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

List of Abbreviations

# nidhinaj va pavattaraj yaj passe vajjadassinaj

# niggayhavadij medhavij tadisaj panditaj bhaje

# tadisaj bhajamanassa seyyo hoti na papiyo

# (DhP 76)

Sentence Translation:

Should one see an intelligent person, who speaks rebukingly,
who can see faults as if showing treasures, one should associate with such a wise one.
Associating with such people is better, not worse.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

nidhinaj va pavattaraj yaj passe vajja+dassinaj
| | | | | | |
N.m. part. N.m. Rel.Pron. V.act. N.n. Adj.m.
Gen.Pl. | Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. | Acc.Sg.
|_________|______| | | |______|
|____| | | |
|_______________|_________|_________|
| | |___________________________________I.
|_________|_________________|
|_____|
|____________________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

niggayha+vadij medhavij tadisaj panditaj bhaje
| | | | | |
Adj. Adj.m. N.m. Adj.m. N.m. V.act.
| Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|__________| | |________| |
I.____|____________| |__________|
II.________________________________|

List of Abbreviations

tadisaj bhajamanassa seyyo hoti na papiyo
| | | | | |
Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. V.act.in. neg. Adj.m.
Acc.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres. | Nom.Sg.
|___________| | | |_____|
| |_______|________|
|_________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

nidhinaj: nidhi-, N.m.: treasure. Gen.Pl. = nidhinaj.

va, part.: as, like.

pavattaraj: pavattar-, N.m.: one who shows, one who tells about. It is derived fom the verb vac- (to say) with the prefix pa- (out). Acc.Sg. = pavattaraj.

yaj: yat-, Rel.Pron.: that, which. Acc.Sg.m.: yaj.

passe, V.: should see. The verb root is dis- (to see). 3.Sg.act.opt = passe.

List of Abbreviations

vajjadassinaj: vajjadassin-, N.m.: one who sees faults. It is a compound of:
vajja-, N.n.: fault, what should be avoided.
dassin-, Adj.: seeing. It is derived from the verb das- (to see) by adding the
denominative suffix -in.
Acc.Sg. = vajjadassinaj.

niggayhavadij: niggayhavadin-, N.m.: one who speaks rebukingly, censuring. It is a compound of:
niggayha-, Adj.: what should be rebuked, censured. It is a grd. of the verb
nigganhati (to rebuke, to censure).
vadin-, Adj.: speaking. It is derived from the verb root vad- (to say).
Acc.Sg. = niggayhavadij.

medhavij: medhavin-, N.m.: intelligent person, wise one. Acc.Sg. = medhavij.

tadisaj: tadisa-, Adj.: such. Acc.Sg.m. = tadisaj.

List of Abbreviations

panditaj: pandita-, N.m.: wise man, learned man. Acc.Sg. = panditaj.

bhaje, V.: one should associate with. The verb root is bhaj- (to associate with). 3.Sg.act.opt. = bhaje.

tadisaj: see above.

bhajamanassa: bhajamana-, Adj.: associating with. It is a med.pr.p. of the verb bhaj- (to associate with). Gen.Sg.m. = bhajamanassa.

seyyo: seyya-, Adj.: better. Nom.Sg.m. = seyyo.

hoti, V.: is. The verb root is bhu- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = hoti.

na, neg.: not.

papiyo: papiya-, Adj.: worse. Nom.Sg.m. = papiyo.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two sentences. The first two lines form the first one and the second line contains the second one.
The first sentence can be subdivided into two sentences.
1) nidhinaj va pavattaraj yaj passe vajjadassinaj niggayhavadij medhavij (should one see an intelligent person, who speaks rebukingly who can see faults as if showing treasures). The subject is omitted; any personal pronoun can be implied. The verb is passe (one should see, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The main object is the relative pronoun yaj (whom, accusative singular). This object has three attributes: medhavij (intelligent one, accusative singular), niggayhavadij (speaking rebukingly, accusative singular) and vajjadassinaj (seeing faults, accusative singular). This last word has an attribute clause, nidhinaj va pavattaraj (like showing treaures). Here the main attribute is pavattaraj (one who shows, accusative singular). It has the noun nidhinaj (of treasures, genitive plural) as an attribute. The particle va (like) connects the clause to the word vajjadassinaj.
2) tadisaj panditaj bhaje (one should associate with such a wise one). Again, the subject is omitted. The verb is bhaje (one should associate, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is panditaj (wise one, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective tadisaj (such, accusative singular).
In the second sentence, the subject is the adjective seyyo (better, nominative singular). The noun papiyo (worse, nominative singular), negated by the negative particle na (not), forms an attribute to the subject. The verb is hoti (is, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the medium present participle bhajamanassa (of the one who associates, genitive singular) with the adjective tadisaj (such, accusative singular) as an attribute.

Commentary:

A poor old man named Radha was staying in the monastery doing manual work, like sweeping, cutting the grass etc. He wanted to become a monk, but the elders were not willing to admit him.
One day the Buddha saw that Radha had a potential to become an arahant, so he called the monks and asked them if any of them recollects a good deed done by Radha. Venerable Sariputta said that Radha once offered him some rice. The Buddha then asked if it wasn't proper to repay the kindness by accepting the man into the Order and show him the way out of suffering. So Radha became a monk under Venerable Sariputta. He strictly followed Sariputta's guidance and in a very short time he attained arahantship.
When the Buddha heard about this he explained by this verse that a monk should always be attentive to guidance by his betters and not resent rebukes for his faults.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

nidhinaj
va
pavattaraj
yaj
passe
vajjadassinaj
vajja
dassinaj
niggayhavadij
niggayha
vadij
medhavij
tadisaj
panditaj
bhaje
bhajamanassa
seyyo
hoti
na
papiyo