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

List of Abbreviations

# kumbh'upamaj kayam imaj viditva

# nagar'upamaj cittaj idaj thapetva

# yodhetha maraj pabbayudhena

# jitaj ca rakkhe anivesano siya

# (DhP 40)

Sentence Translation:

Having understood this body to be like a jar,
having established this mind like a city,
attack Mara with the weapon of wisdom,
you should protect the conquered territory and be without attachments.

Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

kumbha+upamaj kayam imaj viditva
| | | | |
N.m. Adj.m. N.m. Pron.m. V.ger.
| Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. |
|__________| |_______| |
|________________| |
|___________________|
|__________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

nagara+upamaj cittaj idaj thapetva
| | | | |
N.n. Adj.n. N.n. Pron.n. V.ger.
| Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. |
|_________| |______| |
|_______________| |
|___________________|
______________________|___________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

yodhetha maraj pabba+ayudhena
| | | |
V.act. N.m. N.f. N.n.
2.Pl.imp. Acc.Sg. | Ins.Sg.
|___________| |_______|
|________________|
_____________|____________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

jitaj ca rakkhe anivesano siya
| | | | |
N.n. conj. V.act. N.m. V.act.
Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.opt. Nom.Sg. 3.Sg.opt.
|_______|______| |________|
____|______________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

kumbh'upamaj: kumbh'upama-, Adj.: similar to a jar. A compound of:
kumbha-, N.m.: jar, pitcher.
upama-, Adj.: similar. -like.
Euphonic combination: kumbha- + upama- = kumbh'upama-.
Acc.Sg.m. = kumbh'upamaj.

kayam: kaya-, N.m.: body. Acc.Sg. = kayaj.

imaj: idaj, Pron.: this. Acc.Sg.m. = imaj.

viditva, V.ger.: having known, having understood. The verb root vid- (to know).

List of Abbreviations

nagarupamaj: nagar'upama-, Adj.: similar to a city, like a city. A compound of:
nagara-, N.n.: city.
upama-, Adj.: similar. -like.
Euphonic combination: nagara- + upama- = nagar'upama-.
Acc.Sg.n. = nagarupamaj.

cittaj: citta-, N.n.: mind. Acc.Sg. = cittaj.

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

thapetva, V.ger.: having established, having made firm. It is a ger. of the verb thapeti (to make firm, to establish), which is a caus. of the verb tha- (to stand, to be standing).

List of Abbreviations

yodhetha, V.: attack. A caus. of the verb yudh- (to fight). Thus yodheti: to attack, to fight against. 2.Pl.act.imp. = yodhetha.

maraj: mara-, N.m.: Mara, personified death, the Evil One, devil. Nom.Sg. = maraj.

pabbayudhena: pabbayudha-, N.n.: weapon of wisdom. A compound of:
pabba-, N.f.: wisdom.
a yudha-, N.n.: weapon.
Euphonic combination: pabba- + ayudha- = pabbayudha.
Ins.Sg. = pabbayudhena.

List of Abbreviations

jitaj: jita-, N.n.: victory, conquered thing. As an Adj.: conquered, mastered. It is a p.p. of the verb ji- (to win, to conquer). Acc.Sg. = jitaj.

ca, conj.: and.

rakkhe, V.: should protect. The verb root rakh- (to protect). 3.Sg.act.opt. = rakkhe.

anivesano: anivesana-, N.m.: without an attachment. It is a negated (by the negative prefix a-) word nivesana-, N.n.: attachment, clinging (the primary meaning of this word is house, settlement). Nom.Sg. = anivesano.

siya, V.: should be. The verb root as- (to be). 3.Sg.act.opt. = siya.

List of Abbreviations

This verse consists of five grammatically separated sentences. They are:
1) kumbh'upamaj kayam imaj viditva (having understood this body to be like a jar). Here the subject is omitted. The verb is in the gerundive, viditva (having understood). The object is formed of the words kayaj (body, accusative singular) and imaj (this, accusative singular). It has an attribute, the compound kumbh'upamaj (similar to a jar, accusative singular).

2) nagar'upamaj cittaj idaj thapetva (having established this mind like a city). Again, the object is missing here. The verb is again a gerundive, thapetva (having established). The object is formed of the words cittaj (mind, accusative singular) and idaj (this, accusative singular). It has an attribute, nagar'upamaj (similar to a city, accusative singular).

3) yodhetha maraj pabbayudhena (attack Mara with the weapon of wisdom). The object is the pronoun you, but it is omitted ,since in the Pali sentence it is not necessary. The verb is yodhetha (you should attack, 2nd person, plural, active, imperative). The verb has an attribute, the word pabbayudhena (by the weapon of wisdom, instrumental singular). The object of the sentence is the word maraj (Mara, accusative singular).

4) jitaj ca rakkhe (one should protect the conquered [territory]). Again, as the subject is clear from the verb, the actual pronoun (in this case he/she) is not needed. The verb is rakkhe (he should protect, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). Note the change of the subject - from the second person plural in the previous sentence to the third person singular in this one. The object is jitaj (the conquered [territory], accusative singular). The conjunction ca (and) connects this sentence to the previous one.

5) anivesano siya (one should be without attachments). As before, the subject (he/she) is omitted. The verb is siya (one should be, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). It has an attachment, the word anivesano (without attachments, nominative singular).

Commentary:

Our body is like a jar, very fragile. And our mind should be like a fortified city, guarded everywhere. The story for this verse says:
Five hundred monks from Savatthi received the meditation subjects and went far away to a large grove. The guardian spirits of the trees there saw that the monks came and decided that it would be impolite to stay in the trees. So they descended, thinking the monks will only stay one night. But they decided to spend the Rain retreat there. The spirits did not want to live on the ground so long, so they scared the monks by terrible sounds and ghostly images.
The monks ran away and told the Buddha what happened. He told them that they did not have any weapon, so they must be armed with loving kindness (Metta). He then taught them the Metta sutta. He further instructed them to recite the poem from the outskirts of the forest and enter the monastery still reciting. The monks did accordingly.
The spirits received their loving kindness, welcomed them and did them no harm. The monks meditated on the 32 parts of the body and realized its impermanence. The Buddha saw it from away, appeared in front of them, saying, yes, the body is like a jar. He also told them this verse (DhP 40). All five hundred monks became arahants.

Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

kumbh'upamaj
kumbha
upamaj
kayam
imaj
viditva
nagar'upamaj
nagara
upamaj
cittaj
idaj
thapetva
yodhetha
maraj
pabbayudhena
pabba
ayudhena
jitaj
ca
rakkhe
anivesano
siya