Sentence Pronunciation Sentence Structure Declension & Conjugation
Translation Vocabulary Commentary
Abbreviations

devanagari

tad-yatha gate  gate para-gate  para-sajgate bodhih svaha
   |         |          |          |         |         |          |             |                |            |
pron.  adv.    N.m.    N.m.  N.n.   N.m.   N.n.       N.m.          N.m.    interj.
   |_____|     Loc.sg. Loc.sg.   |    Loc.sg.     |        Loc.sg.      Nom.sg.     |
        |              |           |         |_____|          |_______|                |            |
        |              |______|________|____________|____________|_______|
        |_____________________________|



 
Vocabulary:

tad-yatha, adv.: as follows (tad, pron.: that; yatha, adv.: like, as),

gata-, mfn.: gone (ppp. of gam-),

para-, n.: other shore,

sajgata-, mfn.: completely gone (p.p. of sam+gam-),

svaha, interj.: hail!, glory!,




Translation:

[It sounds] as follows: [For him or her] who is gone, who is gone, who is gone to the other shore, who is completely gone to the other shore, there is an awakenment, hail! 




Sentence pronunciation



Commentary:

    Here finally comes the mantra itself. Its meaning can be at least triple. Two of them are not so far from each other.
    1) The words can be taken as being in a simple locative case. That's the meaning I have chosen in the translation. In him or her who is gone there is awakenment. This variant seems to stress the person who realizes the awakenment.
    2) We can take them as so called absolute locatives. Then the meaning rather stresses the fact of awakenment: When somebody has gone then there is awakenment.
    3) We could also take the words to be in feminine vocatives. Then it would be a kind of invocation or a dialogue with Prajbaparamita personified.
    But this third meaning seems to be a bit far fetched. In these early stages of Mahayana the difference from the old form of Buddhism (where any invocation is viewed as maybe a help in worldly matters but an obstacle on the way to awakenment) could not probably be that big.
    Even advocating a mantra as not only a valid way of practice but actually as a highest and recommended way is a very daring act indeed. This must have been one of the first mantras to find its way into mainstream Buddhism.


Go back