Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
Just like a lake, deep, bright and clean,
so the wise ones become tranquil, after having heard
the teachings.
yatha
pi rahado gambhiro
vippasanno anavilo
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Rel.Adv. conj. N.m.
Adj.m. Adj.m. Adj.m.
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List of Abbreviations
evaj dhammani
sutvana vippasidanti
pandita
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Adv. N.n.
V.ger. V.act.in. N.m.
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Acc.Pl. |
3.Pl.pres. Nom.Sg.
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yatha, RelAdv.: like, just as.
pi, conj.: also, too.
rahado: rahada-, N.m.: pond, lake. Nom.Sg. = rahado.
gambhiro: gambhira-, Adj.: deep. Nom.Sg.m. = gambhiro.
vippasanno: vippasanna-, Adj.: purified, clear, bright. It is a p.p. of the verb vippasidati (to become bright). The verb root is sid- (to sit). Nom.Sg.m. = vippasanno.
anavilo: anavila-, Adj.: undisturbed, clean. It is the word avila-, Adj.: stirred up, dirty with the negative prefix an-. Nom.Sg.m. = anavilo.
List of Abbreviations
evaj, Adv.: thus, in this way.
dhammani: dhamma-, N.n.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". The meaning here is more like "teaching" in general. This word can be found as a neuter very rarely. Acc.Pl. = dhammani.
sutvana, V.ger.: having heard. The verb root is su- (to hear).
vippasidanti, V.: to become bright, to become tranquil or happy. See also under vippasanno. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = vippasidanti.
pandita: pandita-, N.m.: wise man, learned man. Nom.Pl. = pandita.
List of Abbreviations
This verse contains two related sentences.
They form the first and second lines of this verse respectively.
In the first sentence, the subject
is the noun rahado (lake, nominative singular). It has three attributes,
adjectives gambhiro (deep, nominative
singular), vippasanno (bright, nominative singular) and anavilo
(clean, nominative singular). The relative adverb yatha
(just as), which forms a quite common phrase yatha
pi (same meaning) with the conjunction pi (also), connects this
sentence to the next one.
In the second sentence the subject
is the noun pandita
(wise ones, nominative plural). The verb is vippasidanti
(become tranquil, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative,
present tense). There is a clause, dhammani
sutvana. Here, the subject is the word
pandita
from the main sentence. The object is the noun dhammani
(teachings, accusative plural). The gerundive sutvana
(having heard) serves as the verb in the clause. The adverb evaj
(thus, in such way) connects this sentence to the previous one.
In one village there lived a woman
named Kana Mata.
She was a devout lay disciple of the Buddha. She had a daughter Kana
who was married to a man from another village. Once she was staying with
her mother and her husband sent for her. But her mother told her to wait,
because she wanted to send some cakes to her husband.
But the next day some monks came to
the house and Kana Mata
gave the cakes to them. Kana had to wait for
her mother to prepare new cakes and she could not return to her husband.
This happened every day for three following days. All the cakes were given
to the monks.
Kana's
husband then took another wife. Kana accused
the monks that they have ruined her marriage and became very bitter. She
would insult and abuse the monks, wherever she saw them.
The Buddha then set a new rule for
the monks, not to take advantage of the devotion of the lay disciples.
He went to Kana Mata's
house and asked Kana if the monks took what
was given or what was not given. Kana replied
that they took only what was given to them and realized that she was wrong.
The Buddha then gave a discourse. At the end, Kana
attained the first stage of Arahantship.
King Pasenadi of Kosala heard about
this, summoned Kana to the palace and one
of his ministers adopted her as his daughter. Every day she gave offerings
to holy people who came to her door.
The Buddha then noted that Kana's
mind, originally confused and "muddy" became clear as a lake after listening
to the Dharma.
Word pronunciation:
yatha
pi
rahado
gambhiro
vippasanno
anavilo
evaj
dhammani
sutvana
vippasidanti
pandita