Protect yourself from blameworthy thoughts; guard your mind well.
Having renounced the wrong mental deed, practice the right mental action.

mano+ppakopaj rakkheyya  manasa  sajvuto      siya
|               |                 |              |             |               |
N.n.     N.m.          V.act.        N.n.     Adj.m.      V.act.
|          Acc.Sg.     3.Sg.opt.    Ins.Sg.  Nom.Sg.   3.Sg.opt.
|________|                 |              |________|                |
        |_____________|                      |_____________|

List of Abbreviations

mano+duccaritaj hitva  manasa sucaritaj   care
|                |             |            |           |              |
N.n.       N.n.      V.ger.     N.n.      N.n.       V.act.
|           Acc.Sg.       |        Ins.Sg. Acc.Sg.   3.Sg.opt.
|________|              |          |_______|               |
        |____________|                |____________|
                   |_____________________|

manoppakopaj: manoppakopa-, N.m.: blameworthy thoughts. It is a compound of:
    mano-, N.n.: mind.
    pakopa-, N.m.: anger.
Euphonic combination: mano- + pakopa- = manoppakopa-.
Acc.Sg. = manoppakopaj.

rakkheyya, V.: should protect. The verb root is rakkh- (to protect). 3.Sg.act.opt. = rakkheyya.

manasa: manas-, N.n.: mind. Inst.Sg. = manasa.

sajvuto: sajvuta-, Adj.: restrained, governed, guarded. It is a p.p. of the verb var- (to obstruct) with the prefix saj- (together, completely). Nom.Sg.m. = sajvuto.

siya, V.: would be. The verb root is as-. 3.Sg.act.opt. = siya.

List of Abbreviations

manoduccaritaj: manoduccarita-, N.n.: wrong mental deed. It is a compound of:
    mano-, N.n.: mind.
    duccarita-, Adj.: wrong-conduct, wrong action. It is the word carita-, N.n.: action, conduct (originally it is the p.p. of the verb root car-, to walk, to act), with the prefix du- (wrong, bad).
Acc.Sg. = manoduccaritaj.

hitva, V.ger.: having renounced, having left behind. It is a ger. of the verb ha- (to abandon, to leave).

manasa: see above.

sucaritaj: sucarita-, Adj.: good-conduct, right action. It is the word carita-, N.n.: action, conduct (originally it is the p.p. of the verb root car-, to walk, to act), with the prefix su- (good, well).
Acc.Sg.m. = sucaritaj.

care, V.: should practice. The verb root is car- (to walk). 3.Sg.act.opt. = care.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) manoppakopaj rakkheyya (one should protect oneself from blameworthy thoughts). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is rakkheyya ([one] should protect oneself, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun manoppakopaj (from blameworthy thoughts, accusative singular).
    2) manasa sajvuto siya (one should be guarded as for the mind). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is siya ([one] should be, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the past participle sajvuto (guarded, nominative singular) with its attribute, the noun manasa (by the mind, instrumental singular).
    3) manoduccaritaj hitva manasa sucaritaj care (having renounced the wrong mental deed, one should practice the right mental action). This can be further analysed into two segments:
    a) manoduccaritaj hitva (having renounced the wrong verbal deed). The verb is in gerund, hitva (having renounced). The object is the compound manoduccaritaj (wrong mental deed, accusative singular).
    b) manasa sucaritaj care (one should practice the right mental action). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the third person singular pronoun. The verb is care ([one] should practice, 3^rd person, singular, active, optative). The object is the noun sucaritaj (right action, accusative singular) with its attribute, the noun manasa (by the mind, instrumental singular).

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verses (DhP 231, DhP 232) and the following one (DhP 234).
    Even the thinking is very important. Truly, mental action is probably the most important of the three (bodily, verbal, mental). The bodily and verbal actions are only byproducts of the mental action. Thinking comes first and only after that we act with our body or our mouth. Therefore, the key to controlling our bodily and verbal actions lays in controlling our minds.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

manoppakopaj
mano
pakopaj
rakkheyya
manasa
sajvuto
siya
manoduccaritaj
duccaritaj
hitva
sucaritaj
care