Gatha | Sentence Translation | Sentence Structure |
Vocabulary&Grammar | Commentary | Pronunciation |
He should admonish, he should advice, and he should restrain
one from evil.
He is indeed dear to the good ones and he is not agreeable
to the bad ones.
ovadeyya anusaseyya asabbha
ca nivaraye
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V.act.
V.act. Adj.m. conj. V.act.caus.
3.Sg.opt. 3.Sg.opt. Abl.Sg.
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List of Abbreviations
sataj hi
so piyo
hoti asataj
hoti appiyo
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Adj.m. part. Pron.m. Adj.m. V.act.in.
Adj.m. V.act.in. Adj.m.
Gen.Pl. | Nom.Sg. Nom.Sg.
3.Sg.pres. Gen.Pl. 3.Sg.pres. Nom.Sg.
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ovadeyya, V.: to instruct, exhort, admonish. The verb root is vad- (to speak) with the prefix o- (shortened for ava-, down). 3.Sg.act.opt. = ovadeyya.
anusaseyya,
V.: to teach, to advice, to instruct. The verb root is sas-
(to teach) with the prefix anu- (according to). 3.Sg.act.opt. =
anusaseyya.
Euphonic combination: ovadeyya + anusaseyya
= ovady'anusaseyya.
asabbha: asabbha-, Adj.: bad, low, impolite. Abl.Sg.m.n. = asabbha.
ca, conj.: and.
nivaraye, V.: to keep back, to restrain. The verb root is var- (to obstruct) with the prefix ni- (out, from). 3.Sg.act.caus.opt. = nivaraye.
List of Abbreviations
sataj: sant-, Adj.: real, good, true. It is an a.pr.p. of the verb root as- (to be). Thus sant- means literally means "existing", "being". Gen.Pl.m. = sataj.
hi, part.: indeed.
so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.
piyo: piya-, Adj.: dear, agreeable. Nom.Sg.m. = piyo.
hoti, V.: is. The verb bhu- (to be). 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = hoti.
List of Abbreviations
asataj: asant-, Adj.: untrue, bad. It is the word sant- (see above under sataj), negated by the negative prefix a-. Gen.Pl.m. = asataj.
hoti: see above.
appiyo: appiya-, Adj.: unpleasant, not agreeable. It is the word piya- (see above under piyo) negated by the negative prefix a-. Euphonic combination: a- + piya- = appiya-. Nom.Sg.m. = appiyo.
List of Abbreviations
The first line of this verse is composed
of three parts. In all of them, the subject is omitted, because the verb
form indicates the third person singular personal pronoun. 1) ovadeyya
(he should admonish, 3rd person, singular, active, optative).
2) anusaseyya (he should give advice,
3rd person, singular, active, optative). 3) asabbha
ca nivaraye (and he should restrain one
from evil). Here the noun asabbha (from
evil, ablative singular) is the object and the conjunction ca (and)
connects this sentence to the previous two.
In the second line there are two sentences.
1) sataj hi so piyo hoti (he is indeed
dear to the good ones). The subject is the pronoun so (he, nominative
singular). The verb is hoti (is, 3rd person, singular,
active, indicative, present tense). The object is the adjective piyo
(dear, nominative singular) with its attribute, the active present participle
sataj (for the good ones, genitive
plural). This word is stressed by the particle hi (indeed). The
second sentence is asataj hoti appiyo
([he] is not agreeable to the bad ones). The subject is omitted; the pronoun
so from the previous sentence is implied. The verb is again hoti
(as above). The object is the adjective appiyo (not agreeable,
nominative singular) with its attribute, the active present participle
asataj (for the bad ones, genitive plural).
There were two monks, Assaji and Punabhasuka,
staying in the village of Kitagiri together
with their disciples. They planted trees for personal gain and violated
some other minor monks' precepts. Thus, the monastery became noisy and
not suitable for spiritual development.
When the Buddha heard about it, he
sent Sariputta and Moggallana
to advise these monks. After the admonition from the two Buddha's chief
disciples, most of the monks changed their way of life. But some of them
were not happy and returned to the household life.
The Buddha reacted with this verse,
saying that admonishing and instructing is always fine with the good ones,
whereas the bad ones never agree to being advised.
Word pronunciation:
ovadeyy'anusaseyya
ovadeyya
anusaseyya
asabbha
ca
nivaraye
sataj
hi
so
piyo
hoti
asataj
appiyo