Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure
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List of Abbreviations

# abhaye bhayadassino bhaye cabhayadassino

# micchaditthisamadana satta gacchanti duggatij

# (DhP 317)

Sentence Translation:

Being afraid of what is not frightful and not fearing the frightful thing,
believing in wrong theories, the beings go to a miserable existence.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

abhaye bhaya+dassino bhaye ca abhaya+dassino
| | | | | | |
N.n. N.n. Adj.m. N.n. conj. N.n. Adj.m.
Loc.Sg. | Nom.Pl. Loc.Sg. | | Nom.Pl.
| |______| | | |_______|
|____________| |_____|________|
| |____|
|________________________|
|_______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

miccha+ditthi+samadana satta gacchanti duggatij
| | | | | |
Adv. N.f. Adj.m. N.m. V.act.in. N.f.
|________| Nom.Pl. Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres. Acc.Sg.
|_____________| | |_______|
|______________| |
_________________| |
|___________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

abhaye: abhaya-, N.n.: absence of fear, absence of fright. It is the word bhaya-, N.n.: fear, with the negative prefix a-. Loc.Sg. = abhaye.

bhayadassino: bhayadassin-, Adj.: seeing fear. It is a compound of:
bhaya-, N.n.: fear, fright.
dassin-, Adj.: seeing, perceiving. It is derived from the verb root das- (to see) by adding the denominative suffix -in.
Nom.Pl.m. = bhayadassino.

bhaye: bhaya-, N.n.: fear, fright. Loc.Sg. = bhaye.

List of Abbreviations

ca, conj.: and.

abhayadassino: abhayadassin-, Adj.: not seeing fear. It is a compound of:
abhaya-, N.n.: see above.
dassin-, see above.
Nom.Pl.m. = abhayadassino.
Euphonic combination: ca + abhayadassino = cabhayadassino.

List of Abbreviations

micchaditthisamadana: micchaditthisamadana-, Adj.: believing in a wrong theory. It is a compound of:
miccha, Adv.: wrongly, badly.
ditthi-, N.f.: view, belief, theory, idea. It is derived from the verb root dis- (to see).
samadana-, N.m.: undertaking, taking upon oneself. The verb root is da- (to give) with the prefixes sam- (completely) and a- (towards).
Nom.Pl.m. = micchaditthisamadana.

satta: satta-, N.m.: being. Nom.Pl. = satta.

gacchanti, V.: goes. The verb root is gam-. 3.Pl.in.act.pres. = gacchanti.

duggatij: duggati-, N.f.: a miserable existence, a realm of misery, undesirable rebirth. Composed of:
du-, pref.: bad, difficult.
gati-, N.f.: existence, rebirth. Derived from the verb gam- (to go).
Acc.Sg. = duggatij.

List of Abbreviations

The subject of this sentence is the noun satta (beings, nominative plural). It has three attributes:
1) The compound bhayadassino (seeing fear, nominative plural). This word has the noun abhaye (in what is not fear, locative singular) as an attribute.
2) The compound abhayadassino (not seeing fear, nominative plural). This word has the noun bhaye (in what is fear, locative singular) as an attribute. This attribute is connected to the previous one by the conjunction ca (and).
3) The compound micchaditthisamadana (believing in wrong theories, nominative plural).
The verb is gacchanti (go, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun duggatij (to a miserable existence, accusative singular).

Commentary:

The story for this verse is identical with the one for the preceding verse (DhP 316).
We should be ashamed and afraid of things that are truly bad. Causing suffering to others in any way is bad and we should be always ashamed and afraid of doing so.
On the other hand, being afraid and ashamed of something that is not bad at all (as for example the naked ascetics from the story) will not help us in any way on the road to the Awakenment. Thus we will only accumulate demerit and suffer a bad rebirth in the next life.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

abhaye
bhayadassino
bhaya
dassino
bhaye
ca
abhayadassino
abhaya
micchaditthisamadana
miccha
ditthi
samadana
satta
gacchanti
duggatij