Chapter 26

The Brāhmaṇa

41 verses

1 Global #383

Exert yourself and cut off the stream;²² do away with sense-desires, brāhmaṇa. Having known the destruction of mundane conditionings, be a Knower of the Unmade, brāhmaṇa.
2 Global #384

When the brāhmaṇa has ‘crossed over’ in respect of the two states, (i.e., calm and insight), then all the fetters of that knowing one come to an end.
3 Global #385

I call him a brāhmaṇa for whom there exists neither the Further Shore nor the hither shore, nor both, (and) who is without distress and free from (all) bonds.
4 Global #386

I call him a brāhmaṇa who is absorbed (in higher meditative states), who is unstained (by passion), whose task is done, who is free from the defilements (or: unbiased), (and) who has reached the Ultimate Goal.
5 Global #387

The sun shines bright by day; the moon shines at night; the armed warrior shines bright; the brāhmaṇa who is absorbed (in higher meditative states) shines bright. But the Buddha shines bright by day and by night, (shining) with splendour.
6 Global #388

‘brāhmaṇa’ means one who ‘bars out’ evil; he is said to be an asketic (samaṇa) who lives in quiet (sama); he is said to be a ‘goer forth’ (from the household life) who has ‘sent forth into banishment’ his own impurities.²³
7 Global #389

One should not strike a brāhmaṇa, nor should the brāhmaṇa (who is struck) give vent (to anger). Shame on (or: woe to) him who strikes a brāhmaṇa! More shame on (or: woe to) him who gives vent (to anger).
8 Global #390

For a brāhmaṇa there is nothing better than a mind restrained from (its) likings. To the extent that the harming mind turns back (from harming), to that extent suffering is stopped.
9 Global #391

I call him a brāhmaṇa by whom no evil is done by the body, by speech, (or) by the mind, and who with regard to these three is restrained.
10 Global #392

As a brahmin worships the sacrificial fire, so let one pay homage to the person from whom one comes to know the Truth (dhamma) taught by the Perfectly Enlightened One.
11 Global #393

One is not a brāhmaṇa on account of matted hair, or (one’s) clan, or birth. He in whom there exists both truth and principle (dhamma), he is pure, he is a brāhmaṇa.
12 Global #394

What use (your) matted hair, (you) man of evil understanding; what use your deerskin garment? Within, you are a dense jungle (of passions), (yet) you touch up the outside.
13 Global #395

The man who wears rags from a dust heap, who is lean, whose veins stand out all over the body,(and) who, alone and in the forest, is absorbed (in higher meditative states), him I call a brāhmaṇa.
14 Global #396

I do not call him a brāhmaṇa who is (merely) womb-born or sprung from a (brahmin) mother. If he is a man of possessions (sakiñcana) he is (simply) called ‘one who addresses others familiarly’. I call him a brāhmaṇa who is free from attachment and without possessions (akiñcana).
15 Global #397

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, having severed all bonds, does not tremble, and who has unburdened himself of all attachments.
16 Global #398

I call him a brāhmaṇa who has severed the bond (of hatred), the thong (of craving), and the cord (of wrong views) together with its concomitants, who has lifted the crossbar (of ignorance), (and) who is Enlightened.
17 Global #399

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, being good, patiently endures abuse, flogging, and imprisonment, and whose strong army is the strength of patience.
18 Global #400

I call him a brāhmaṇa who is without anger, who (scrupulously) observes (religious) vows, who is ethical, free from lust, (and) controlled, (and) who wears his last body.
19 Global #401

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, like (a drop of) water on a lotus leaf, or a mustard seed on the point of an awl, does not cling to (lit., is not smeared with) sensuous pleasures.
20 Global #402

I call him a brāhmaṇa who in this very life has personally known the destruction of suffering, who has laid down the burden (of conditioned existence), (and) who is detached (from the world).
21 Global #403

I call him a brāhmaṇa whose knowledge is deep, who is a man of understanding, who knows what is and what is not the Way, (and) who has reached the Supreme Goal.
22 Global #404

