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

List of Abbreviations

# asso yatha bhadro kasanivittho atapino sajvegino bhavatha

# saddhaya silena ca viriyena ca samadhina dhammavinicchayena ca

# sampannavijjacarana patissata jahissatha dukkham idaj anappakaj

# (DhP 144)

Sentence Translation:

Be like a good horse when touched by a whip - strenuous and anxious.
By faith, virtue, effort and concentration, by investigation of truth,
by having knowledge and conduct, by being mindful abandon this big suffering.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

asso yatha bhadro kasa+nivittho atapino sajvegino bhavatha
| | | | | | | |
N.m. Rel.Adv. Adj.m. N.f. Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m. V.act.
Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. 2.Pl.imp.
|__________|________| |_____| |_______| |
| |_____________| |____________|
|__________| |
|_______________________________|

List of Abbreviations

saddhaya silena ca viriyena ca samadhina dhamma+vinicchayena ca
| | | | | | | | |
N.f. N.n. conj. N.n. conj. N.m. N.m. N.m. conj.
Ins.Sg. Ins.Sg. | Ins.Sg. | Ins.Sg. | Ins.Sg. |
| |____| |____| | |________| |
| | | | |___________|
|____________|__________|________|___________________|_______________

List of Abbreviations

sampanna+vijja+carana patissata jahissatha dukkham idaj anappakaj
| | | | | | | |
Adj. N.f. N.m. Adj.m. V.act. N.n. Pron.n. Adj.n.
| | Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. 2.Pl.imp. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
| |_____| | | |_______|_______|
|_____________| | | |___|
|_________________| | |
_______________|_________________| |
| |______________________|
|____________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

asso: assa-, N.m.: horse. Nom.Sg. = asso.

yatha, Rel.Adv.: as, just like.

bhadro: bhadra-, Adj.: good. Nom.Sg.m. = bhadro.

kasanivittho: kasanivittha-, Adj.: whipped, touched by a whip. It is a compound of:
kasa-, N.f.: whip.
nivittha-, Adj.: touched, "put down on". It is a p.p. of the verb root vis- (to enter)
with the prefix ni- (down).
Nom.Sg.m. = kasanivittho.

atapino: atapin-, Adj.: ardent, zealous, active, strenuous. It is the word atapa-, N.m.: endeavor, zeal, activity, with the possessive suffix -in. Nom.Pl.m. = atapino.

sajvegino: sajvegin-, Adj.: anxious, agitated (by contemplating miseries of this world). It is the word sajvega-, N.m.: agitation, anxiety, with the possessive suffix -in. Nom.Pl.m. = sajvegino.

List of Abbreviations

bhavatha, V.: be. The verb root is bhu-. 3.Pl.act.imp. = bhavatha. The form bhavatha is sometimes used in poetry.

saddhaya: saddha-, N.f.: trust, confidence, faith. Ins.Sg. = saddhaya.

silena: sila-, N.n.: virtue. Ins.Sg. = silena.

ca, conj.: and.

viriyena: viriya-, N.n.: energy, vigor, effort. The form viriya- is used because of metrical requirements. Ins.Sg. = viriyena.

ca, conj.: and.

samadhina: samadhi-, N.m.: concentration, firmness of mind. It is derived from the verb root dha-, to put, with the prefixes saj-, together and a-, towards. Ins.Sg. = samadhina.

List of Abbreviations

dhammavinicchayena: dhammavinicchaya-, N.m.: investigation of truth. It is a compound of:
dhamma-, N.m.: here can mean either generally "thing", "phenomenon", "truth" or more specifically the teaching of the Buddha.
vinicchaya-, N.m.: thorough knowledge, firm opinion, investigation, analysis.
Ins.Sg. = dhammavinicchayena.

ca, conj.: and.

sampannavijjacarana: sampannavijjacarana-, Adj.: endowed with knowledge and conduct. It is a compound of:
sampanna-, Adj.: endowed with, possessed of. P.p. of the verb pad- (to go to, to fall to) preceded by the prefix sam- (denoting "together" or "completely").
vijjacarana-, N.n.: knowledge and conduct. This is itself a compound of:
vijja-, N.f.: knowledge, higher knowledge. Derived from the verb root vid- (to know, to find out).
carana-, N.n.: conduct, behavior, acting. Derived from the verb root car- (to move, to go behave).
Nom.Pl.m. of the whole compound = sampannavijjacarana.

List of Abbreviations

patissata: patissata-, Adj.: mindful, conscientious, recollecting. Nom.Pl.m. = patissata.

jahissatha, V.: abandon, leave behind. The verb root is ha-. 2.Pl.act.imp. = jahissatha.

dukkham: dukkha-, N.n.: suffering. Acc.Sg. = dukkham.

idaj: idaj-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.n. = idaj.

anappakaj : anappaka-, Adj.: big, "not little". It is the word appaka-, Adj.: little, few, with the negative prefix an-. Acc.Sg.n. = anappakaj.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of two independent sentences. They are:
1) asso yatha bhadro kasanivittho atapino sajvegino bhavatha (be like a good horse when touched by a whip - strenuous and anxious). This sentence can be further analyzed into two parts:
a) atapino sajvegino bhavatha (be strenuous and anxious). This is the main sentence. The subject is omitted, implying the second person plural pronoun. The verb is bhavatha (be, 2nd person, plural, active, imperative). There are two objects, adjectives atapino (strenuous, nominative plural) and sajvegino (anxious, nominative plural).
b) asso yatha bhadro kasanivittho (like a good horse when touched by a whip). This is a clause to the main sentence. The subject is the noun asso (horse, nominative singular) with two attributes, the adjective bhadro (good, nominative singular) and the compound kasanivittho (touched by a whip, nominative singular). The verb is omitted; the verb bhavatha from the main sentence is implied.
2) saddhaya silena ca viriyena ca samadhina dhammavinicchayena ca sampannavijjacarana patissata jahissatha dukkham idaj anappakaj (by faith, virtue, effort and concentration, by investigation of truth, by having knowledge and conduct, by being mindful abandon this big suffering). The subject is omitted, the verb implying the second person plural pronoun. It has two attributes, the adjectives sampannavijjacarana (endowed with knowledge and conduct, nominative plural) and patissata (mindful, nominative plural). The verb is jahissatha (abandon, 2nd person, plural, active, imperative). It has five attributes: saddhaya (by faith, instrumental singular), silena (by virtue, instrumental singular), viriyena (by effort, instrumental singular), samadhina (by concentration, instrumental singular) and dhammavinicchayena (by investigation of truth, instrumental singular). Three of them (silena, viriyena and dhammavinicchayena) are connected to the other ones by the conjunction ca (and). The object is the noun dukkham (suffering, accusative singular). It has two attributes, the pronoun idaj (this, accusative singular) and the adjective anappakaj (big, accusative singular).

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with the story for the previous one (DhP 143).
There is no reason to whip a good horse - it knows what to do and how to do it. In the same way there is no need to blame a good person, he is not acting in a way that has to be blamed.
The good horse needs only to be touched by the whip and then it knows what to do. So it is with a good person. He is "touched" by the suffering and immediately starts to make effort to escape it forever.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

asso
yatha
bhadro
kasanivittho
kasa
nivittho
atapino
sajvegino
bhavatha
saddhaya
silena
ca
viriyena
samadhina
dhammavinicchayena
dhamma
vinicchayena
sampannavijjacarana
sampanna
vijja
carana
patissata
jahissatha
dukkham
idaj
anappakaj