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

List of Abbreviations

# yoga ve jayati bhuri ayoga bhurisavkhayo

# etaj dvedhapathaj batva bhavaya vibhavaya ca

# tathattanaj niveseyya yatha bhuri pavaddhati

# (DhP 282)

Sentence Translation:

From practice, knowledge is born. From absence of practice, loss of knowledge.
Having understood this crossroad of existence and cessation of knowledge,
one should so conduct oneself that the knowledge may grow.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

yoga ve jayati bhuri ayoga bhuri+savkhayo
| | | | | | |
N.m. part. V.med.in. N.f. N.m. N.f. N.m.
Abl.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. Abl.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|_______|______| | | |______|
|___________| |________|

List of Abbreviations

etaj dvedha+pathaj batva bhavaya vibhavaya ca
| | | | | | |
Pron.m. Adv. N.m. V.ger. N.m. N.m. conj.
Acc.Sg. | Acc.Sg. | Dat.Sg. Dat.Sg. |
| |______| | |_______| |
|_____________| | |_________|
|________________|_______________|
|________|
|_______________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

tatha attanaj niveseyya yatha bhuri pavaddhati
| | | | | |
Adv. N.m. V.act. Rel.Adv. N.f. V.act.in.
| Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.opt. | Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
| |_______| | |________|
|____________| |____________|
|_______________________|
__________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

yoga: yoga-, N.m.: yoke, connection, application. Here: practice, meditation. Abl.Sg. = yoga.

ve, part.: indeed.

jayati, V.: is born. The verb root is jan- (to be born). 3.Sg.med.in.pres. = jayati. The form jayati is sometimes used in poetry.

bhuri: bhuri-, N.f.: knowledge, understanding, intelligence. Nom.Sg. = bhuri.

ayoga: ayoga-, N.m.: absence of practice. It is the word yoga- (see above), negated by the negative prefix a-. Abl.Sg. = ayoga.

bhurisavkhayo: bhurisavkhaya-, N.m.: loss of knowledge. It is a compound of:
bhuri-, N.f.: see above.
savkhaya-, N.m.: destruction, loss. It is derived from the word khaya-, N.m. (destruction) with the prefix sam- (completely).
Nom.Sg. = bhurisavkhayo.

List of Abbreviations

eta j: etad-, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.m. = etaj.

dvedhapathaj: dvedhapatha-, N.m.: crossroad, a branching road. It is a compound of:
dvedha, Adv.: in two, twofold.
patha-, N.m.: road, path.
Acc.Sg. = dvedhapathaj.

batva, V.ger.: having known. It is a ger. of the verb ba- (to know).

bhavaya: bhava-, N.m.: becoming, existence. It is derived from the verb root bhu- (to be).
Dat.Sg. = bhavaya.

vibhavaya: vibhava-, N.m.: non-existence, cessation, annihilation. It is the word bhava- (see above), negated by the negative prefix vi-. Dat.Sg. = vibhavaya.

List of Abbreviations

ca, conj.: and.

tatha, Adv. thus, in such way.

attanaj: attan-, N.m.: self. Acc.Sg. = attanaj.
Euphonic combination: tatha + attanaj = tathattanaj.

niveseyya, V.: should settle down, should establish oneself. The verb root is vis- (to enter) with the prefix ni- (into, onto). 3.Sg.act.opt. = niveseyya.

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

bhuri: see above.

pavaddhati, V.: grows. The verb root is vaddh-, with the strengthening prefix pa-.
3.Sg.act.in.pres. = pavaddhati.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
1) yoga ve jayati bhuri (from practice, knowledge is born). The subject is the noun bhuri (knowledge, nominative singular). The verb is jayati (is born, 3rd person, singular, medium, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the noun yoga (from practice, ablative singular). The particle ve (indeed) serves mainly for metrical purposes.
2) ayoga bhurisavkhayo (from absence of practice, loss of knowledge). The subject is the compound bhurisavkhayo (loss of knowledge, nominative singular). The verb is omitted, implying the verb jayati from the previous sentence. It has an attribute, the noun ayoga (from absence of practice, ablative singular).
3) etaj dvedhapathaj batva bhavaya vibhavaya ca tathattanaj niveseyya yatha bhuri pavaddhati (having understood this crossroad of existence and cessation [of knowledge], one should so conduct oneself that the knowledge may grow). This can be further analysed into two related sentences:
a) etaj dvedhapathaj batva bhavaya vibhavaya ca (having understood this crossroad of existence and cessation [of knowledge]). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is in gerund, batva (having understood). The object is the compound dvedhapathaj (crossroad, accusative singular). It has three attributes: the pronoun etaj (this, accusative singular) and the nouns bhavaya (to knowledge, dative singular) and vibhavaya (to cessation, dative singular). They are connected by the conjunction ca (and).
b) tathattanaj niveseyya yatha bhuri pavaddhati (one should so conduct oneself that the knowledge may grow). This sentence has two parts:
I) tathattanaj niveseyya (one should so conduct oneself). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is niveseyya (one should conduct, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun/pronoun attanaj (oneself, accusative singular). The adverb tatha (thus) connects this segment to the following one.
II) yatha bhuri pavaddhati (that the knowledge may grow). The subject is the noun bhuri (knowledge, nominative singular). The verb is pavaddhati (grows, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The relative adverb yatha (as, in such a way) connects this segment to the previous one.

Commentary:

There was a monk name Pothila. He knew the Dharma very well and taught it to many followers. But he did not practice meditation and was conceited. The Buddha wanted to put him on the right path and therefore called him "useless Pothila". Pothila reflected on those words and realized what did the Buddha mean. So he went to the senior monk and humbly asked to be his pupil. But the monk sent him to the next senior monk. This happened several times until Pothila ended up as a pupil of a young novice (who was an Arahant).
He followed the meditation instructions diligently and was no longer conceited because of his theoretical mastery of the Dharma. The Buddha saw his effort and told him this verse. Soon after, Pothila reached the Awakenment.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

yoga
ve
jayati
bhuri
ayoga
bhurisavkhayo
savkhayo
etaj
dvedhapathaj
dvedha
pathaj
batva
bhavaya
vibhavaya
ca
tatha
attanaj
niveseyya
yatha
pavaddhati