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Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 4:13 pm
by Sekha
This thread is similar to "Pali word of the day", but I figured out it would be appropriate to create a separate thread for whole sentences.

So let's begin with the basis:


buddhaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi
dhammaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi
saṅghaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmi



buddhaṃ:
buddha- Adj.: p.p. of the verb budh-, to awaken. Awakened One, Enlightened One. Here as a noun: a being who has attained nirvana. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Acc.Sg.: buddhaṃ.

saraṇaṃ:
saraṇa- N.n.: refuge. Acc.Sg.: saraṇaṃ.

gacchāmi
verb gam-, to go. Here 1st person singular of active indicative, present tense: I go.

dhammaṃ:
dhamma-, N.m.: Buddha's Teaching. The Law. Derived from the verb dha-, to hold. Thus dhamma "holds the world together". Acc.Sg.: dhammaṃ.

saṅghaṃ
saṅgha-, N.m.: community. The community of the Buddha's followers. It is of two kinds: the saṅgha of lay followers and the saṅgha of monks and nuns. Acc.Sg.: saṅghaṃ.

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 4:18 pm
by Sekha
Here is the formula for undertaking the first pancasila:

Pānātipātā veramanī sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi

Pānātipātā
pana = Skt. [Sanskrit] prana - life breath
ati + pat = attack
pat from patati - to fly, to fall. (From this, Latin praepes - quick, peto - to go for, impetus, attack, etc.) To fall, jump, fall down on.
Panatipata = to cause prana to fall; to attack life breath.

veramanī
abstinence

sikkhāpadam
pāda: foot ; pādaka: foundation or a basis ; sikkhā: study; discipline ; sikkhana: learning; training
>sikkhāpadam: foundation for the training

samādiyāmi
undertake

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 4:21 pm
by Sekha
Now the second one

Adinnādānā veramanī sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi

Adinnādānā
a = not
dinn = taking
a + dānā = not given
Adinnādānā = not taking what is not given.

veramanī
abstinence

sikkhāpadam
pāda: foot ; pādaka: foundation or a basis ; sikkhā: study; discipline ; sikkhana: learning; training
>sikkhāpadam: foundation for the training

samādiyāmi
undertake

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 4:38 pm
by PeterB
Another good idea.... :anjali:

:thumbsup:

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 11:01 pm
by Kim OHara
This looks like a good place to repeat a question I asked in another thread. I never did get an answer over there and the discussion took off in a direction that didn't interest me ... but I still do want to know. Here it is:
Kim O'Hara wrote:
acinteyyo wrote:
retrofuturist wrote:... I do know, however, is that [Pali] doesn't always follow the grammatical structure of English. I remember when I was learning Italian in school, I found it interesting that the noun came before the descriptive word. It would be "chair yellow" rather than "yellow chair", and I've found that Pali can work like this at times. If it is working like Italian in this instance (which I suspect it is) dukkha is a description or quality of sankhara. So just like we don't need to say "chair are yellow" or "chair is yellow" and so on in order to attribute yellowness to it, there doesn't need to be an extra word wedged inbetween sankhara and dukkha in order for it to mean "all formations are suffering". That's probably as far as I can go in answering your question with my limited knowledge.
Metta,
Retro. :)
As far as I can tell, I think it's quite similar to what retro said.
It is a predicative construction consisting of two nouns and a verb.
Like "sabbe purise samane honti" meaning "All men are ascetics", but "honti" is not needed to say the same thing.
"sabbe purise samane" is enough also meaning "All men are ascetics". In the same way "sabbe sankhara dukkha (honti)" means "all formations are suffering".
Thanks, Retro, Acinteyyo.
So 'honti' in this case is the verb?
And it's missing from "sabbe sankhara dukkha"?
Is the implied verb in such constructions always "is" (or "are")?
:coffee:
Kim
Thanks,
Kim

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 12:15 am
by DNS
PeterB wrote:Another good idea.... :anjali:
:thumbsup:
:thumbsup:

Yes, I agree. Another thread to help us learn and for study.

