Dhammapada 9

Source: buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/

List of Abbreviations

Translation

Who is not rid of defilement, and will wear a yellow robe,
Devoid of restraint and truth, he does not deserve a yellow robe.

Sentence structure

List of Abbreviations

a    +    ni    +    kkasāvo     kāsāvaṃ         yo         vatthaṃ paridahissati
|            |               |                  |                 |                 |             |
neg.    Pref.        N.m.           N.n.       rel.pron.m.      N.n.    V.act.fut.
|            |          Nom.Sg.     Acc.Sg.      Nom.Sg.      Acc.Sg.    3.Sg.
|            |________|                   |_________|__________|            |
|___________|                                           |          |___________|
         |______________________________|                     |________________________I.
                                  |____________________________________________________II.

List of Abbreviations

apeto     dama+saccena     na         so     kāsāvaṃ arahati
|               |           |            |            |            |            |
Adj.m.   N.n.     N.n.       neg.    Pron.m.   N.n.  V.act.pres.
Nom.Sg.   |      Ins.Sg.       |       Nom.Sg.     |        3.Sg.in.
|               |______|            |_______|______|_______|
|___________|                          |___|           |
II._____|                                      |________|
I.___|                                                  |
     |_____________________________|

Vocabulary and Grammar

List of Abbreviations

anikkasāvo: anikkasāva-, Adj.: not without defilement.
    nikkasāva-, Adj.: without defilement:
    kasāva-, N.m.: defilement, with the prefix ni- (without).
The whole word is negated by the negative prefix a-. Nom.Sg.m. = anikkasāvo.

kāsāvaṃ: kāsāva-, Adj.: yellow. As an attribute of vattha (see below) denoting the yellow robes of Buddhist monks. Sometimes (as in the second line of this verse and the following verse) can be used without the word vattha.
Acc.Sg.n. = kāsāvaṃ.

yo: yad-, Rel.Pron.n., that which. Nom.Sg.m. = yo.

List of Abbreviations

vatthaṃ: vattha-, N.n.: dress, garment. Acc.Sg. = vatthaṃ.

paridahissati: the verb dhā- (to put, to place) with the prefix pari- (around). 3.Sg.fut.act. = paridahissati.

apeto: apeta-, Adj.: gone away, freed of, deprived of. It is p.p. of the verb i- (to go) with the verb apa- (away). Nom.Sg.m. = apeto.

damasaccena: damasacca-, N.n.: restraint and truth. A compound of:
    dama-, N.n.: restraint, self-control.
    sacca-, N.n.: truth.
Ins.Sg. of the compound = damasaccena.

List of Abbreviations

na, neg.: not.

so: tad-, Pron.n.: it. Nom.Sg.m. = so.

kāsāvaṃ: kāsāva-, Adj.: see above.

arahati: the verb arah-, to deserve. 3.Sg.pres.act.in. = arahati.

List of Abbreviations

    There are two related sentences in this verse. One is: anikkasāvo kāsāvaṃ yo vatthaṃ paridahissati apeto damasaccena and one is: na so kāsāvaṃ arahati.
    The syntax in the first sentence is rather atypical, although of course, in poetry the rules of syntax are not strictly followed. It should rather be: yo anikkasāvo apeto damasaccena kāsāvaṃ vatthaṃ paridahissati.
    The subject is yo (one, who), which is in nominative singular. The verb paridahissati (will wear) is in 3rd person, singular, future, active voice. The subject has two attributes. First is anikkasāvo (not rid of defilement), it agrees with the subject and is in nominative singular. Second one is apeto damasaccena (devoid of restraint and truth). Here apeto (devoid) is in nominative singular and damasaccena ("by" restraint and truth) is in instrumental singular, since it is actually an attribute to apeto.
    Second sentence is na so kāsāvaṃ arahati. Again, we would rather expect a bit different syntax, like: so kāsāvaṃ na arahati, but the deviation from "proper" syntax is not that big. The subject here is so (he) which is in nominative singular. The verb arahati (deserves, 3^rd person, singular, active voice, indicative, present tense) is negated by the negative na (not). The word kāsāvaṃ is the object of this sentence, it is in accusative singular.

Commentary

    This verse as well as the following one (DhP 10) talks about who is and who is not worthy to wear a monk's robe. One, who did not get rid of defilement (anikkasāvo), who is full of these impurities, who does not know self-control and restraint (dama) and who is far away (apeto) from truth (sacca), does not deserve to wear a yellow robe. Such a person can not call himself a monk, even if he should be dressed in the monk's robe.
    As defilement (kasāva) are usually understood so called three roots of evil: lobha (greed), dosa (hatred) and moha (delusion).

Sentence pronunciation

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