Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
The fool thinks it is as honey, as long as the evil is
not ripe.
When the evil is ripe, then he undergoes suffering.
madhuj va
mabbati balo
yava papaj
na paccati
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
N.n. part. V.act.in.
N.m. Rel.Adv. N.n.
neg. V.pas.in.
Acc.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
Nom.Sg. |
Nom.Sg. | 3.Sg.pres.
|________|
| |
|
| |______|
|___________|
|
|
|________|
|____________|
|____________|
|____________________|
|______________________________________________
List of Abbreviations
yada
ca paccati papaj
atha dukkhaj nigacchati
|
| |
| |
|
|
Rel.Adv. conj. V.pas.in.
N.n. Adv. N.n. V.act.in.
|
| 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg. |
Acc.Sg. 3.Sg.pres.
|_________|
|________| |
|_________|
|_______________|
|_________|
|______________________|
_______________________|
madhuj: madhu-, N.n.: honey. Acc.Sg. = madhuj.
va, part.: like, as (another form of this word is iva).
mabbati,
V.: to consider as, to think about as. The verb root is man- (to
think).
3.Sg.act.in.pres. = mabbati.
balo: bala-, Adj.: childish, young. As an N.m.: "like a child", fool, ignorant person. Nom.Sg. = balo.
yava, Rel.Adv.: as long as, as far as.
papaj: papa-, N.n.: evil, wrong doing. Nom.Sg. = papaj.
List of Abbreviations
na, neg.: not.
paccati, V.: to be cooked, fig.: to ripe. It is a pas. of the verb pac- (to cook). 3.Sg.pas.in.pres. = paccati.
yada, Rel.Adv.: when.
ca, conj.: and.
paccati: see above.
List of Abbreviations
papaj: see above.
atha, Adv.: then.
dukkhaj: dukkha-, N.n.: suffering. Acc.Sg. = dukkhaj.
nigacchati, V.: to come to, to undergo. It is the verb root gam- (to go) and the prefix ni- (down, to). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = nigacchati.
List of Abbreviations
Two lines of this verse form two syntactically
separate sentences.
The first line consists of two sentences.
The first is madhuj va mabbati
balo (the fool thinks it is as honey).
The subject here is the noun balo (fool,
nominative singular) and the verb mabbati
(thinks, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense).
The object is the noun madhuj (honey,
accusative singular) with the particle va (as, like). The first
sentence is yava papaj
na paccati (as long as the evil is not ripe). The subject is the noun
papaj
(evil, nominative singular). The verb is paccati (is cooked, 3rd
person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense), which is negated
by the negative prefix na (not). The relative adverb yava
(as long as) connects this sentence to the previous one.
The second line also consists of two
sentences. One is yada ca paccati papaj
(when the evil is ripe). The subject here is the noun papaj
(evil, nominative singular). The verb is paccati (is cooked,
3rd person, singular, passive, indicative, present tense). The
conjunction ca (and) serves mainly metrical purposes but it also
fulfills the role of connecting the two lines together. The relative adverb
yada (when) connects this sentence
to the following one. The second sentence is atha dukkhaj
nigacchati (then he undergoes suffering). The subject is omitted, implying
a personal pronoun. The verb is nigacchati (undergoes, 3rd
person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the
noun dukkhaj (suffering, accusative
singular). The adverb atha (then) connects this sentence to the
previous one.
In the city of Savatthi
lived a beautiful girl named Uppalavanna.
The news of her beauty traveled very far and she had many suitors from
near and afar. Amongst them was her cousin Nanda who fell in love with
her hopelessly. But she decided not to marry any of them and became a nun
instead. One day after lightening a lamp she kept her mind fixed on the
flame as her object of meditation and she attained arahantship.
Later she moved to the forest and
lived in solitude. Once Nanda came to her hut when she was not there and
hid under the couch. He was determined to take her by force if she did
not agree to marry him. Uppalavanna returned
and he jumped up. She tried to warn him, told him that he would have to
bear consequences for his actions, but he did not listen and raped her.
For this he indeed had to suffer a long period of time.
When the Buddha heard about this,
he told King Pasenadi of Kosala about the dangers that nuns living by themselves
in the forest had to face. The king built a monastery within the city and
from that time on the nuns lived only in the city.
Word pronunciation:
madhuj
va
mabbati
balo
yava
papaj
na
paccati
yada
ca
atha
dukkhaj
nigacchati