I call him a brāhmaṇa who socializes with neither householders nor homeless ones (anāgārika-s), who lives free from attachment (lit., lives houseless), (and) who desires little or nothing.
23 Global #405

I call him a brāhmaṇa who has abandoned violence towards living beings, be they moving about or stationary (or: whether trembling and afraid or firm-minded), and who neither slays nor causes (others) to slay.
24 Global #406

I call him a brāhmaṇa who is conciliatory among the antagonistic, peaceful among those who have recourse to violence (daṇḍa), (and) who is unattached among the attached.
25 Global #407

I call him a brāhmaṇa from whom lust, hatred, pride, and hypocrisy have fallen away like a mustard seed from the point of an awl.
26 Global #408

I call him a brāhmaṇa who would utter gentle, instructive, true speech by which one would give offence to no one.
27 Global #409

I call him a brāhmaṇa who takes, in this world, nothing that is not given (to him), be it long or short, small or great, pleasant or unpleasant.
28 Global #410

I call him a brāhmaṇa in whom are found no longings either for this world or the other (world), who is (utterly) free from longings (and) who is released from all defilements.
29 Global #411

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, through perfect knowledge, is free from doubts, (and) who has achieved the plunge into the Deathless (amata).
30 Global #412

I call him a brāhmaṇa who here (in this world) has transcended good and bad, together with attachment, and who is free from sorrow, without passion, (and) pure.
31 Global #413

I call him a brāhmaṇa who is spotless and pure as the moon, clear(-minded) and undisturbed (by the defilements), and in whom delight (in conditioned existence) has been extinguished.
32 Global #414

I call him a brāhmaṇa who has passed over this dangerous (or: muddy) track (of the passions), this fortress of delusion that is repeated existence, who has crossed (the flood) and reached the Further Shore, who is absorbed (in higher meditative states), who is passionless and free from doubts, (and) who, being without (further) clinging, is at peace (in Nirvāṇa).
33 Global #415

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, having here (in the world) given up the pleasures of sense, goes forth as a homeless one, and who has destroyed (craving for) sensuous existence.
34 Global #416

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, having here (in the world) given up craving, goes forth as a homeless one, and who has destroyed craving for (conditioned) existence.
35 Global #417

I call him a brāhmaṇa who, having discarded human bonds and transcended celestial bonds, is delivered from all bonds (whatsoever).²⁴
36 Global #418

I call him a brāhmaṇa who has given up attachment and aversion, become tranquil (lit., cool), (and) free from the substrates (of conditioned existence), (and who thus is) a hero victorious over the whole world.
37 Global #419

I call him a brāhmaṇa who knows, in every way, the passing away and arising of living beings, who is unattached, living happily, and Enlightened.
38 Global #420

I call him a brāhmaṇa whose track gods, celestial musicians,²⁵ and human beings do not know, that (supremely) worthy one who has destroyed the defilements.
39 Global #421

I call him a brāhmaṇa for whom there is nothing before, or after, or in between, who is without (material or mental) possessions, (and) who is unattached.
40 Global #422

I call him a brāhmaṇa who is foremost (among men), excellent, heroic, a great sage, the victorious one, the one who is passionless, washed (clean of the defilements), (and) Enlightened.
41 Global #423

I call him a brāhmaṇa who knows his previous lives (lit., abodes), who sees heaven and the state of woe, who has reached the extinction of births, who is a silent sage, a master of the higher knowledge (abhiññā), (and) who has accomplished all that is to be accomplished.

Footnotes

22. The ‘stream’ (sota) is the process of repeated birth, death, and rebirth.

23. In this verse there is a play upon words which I have tried to reproduce.

24. Human bonds (mānusaka-yoga-s) are the desire for continued existence, or rebirth, in the human realm; ‘celestial bonds’ (dibba-yoga-s) are the desire for rebirth in the realm of the gods.

25. In Buddhist mythology ‘celestial musicians’ (gandhabba-s) are a class of gods inhabiting the realm of the Four Great Kings. They are so called because they live on scent (gandha).