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

List of Abbreviations

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# buddhaj saranaj gacchami

# dhammaj saranaj gacchami

# savghaj saranaj gacchami

Translation:

I take refuge in the Buddha.
I take refuge in the Teaching.
I take refuge in the Community.

Sentence structure:
List of Abbreviations

buddhaj saranaj gacchami
| | |
N.m. N.n. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
| |________|
|______________|

dhammaj saranaj gacchami List of Abbreviations
| | |
N.m. N.n. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
| |________|
|________________|

savghaj saranaj gacchami List of Abbreviations
| | |
N.m. N.n. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
| |________|
|______________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

buddhaj: buddha-, Adj.: p.p. of the verb budh-, to awaken. Awakened One, Enlightened One. Here as a noun: a being who has attained nirvana. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Acc.Sg.: buddhaj.

saranaj: sarana-, N.n.: refuge. Acc.Sg.: saranaj.

gacchami: verb gam-, to go. Here 1st person singular of active indicative, present tense: I go.

List of Abbreviations

dhammaj: dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". Acc.Sg.: dhammaj.

savghaj: savgha-, N.m.: community. The community of the Buddha's followers. It is of two kinds: the savgha of lay followers and the savgha of monks and nuns. Acc.Sg.: savghaj.
List of Abbreviations

The first word (buddhaj) is in the accusative case. This case is used for object of the sentence and its attributes, for the object that undergoes the action of an active verb. It is an answer to the question "[See] whom?" "[Do] what?".

As the second word (saranaj) is an attribute of the object, it is in the same case, namely the accusative. [I go] to the Buddha (buddhaj, accusative) to the refuge (saranaj, accusative).

Last word (gacchami) is the verb. In this sentence it is necessary - only when the verb is "to be" we can omit it. It is in the present tense (the action is happening now), indicative mood (the verb is indicating or simply relating something), active voice (the whole sentence is therefore active - "I go"; it is not - as is very common in Indian languages in passive - "By me is gone"), first person (denoting "I" or "we") and singular number (the combination of first person and singular means that the subject of the sentence is "I").

The second and third lines form separate sentences with the same structure as the first sentence.

Commentary:

This is the "credo of Buddhism". It is called Threefold Refuge or tisarana in Pali. It is by repeating these three sentences, that one officially becomes a Buddha's follower. It is usually recited every morning or as an opening part of a ceremony.

By this phrase we take refuge in the Buddha - we accept him as our teacher, as a highest authority for our life. We take refuge in his teaching - in other words we accept his teaching as our guidance on the path towards awakenment. And we take refuge in the community of Buddha's followers - the spiritual friends, who progress together with us and who can help us on our way.

Pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

buddhaj
sara n a j
gacch a mi
dhamma j
sa v gha j