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List of Abbreviations

# sabbe tasanti dandassa sabbesaj jivitaj piyaj

# attanaj upamaj katva na haneyya na ghataye

# (DhP 130)

Sentence Translation:

Everybody trembles at punishment; life is dear to everybody.
Having made the comparison with oneself, let one not kill, nor cause another to kill.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

sabbe tasanti dandassa sabbesaj jivitaj piyaj
| | | | | |
Adj.m. V.act.in. N.m. Adj.m. N.n. Adj.n.
Nom.Pl. 3.Pl.pres. Gen.Sg. Gen.Pl. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
| |_______| |________| |
|______________| |___________|

List of Abbreviations

attanaj upamaj katva na haneyya na ghataye
| | | | | | |
N.m. N.f. V.ger. neg. V.act. neg. V.act.caus.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. | | 3.Sg.opt. | 3.Sg.opt.
|_________| | |_____| |______|
|___________| |____________|
|___________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

sabbe: sabba-, Adj.: all, every. Nom.Pl.m. = sabbe.

tasanti, V.: tremble, shake, have fear. The verb root is tas-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = tasanti.

dandassa: danda-, N.m.: stick, club, punishment. Gen.Sg. = dandassa.

sabbesaj: sabba-, Adj.: all, every. Gen.Pl.m. = sabbesaj.

jivitaj: jivita-, N.n.: life. It is derived from the verb root jiv- (to live). Nom.Sg. = jivitaj.

piyaj: piya-, Adj.: dear, beloved, pleasant. Nom.Sg.n. = piyaj.

attanaj: attan-, N.m.: self, oneself. Acc.Sg. = attanaj.

List of Abbreviations

upamaj: upama-, N.f.: comparison, example. Acc.Sg. = upamaj.

katva, V.ger.: having done. The verb root is kar- (to do).

na, neg.: not.

haneyya, V.: should kill. The verb root is han-. 3.Sg.ac.opt. = haneyya.

na, neg.: not.

ghataye, V.: should cause to kill. It is a causative from the root han- (to strike, to beat). 3.Sg.act.caus.opt. = ghataye.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) sabbe tasanti dandassa (everybody trembles at punishment). The subject is the adjective sabbe (all, everybody, nominative plural). The verb is tasanti (tremble, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the noun dandassa (of punishment, genitive singular).
2) sabbesaj jivitaj piyaj (life is dear to everybody). The subject is the noun jivitaj (life, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the adjective sabbesaj (everybody's, genitive plural). The verb is omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the adjective piyaj (dear, nominative singular).
3) attanaj upamaj katva na haneyya na ghataye (having made the comparison with oneself, let one not kill, nor cause another to kill). This can be further subdivided into two segments:
a) attanaj upamaj katva (having made the comparison with oneself). The subject is omitted; the third person singular pronoun is implied. The verb is in gerundive, katva (having done). The object is the noun upamaj (comparison, accusative singular) with its attribute, the adjective/noun attanaj (oneself, accusative singular).
b) na haneyya na ghataye (let one not kill, nor cause another to kill). The subject is omitted; the third person singular pronoun is implied. There are two verbs haneyya (should kill, 3rd person, singular, active, optative) and ghataye (should cause to kill, 3rd person, singular, active, causative, optative). They are both negated by negative particles na (not).

Commentary:

In the last verse (see DhP 129) we saw monks beating each other because of a building. But the question of the building arose again. The second group of monks still intended to take it for themselves and again, the first group did not agree to that.
As a new rule was established, the monks from the second group did not physically attack the first group, but they made threatening gestures to them. The monks from the first group were frightened and cried out.
The Buddha again admonished the second group of monks, telling them this verse. And he also set another rule, that monks should not make threatening gestures to each other.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

sabbe
tasanti
dandassa
sabbesaj
jivitaj
piyaj
attanaj
upamaj
katva
na
haneyya
ghataye