1.10. Siṃsapāvanasutta The Siṃsapa Grove (SN 56:31; V 437–38)

Question 1

kosambiyaṃ

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā kosambiyaṃ viharati siṃsapāvane.”

Answer 1

“at Kosambī”; a feminine noun designating the city, here in the locative case.

Question 2

siṃsapāvane

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā kosambiyaṃ viharati siṃsapāvane.”

Answer 2

“in a siṃsapā grove”; a genitive tappurisa compound in the locative case (“a grove of siṃsapā trees”).

Question 3

parittāni

”Atha kho bhagavā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahetvā bhikkhū āmantesi:”

Answer 3

“few, small, limited”; a neuter plural adjective in the accusative case qualifying siṃsapāpaṇṇāni.

Question 4

siṃsapāpaṇṇāni

”Atha kho bhagavā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahetvā bhikkhū āmantesi:”

Answer 4

“siṃsapā leaves”; a genitive tappurisa compound (“leaves of a siṃsapā tree”), neuter plural in the accusative case as the object of gahetvā.

Question 5

pāṇinā

”Atha kho bhagavā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahetvā bhikkhū āmantesi:”

Answer 5

“with the hand”; an instrumental singular of pāṇi.

Question 6

gahetvā

”Atha kho bhagavā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahetvā bhikkhū āmantesi:”

Answer 6

“having taken”; an absolutive of the verb gaṇhāti.

Question 7

taṃ kiṃ maññatha

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 7

“what do you think about this?” The pronoun taṃ is the object, kiṃ an interrogative meaning “what?” and maññatha the second person plural interrogative of maññati.

Question 8

katamaṃ

”Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 8

The interrogative “what?” is here neuter singular as qualifying bahutaraṃ, an impersonal subject.

Question 9

nu

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 9

an interrogative particle, indicating that the sentence poses a question.

Question 10

bahutaraṃ

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 10

“more,” bahu, “much,” with the comparative suffix -tara. The gender is neuter.

Question 11

yāni

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 11

the relative pronoun in the neuter plural qualifying -paṇṇāni. The vā after each occurrence of yāni establishes a disjunction between mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni (the few siṃsapā leaves the Buddha has taken up in his hand) and upari siṃsapāvane (those above in the siṃsapā grove).

Question 12

mayā

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 12

“by me”; the instrumental of the first-person singular pronoun.

Question 13

gahitāni

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 13

“taken”; the past participle of gaṇhāti, here neuter plural as qualifying siṃsapāpaṇṇāni, the nominative grammatical subject of the sentence.

Question 14

upari

“Taṃ kiṃ maññatha, bhikkhave, katamaṃ nu kho bahutaraṃ: yāni vā mayā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni yāni vā upari84 siṃsapāvane”ti?”

Answer 14

“above”; an indeclinable.

Question 15

appamattakāni

“Appamattakāni, bhante, bhagavatā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni”

Answer 15

“trifling, insignificant”; a bahubbīhi compound composed of appa, “little,” and -matta, “amount,” with the adjectival suffix -kāni (from -ka), a neuter plural qualifying siṃsapāpaṇṇāni.

Question 16

bhante

“Appamattakāni, bhante, bhagavatā parittāni siṃsapāpaṇṇāni pāṇinā gahitāni”

Answer 16

respectful vocative used as an address for the Buddha, and also by junior monks when addressing senior monks and by laypeople when addressing monks.

Question 17

atha kho

”atha kho etān’eva bahutarāni yadidaṃ upari siṃsapāvane”ti.”

Answer 17

often this serves to indicate the continuation of a narrative, but in this context, as introducing a comparison, it is best rendered “but rather.”

Question 18

etān’eva bahutarāni

”atha kho etān’eva bahutarāni yadidaṃ upari siṃsapāvane”ti.”

Answer 18

“just these are more numerous.” The final vowel of etāni is elided through sandhi with the initial vowel of eva, an emphatic particle.

Question 19

yadidaṃ (= yaṃ + idaṃ)

”atha kho etān’eva bahutarāni yadidaṃ upari siṃsapāvane”ti.”

Answer 19

an adverbial expression meaning “that is, namely.”

Question 20

evameva

“Evameva kho, bhikkhave, etadeva bahutaraṃ yaṃ vo mayā abhiññāya anakkhātaṃ.”

Answer 20

“just so, in the same way,” a sandhi of evaṃ and eva.

Question 21

etadeva (= etaṃ + eva)

“Evameva kho, bhikkhave, etadeva bahutaraṃ yaṃ vo mayā abhiññāya anakkhātaṃ.”

Answer 21

the neuter pronoun “this” with emphatic eva.

Question 22

vo

”Evameva kho, bhikkhave, etadeva bahutaraṃ yaṃ vo mayā abhiññāya anakkhātaṃ.”

Answer 22

“to you”; an enclitic (internal) pronoun, second-person plural in the dative case. On this type of pronoun, see pp. 19–20.

Question 23

abhiññāya

“Evameva kho, bhikkhave, etadeva bahutaraṃ yaṃ vo mayā abhiññāya anakkhātaṃ.”

Answer 23

“having directly known”; an absolutive of abhijānāti.

Question 24

anakkhātaṃ

“Evameva kho, bhikkhave, etadeva bahutaraṃ yaṃ vo mayā abhiññāya anakkhātaṃ.”

Answer 24

“not expounded”; a negation (an-) of the past participle akkhātaṃ.

Question 25

kasmā

”Kasmā c’etaṃ, bhikkhave, mayā anakkhātaṃ?”

Answer 25

“why?”; an interrogative.

Question 26

tasmā

”tasmā taṃ mayā anakkhātaṃ.”

Answer 26

“therefore”; the demonstrative used adverbally, correlated with kasmā.