Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# na attahetu na parassa hetu na puttam icche na dhanaj na ratthaj

# na iccheyya adhammena samiddhim attano

# sa silava pabbava dhammiko siya

# (DhP 84)

Sentence Translation:

One should not want a son, wealth or kingdom, not for one's own sake, not for the sake of others,
one should not want one's own prosperity by injustice. Such a person is virtuous, wise and righteous.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

na atta+hetu na parassa hetu na puttam icche na dhanaj na ratthaj
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
neg. N.m. N.m. neg. Adj.m. N.m. neg. N.m. V.act. neg. N.n. neg. N.n.
| | Acc.Sg. | Gen.Sg. Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. | Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg.
| |____| | |______| |_____| | |____| |____|
|_______| |_______| | | | |
|______________|_______________|_________|________|_________|
|_________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

na iccheyya adhammena samiddhim attano sa silava pabbava dhammiko siya
| | | | | | | | | |
neg. V.act. N.m. N.f. N.m. Pron.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. V.act.
| 3.Sg.opt. Ins.Sg. Acc.Sg. Gen.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|______| | |________| | |________|________| |
| |_____________| | |_____________|
|________________| |__________________________|
__________| |
|______________________________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

attahetu: attahetu-, N.m.: one's own sake. It is a compound of:
attan-, N.m.: self.
hetu-, N.m.: cause, reason.
Acc.Sg. = attahetu. The more usual form is hetum, but in the case of the phrase "for the sake of" the form hetu for accusative is used.

parassa: para-, Adj.: different, other. Gen.Sg.m. = parassa.

hetu: see above.

puttam: putta-, N.m.: son. Acc.Sg. = puttam.

List of Abbreviations

icche, V.: should want. The verb root is is-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = icche. Note that another possible form is iccheyya (see below).

dhanaj: dhana-, N.n.: wealth. Acc.Sg. = dhanaj.

ratthaj: rattha-, N.n.: country, kingdom. Acc.Sg. = ratthaj.

iccheyya, V.: should want. The verb root is is-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = iccheyya. See also above the word icche.

adhammena: adhamma-, N.m.: injustice. It is the word dhamma-, N.m.: here meaning "justice", with the negative prefix a-. Ins.Sg. = adhammena.

samiddhim: samiddhi-, N.f.: success, prosperity. Acc.Sg. = samiddhim.

attano: attan-, N.m.: self. Gen.Sg. = attano.

List of Abbreviations

sa: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = sa (the more usual form is so).

silava: silavant-, Adj.: virtuous. It is the word sila-, N.n.: virtue, with the possessive suffix -vant. Nom.Sg.m. = silava.

pabbava: pabbavant-, Adj.: wise, intelligent. It is the word pabba-, N.f.: wisdom, with the possessive suffix -vant. Nom.Sg.m. = pabbava.

dhammiko: dhammika-, Adj.: honorable, righteous. It is the word dhamma-, N.m.: here meaning "law", changed into an adjective. Nom.Sg.m. = dhammiko.

siya, V.: would be. The verb root is as-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = siya.

List of Abbreviations

This sentence consists of two sentences. They are:
1) na attahetu na parassa hetu na puttam icche na dhanaj na ratthaj na iccheyya adhammena samiddhim attano (one should not want a son, wealth or kingdom, not for one's own sake, not for the sake of others, one should not want one's own prosperity by injustice). This can be further subdivided into two segments:
a) na attahetu na parassa hetu na puttam icche na dhanaj na ratthaj (one should not want a son, wealth or kingdom, not for one's own sake, not for the sake of others). Here the subject is omitted, the verb is implying the third person singular pronoun. The verb is icche ([one] should want, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). This verb is negated by several negative particles na (not). There are five objects: ratthaj (kingdom, accusative singular), dhanaj (wealth, accusative singular), puttam (a son, accusative singular), attahetu (one's own sake, accusative singular) and hetu (for sake of, accusative singular). This last object has an attribute, the adjective parassa (other's, genitive plural).
b) na iccheyya adhammena samiddhim attano (one should not want one's own prosperity by injustice). Again, the subject is omitted. The verb is iccheyya (should want, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). This verb is negated by the negative particle na (not). The object is samiddhim (prosperity, accusative singular). This word has two attributes, attano (one's own, genitive singular) and adhammena (by injustice, instrumental singular).
2) sa silava pabbava dhammiko siya (such a person is virtuous, wise and righteous). The subject is the personal pronoun sa (he, nominative singular). The verb is siya (would be, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). There are three objects, the adjectives silava (virtuous), pabbava (wise) and dhammiko (righteous). They are all in nominative singular).

Commentary:

In the city of Savatthi, there lived a man with his pregnant wife. He wanted to become a monk so he asked his wife for permission. She told him to wait after the baby is born. When it happened, she again asked him to stay until the child could walk. When the man finally got to be a monk, he took a subject of meditation, practiced diligently and soon attained arahantship.
A few years later he visited his house in order to teach Dharma to his family. His son became a monk too and soon he also became an Arahant. The wife thought, "If both my husband and my son entered the Order, I'd better go too." So she left the house and became a nun. Eventually she too attained arahantship.
The Buddha was told how the whole family attained arahantship and he replied by this verse. He added, that a wise man works for his liberation and helps others towards the same goal. The awakenment can be realized only after much effort.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

na
attahetu
atta
parassa
hetu
puttam
icche
dhanaj
ratthaj
iccheyya
adhammena
samiddhim
attano
sa
silava
pabbava
dhammiko
siya