---
title: Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by virtuous e… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by virtuous effort is likened to the burning of incense by a pure flame,—sometimes, again, the life of man is compared to the smoke of incense. Who acts: pure flame, incense. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening, with its 
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 153

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Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by virtuous effort is likened to the burning of incense by a pure flame,—sometimes, again, the life of man is compared to the smoke of incense.

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**Who acts:** pure flame, incense · **What happens:** sermon, liken, compare, destroy, smoke · **To what, where:** destruction, Buddhist, virtuous effort, life, Karma

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pure flame, incense), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8128:1:156
# text = Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by virtuous effort is likened to the burning of incense by a pure flame,—sometimes, again, the life of man is compared to the smoke of incense.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Buddhist	Buddhist	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	sermons	sermon	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Karma	Karma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	virtuous	virtuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	likened	liken	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	burning	burning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	pure	pure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	flame	flame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	again	again	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	compared	compare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sermon** | present |  | the destruction of Karma |  | Buddhist |  | sometimes *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **liken** | present · passive | a pure flame | virtuous effort |  |  |  | to the burning of incense | tree rules |
| 3 | **compare** | present · passive |  | the life of man |  |  | again | to the smoke of incense | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **destroy** |  |  | Karma |  |  |  |  | nom destruction «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **smoke** |  | incense |  |  |  |  |  | nom smoke «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Project Gutenberg book 8128 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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