Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
Just as from the heap of flowers one can do a lot of garlands,
so a born mortal should do a lot of meritorious deeds.
yatha
pi puppha+rasimha
kayira
mala+gune
bahu
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Rel.Adv. conj. N.n. N.m.
V.act. N.f. N.n.
Adj.n.
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List of Abbreviations
evaj jatena
maccena kattabbaj kusalaj
bahuj
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Adv. Adj.m. N.m.
Adj.n. N.n.
Adj.n.
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Ins.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
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yatha, Rel.Adv.: just as.
pi, conj.: also, too.
puppharasimha:
puppharasi-, N.m.: heap of flowers.
A compound of:
puppha-, N.n.: flower.
rasi-,
N.m.: heap, quantity, mass.
Abl.Sg. = puppharasimha.
kayira, V.: can do. The verb root is kar- (to do). 3.Sg.act.opt. = kayira. The form kayira is sometimes used in poetry.
List of Abbreviations
malagune:
malaguna-,
N.n.: "garland-string", a cluster of garlands. A compound of:
mala-,
N.f.: garland.
guna-,
N.n.: string, cord.
Acc.Pl. = malagune.
bahu: bahu-, Adj.: many, much, a lot. Acc.Pl.n. = bahu.
evaj, Adv.: thus, so.
jatena: jata-, Adj.: born. It is a p.p. of the verb jan- (to be born). Ins.Sg.m. = jatena.
List of Abbreviations
maccena: macca-, N.m.: mortal man. Originally it is a grd. from the verb root mar- (to die). Nom.Sg. = maccena.
kattabbaj: kattabba-,
Adj.: should be done. It is a grd. of the verb kar- (to do).
Nom.Sg.n. = kattabbaj.
kusalaj: kusala-, Adj.: good, right, meritorious. As an N.n.: meritorious deed, merit. Nom.Sg. = kusalaj.
bahuj: bahu-, Adj.: see above. Nom.Sg.n. = bahuj.
List of Abbreviations
In the first sentence (the first line)
the subject is omitted. A third person singular pronoun is meant. The verb
is the optative kayira
(can do, 3rd person, singular, active, optative). The verb has
an attribute, the compound puppharasimha
(from the heap of flowers, ablative singular). The object is the noun malagune
(garlands, accusative plural). It has an attribute, the adjective bahu
(many, accusative plural). The relative adverb yatha
(just as), which forms quite a common phrase yatha
pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this
sentence to the next one.
The second sentence (second line)
is passive. The subject is the word maccena (by a mortal, instrumental
singular) with an attribute, the past participle jatena
(by a born, instrumental singular). The verb is in the gerund, kattabbaj
(should be done, nominative singular). The object is the noun kusalaj
(merit, nominative singular) with the adjective bahuj
(nominative singular) as an attribute.
The traditional commentary for this
verse contains the famous story of the chief Buddha's benefactress Visakha.
She married Punnavaddhana, the son
of Migara, a rich man who lived in the city
of Savatthi. Once, when her father-in-law
was eating his lunch, a monk came to their house on his alms-round. Migara
ignored him completely. Visakha
told the monk: "Sorry, venerable sir, my father-in-law only eats stale
food". Migara became very angry with her.
She explained, that he was only reaping rewards of his good deeds from
previous lives, not creating any merit in this life. Therefore she spoke
about "stale food".
Migara
understood and allowed her to invite the Buddha with the monks for the
alms-food. Migara listened to Buddha's discourse
from behind a curtain (because he was a lay disciple of some ascetic teacher
and he did not want Migara to show himself
in front of the Buddha). After hearing Buddha's speech, Migara
attained the first stage of Awakenment. He was very grateful to Visakha
and declared that she would be like a mother to him.
Once she went to the monastery and
carried her gem-entrusted cloak with her. She gave it to her maid to carry
and she forgot it in the monastery. Visakha
then wanted to donate the cloak to the monks but they would not accept.
So Visakha tried
to sell the cloak and donate the money for the use of the Sangha. But the
cloak was so expensive that nobody could afford to buy it. Visakha
then bought it back herself. With the money she built a monastery for the
Sangha.
Visakha
was very happy - all her desires were fulfilled. The Buddha explained that
she was strongly inclined to do good deeds, had done much good in the past
and will do a lot of good deeds in the future - just as one can do many
garlands from the heap of flowers.
Word pronunciation:
yatha
pi
puppharasimha
puppha
rasimha
kayira
malagune
bahu
evaj
jatena
maccena
kattabbaj
kusalaj
bahuj