Re: From Verse 148 - Dhammapada

Hi Huynh,

K. R. Norman translates it in the first fashion, "This body is worn out, a nest of diseases and very frail..."

parijiṇṇaṃ certainly could also be translated as an adjective modifying rūpaṃ rather than being part of the predicate complement, but I don't think it makes any difference in terms of meaning in English or Pāli, just a difference in emphasis.

I'm not familiar with the principle you cite. In Sanskrit and Pāli the normal word order in this kind of attribute sentence is qualifier/attribute + noun + predicate complement + (optional) verb (atthi), but this is a gāthā and can follow its own logic.

So pitā vuddho (atthi) means the father is old, but vuddho pitā amarā means the old father died

Best

Bryan

From: "KHANH TRONG HUYNH testsuda@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: yahoogroups <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2015 7:39 AM
Subject: [palistudy] From Verse 148 - Dhammapada

Dear all,

When analyzing this sentence from verse 148 of Dhammapada, I hesitated to decide which understanding way is more correct:

Parijiṇṇamidaṃ rūpaṃ - roganīḷaṃ pabhaṅguraṃ

[1] rūpaṃ is the Subject, Parijiṇṇamidaṃ, roganīḷaṃ, and pabhaṅguraṃ are 3 adjectives that are predicates of Subject

Meaning is: This body-form is completely decayed, is nest of diseases, is perishable

[2] Parijiṇṇamidaṃ rūpaṃ is the Subject, roganīḷaṃ and pabhaṅguraṃ are 2 adjectives being predicates of Subject

Meaning will be: This complete decayed body-form is nest of diseases, is perishable

I have heard a principle that: when a noun is modified by many predicates, one of them will precede the noun, the others will follow it

Is that principle correct, and apply widely for purpose of reading the Pali Canon?

Sincerely yours,

Huynh Trong Khanh

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