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 12:18 am
by Sekha
Kim O'Hara wrote: So 'honti' in this case is the verb?
And it's missing from "sabbe sankhara dukkha"?
Is the implied verb in such constructions always "is" (or "are")?
as I understand it, yes "honti" would be the verb.
and yes, it would be omitted in "sabbe sankhara dukkha"

just like in spanish, the subject, when it is a personnal pronoun, can be omitted, because it is obvious from the context, ex: 'me voy a la playa': I go to the beach, without using the pronoun "yo"

and I think it is the only verb which can be omitted without denaturing the meaning of a sentence

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 12:22 am
by Kim OHara
Thanks, Dukkhanirodha.
:namaste:
Kim

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 4:34 am
by mikenz66
Thanks Dukkhaniroda,
Dukkhanirodha wrote: just like in spanish, the subject, when it is a personnal pronoun, can be omitted, because it is obvious from the context, ex: 'me voy a la playa': I go to the beach, without using the pronoun "yo"
This is a good example that seems to occur in many languages. It is common in Thai for example, to omit pronouns and use that same construction: "bpai haat" ("go beach"). But I can't think of any good examples of leaving out verbs in languages I know anything about apart from Pali, where the verb "to be" is omitted almost all the time:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... ml#morning" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Rūpaṃ aniccaṃ,
"Form is inconstant,
Vedanā aniccā,
Feeling is inconstant,
Saññā aniccā,
Perception is inconstant,
Saṅkhārā aniccā,
Mental processes are inconstant,
Viññāṇaṃ aniccaṃ,
Consciousness is inconstant,
Rūpaṃ anattā,
Form is not-self,
Vedanā anattā,
Feeling is not-self,
Saññā anattā,
Perception is not-self,
Saṅkhārā anattā,
Mental processes are not-self,
Viññāṇaṃ anattā,
Consciousness is not-self,
Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā,
All processes are inconstant,
Sabbe dhammā anattāti."
All phenomena are not-self."
Mike

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 9:47 am
by Sekha
mikenz66 wrote:But I can't think of any good examples of leaving out verbs in languages I know anything about apart from Pali, where the verb "to be" is omitted almost all the time:
it occurs in hindi, in negative phrases: "malum hahin" stands for "mujhe malum nahin hai"

here both "mujhe" (pronoun) and "hai" (to be) are omitted.

mujhe= to me
malum= knowledge
nahin= not
hai= is

litterally: "to me, knowledge is not"= I don't know

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 9:19 am
by Sekha
Ahbrahma cariyā veramanī sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi

Ahbrahma cariyā
A-: negative prefix
brahma: (adj.) brahmic
cariyā : conduct; behaviour.
brahma cariyā: holy life
>Abrahma cariyā: non-brahmic behavior = non-celibacy

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 9:24 am
by PeterB
Can I make a suggestion Dukkhanirodha ?

I would find it helpful to have a literal and then more coloquial finished statement.

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 4:57 pm
by Sekha
PeterB wrote: I would find it helpful to have a literal and then more coloquial finished statement.
Of course. I should have done that spontaneously from the beginning

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 5:09 pm
by Sekha
Musāvāda veramanī sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi


musāvāda
musā: falsehood; lie
vāda: theory; saying
>musāvāda: lying.


I undertake the training rule to refrain from telling lies

Re: Pali formulas and sentences

Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 5:28 pm
by Sekha
DhP 26:
pamādaṃ anuyuñjanti bālā dummedhino janā
appamādaṃ ca medhāvī dhanaṃ seṭṭhaṃ va rakkhati


pamādaṃ
pamāda-, N.m.: negligence. Acc.Sg. = pamādaṃ.

anuyuñjanti
V.: to practice, to give oneself up to, to pursue. The verb yuñj- (to join, to unite) with the prefix anu- (along, at, to). 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = anuyuñjanti.

bālā
bāla-, N.m.: fool. Nom.Pl. = bālā.

dummedhino
dummedhin-, Adj.m.: foolish, ignorant. Derived from the word medhā-, N.f.: wisdom, intelligence, by adding the possessive suffix -in and then the prefix du- (lacking something, away from). The double m is due to the euphonic combination (du + medhin = dummedhin). Nom.Pl. = dummedhino.

janā
jana-, N.m.: person, man. Nom.Pl. = janā.

appamādaṃ
appamāda-, N.m.: vigilence, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative prefix a-) word pamāda-, N.m.: negligence. Doubled p is due to the euphonic combination (a + pamāda = appamāda). Acc.Sg. = appamādaṃ.

appamādaṃ
appamāda-, N.m.: conscientiousness, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative prefix a-) word pamāda-, N.m.: negligence. Doubled p is due to the euphonic combination (a + pamāda = appamāda). Acc.Sg. = appamādaṃ.

ca
conj.: and.

medhāvī
medhāvin-, N.m.: intelligent person, wise one. Nom.Sg. = medhāvī.

dhanaṃ
dhana-, N.n.: wealth, riches. Acc.Sg. = dhanaṃ.

seṭṭhaṃ
seṭṭha-, Adj.: best. Acc.Sg.n. = seṭṭhaṃ.

va
part.: as, like.

rakkhati
V.: protects. The verb root rakkh-. 3.Sg.act.in.pres. = rakkhati.


The fools, the ignorant people give themselves up to negligence.
And the wise one protects vigilence as the greatest treasure.