Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
The monk, who is devoted to conscientiousness and who
is fearful of negligence,
advances like a fire, burning the fetters, small or big.
a+ppamada+rato
bhikkhu pamade bhaya+dassi
va
|
| |
|
| |
| |
neg. N.m. Adj.m.
N.m. N.m. N.n.
Adj.m. conj.
|_____| Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
Nom.Sg. | Nom.Sg.
|
|_________|
|
| |______|
|
|_____________|
|_________|
|
|____________________|_____________|__________________
List of Abbreviations
sajyojanaj
anuj
thulaj
dahaj
aggi va
gacchati
|
|
|
|
| |
|
N.n.
Adj.n. Adj.n. Adj.m.
N.m. part. V.act.in.
Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg. Acc.Sg.
Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|
|_______|
| |______|
|
|________________|
|
|_________|
|___________________|
|
__________________|
|
|__________________________________|
appamadarato:
appamadarata-, Adj.:
appamada-,
N.m.: conscientiousness, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative
prefix a-) word pamada-,
N.m.: negligence. Doubled p is due to the euphonic
combination (a + pamada
= appamada).
rata-, Adj.: devoted. It is
a p.p. of the verb ram- (to delight in, to be devoted to).
Nom.Sg. = appamadarato.
bhikkhu: bhikkhu-, N.m.: a (Buddhist) monk. Nom.Sg. = bhikkhu.
pamade: pamada-, N.m.: negligence. Loc.Sg. = pamade.
List of Abbreviations
bhayadassi: bhayadassin-, N.m.: seeing an
object of fear. A compound of:
bhaya-, N.n.: fear, fright.
dassin-, Adj.: seeing, finding,
realizing. Derived from the verb dis- (to see).
Nom.Sg. = bhayadassi.
The form bhayadassi is due to the metrical requirements.
va, conj.: or.
sajyojanaj:
sajyojana-, N.n.: bond, fetter. For
enumeration see the Commentary.
Ac.Sg. = sajyojanaj.
anuj: anu-, Adj.: small, atomic, subtle. Acc.Sg.n. = anuj.
thulaj: thula-, Adj.: massive, big, strong. Acc.Sg.n. = thulaj.
List of Abbreviations
dahaj: dahant-,: Adj.: burning. Derived (a.pr.p.) from the verb root dah- (or dah-; to burn). Nom.Sg.m. = dahaj.
aggi: aggi-, N.n.: fire. Nom.Sg. = aggi. The form aggi is here for metrical purposes.
va, part.: as, like.
gacchati, V.: goes. the verb root gam-. 3.Sg.in.act.pres. = gacchati.
List of Abbreviations
The subject of this sentence is the
word bhikkhu (monk, nominative singular) with two attributes, appamadarato
(devoted to conscientiousness, nominative singular) and bhayadassi
(fearful, nominative singular) with its own attribute pamade
(in negligence, locative singular). They are connected by the conjunction
va (or). The verb here is gacchati
(goes, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense).
There is a clause, sajyojanaj
anuj thulaj
dahaj (burning
the fetter, small and big). Here the subject is still the word bhikkhu
from the main sentence, the verb is dahaj
(active present participle) and the object is sajyojanaj
(the fetter, accusative singular) with two attributes anuj
(small, accusative singular) and thulaj
(big, accusative singular).
The last clause is aggi
va (like a fire), where the subject is aggi
(fire, nominative singular) and the verb is the same as in the main sentence
(gacchati). The particle va (as, like) connects this clause
to the main sentence.
Once there was a monk who received
his subject of meditation from the Buddha. He practiced hard, but he made
very little progress. So he became very depressed and frustrated. He went
to see the Buddha about his problems. But on the way there he saw a big
forest fire. He ran to the top of a mountain and observed. While there,
he realized that just as the fire burnt up everything around, be it big
or small, so the insights from the practice of meditation will burn up
all the fetters, big and small.
The Buddha saw this from far away
and appeared in front of the monk telling him that he was on the right
track and to keep up the idea. The monk did accordingly and attained arahantship
very soon.
According to Buddhist philosophy,
there are ten fetters (sajyojana).
They can be divided into two kinds, five so called "lower" or "big" fetters
and five "higher" or "small" fetters.
The five big fetters are:
1) personality belief (sakkaya-ditthi),
2) skeptical doubt (vicikiccha),
3) clinging to rules and rituals (silabbata-paramasa),
4) sensuous craving (kama-raga),
5) ill-will (vyapada).
The five small fetters are:
1) craving for fine-material existence (rupa-raga),
2) craving for immaterial existence (arupa-raga),
3) conceit (mana),
4) restlessness (uddhacca),
5) ignorance (avijja).
Word pronunciation:
appamadarato
bhikkhu
pamade
bhayadassi
va
sajyojanaj
anuj
thulaj
dahaj
aggi
va
gacchati