city of Savatthi lived a well-known man. He often offered alms food to the monks and especially to Venerable Sariputta. He had a son named Tissa. At the age of seven, the young boy Tissa became a novice under Sariputta. While living at the Jetavana monastery, relatives would visit him often and bring him many presents. Soon he was tired of these visits so he took a subject of meditation from the Buddha and moved away to the forest monastery. While there, he devoted himself to meditation. Whenever villagers offered him alms, he said just, "May you be well and happy!" After three months of meditation he attained arahantship.
Then Venerable Sariputta, Moggallana, and other senior monks paid visit to Tissa. Villagers requested Sariputta to deliver a discourse, but he let speak Tissa instead. Villagers were not pleased, because they never heard anything from Tissa except for the words "May you be well and happy!" They thought he did not really understand Dharma.
But Tissa gave a discourse and spoke for the whole night. Villagers were impressed and felt lucky that they have such a wise monk with them. But still they were a bit angry with him for not speaking earlier.
Then the Buddha came to the village and told the villagers how lucky they were. If it was not for Tissa, would they all, the Buddha and so many senior monks, come to the village? The villagers realized their luck and did not think about the past any more.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

abba
hi
labh'upanisa
labha
upanisa
nibbanagamini
nibbana
gamini
evam
etaj
abhibbaya
bhikkhu
buddhassa
savako
sakkaraj
na
abhinandeyya
vivekam
anubruhaye