Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# na kahapanavassena titti kamesu vijjati

# appassada dukkha kama iti vibbaya pandito

# (DhP 186)

Sentence Translation:

Even by rain of coins one cannot be satisfied in sensual desires.
The wise man, having understood that sensual desires give little pleasure and are painful,
[continued in DhP 187]

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na kahapana+vassena titti kamesu vijjati
| | | | | |
neg. N.m. N.m. N.f. N.m. V.pas.in.
| | Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. Loc.Pl. 3.Sg.pres.
| |________| |_______| |
|_________|_______________|__________|
|____| |
|_________________|

List of Abbreviations

appa+assada dukkha kama iti vibbaya pandito
| | | | | | |
Adj. Adj.m. Adj.m. N.m. part. V.ger. N.m.
| Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. | | Nom.Sg.
|_______| | | | |_______|
|__________| | | |
|____________| | |
|__________| |
|_____________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

kahapanavassena: kahapanavassa-, N.m.: rain of coins. It is a compound of:
kahapana-, N.m.: a copper coin, ancient Indian currency.
vassa-, N.m.: rain, shower.
Ins.Sg. = kahapanavassena.

titti: titti-, N.f.: satisfaction. Nom.Sg. = titti.

kamesu: kama-, N.m.: sense-pleasure, sense desire. Loc.Pl. = kamesu.

vijjati, V.: exists, is found. The verb root is vid- (to find). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = vijjati.

List of Abbreviations

appassada: appassada-, Adj.: of little enjoyment, giving little pleasure. It is a compound of:
appa-, Adj.: few, little.
assada-, N.m.: taste, sweetness, enjoyment, satisfaction. It is derived from the verb root sad- (to taste) with the prefix a- (close relation).
Euphonic combination: appa- + assada- = appassada-.
Nom.Pl.m. = appassada.

dukkha: dukkha-, Adj.: unpleasant, painful, difficult. Nom.Pl.m. = dukkha.

kama: kama-, N.m.: pleasure, enjoyment, sense-desire. Nom.Pl. = kama.

iti, part.: a particle, symbolizing the end of direct speech. In English this is expressed by quotation marks. Sometimes it is written as ti.

vibbaya, V.ger.: having understood. The verb root is ba- (to know) with the prefix vi- (out).

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

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) na kahapanavassena titti kamesu vijjati (even by rain of coins one cannot be satisfied in sensual desires, lit.: even by rain of coins there doesn't exist a satisfaction in sensual desires). The subject of this sentence is the noun titti (satisfaction, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun kamesu (in sensual desires, locative plural). The verb is vijjati (is found, 3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). It is negated by the negative particle na (not). The verb has an attribute, the compound kahapanavassena (by rain of coins, instrumental singular).
2) appassada dukkha kama iti vibbaya pandito (the wise man, having understood, that sensual desires give little pleasure and are painful). This can be further analysed into the main sentence a) and the direct speech b):
a) vibbaya pandito (the wise man, having understood that). The subject is the noun pandito (wise man, nominative singular). The verb is in gerund, vibbaya (having understood).
b) appassada dukkha kama iti (sensual desires give little pleasure and are painful). The subject is the noun kama (sensual desires, nominative plural). It has two attributes, the compound appassada (giving little pleasure, nominative plural) and the adjective dukkha (painful, nominative plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The particle iti (symbolizes the end of the direct speech) connects the clause to the main sentence.

Commentary:

At the Jetavana monastery there was a young monk. His teacher sent him to another monastery to practice meditation. While he was away, his father died and left some money for him with his brother. When the monk returned, he found out about this, but decided to continue living as a monk and told his brother to keep the money for himself.
Later, however, he began to regret, started to imagine his comfortable life as a layman with that amount of money. He became dissatisfied with his life as a monk and began loosing weight. Other monks persuaded him to seek help from the Buddha.
The Buddha told the monk this verse (and the following one, see DhP 187), saying that there is simply never enough money to satisfy the hunger. He told him the story of a king named Mandhatu, who had been a Universal Monarch a long time ago. He was reborn in Tavatimsa heaven and enjoyed immense riches and power for a long time. Then he started to wish he were the only ruler of Tavatimsa instead of Sakka, the king of the gods. Immediately he died and fell down from his heavenly state.
The young monk decided to continue his life as a monk and strived diligently to attain the Awakenment.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
kahapanavassena
kahapana
vassena
titti
kamesu
vijjati
appassada
appa
assada
dukkha
kama
iti
vibbaya
pandito