Dhammapada(Dhp XXVI) – Brahmana-Vagga: Brahmans

DHAMMAPADA



XXVI – Brahmana-Vagga: Brahmans

383 Having striven, brahman,
cut the stream.
Expel sensual passions.
Knowing the ending of fabrications,
brahman,
you know the Unmade.
384 When the brahman has gone
to the beyond of two things,
then all his fetters
go to their end —
he who knows.
385 One whose beyond or
not-beyond or
beyond-and-not-beyond
can’t be found;
unshackled, carefree:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
386 Sitting silent, dustless,
absorbed in jhana,
his task done, effluents gone,
ultimate goal attained:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
387 By day shines the sun;
by night, the moon;
in armor, the warrior;
in jhana, the brahman.

But all day and all night,
every day and every night,
the Awakened One shines
in splendor.
388 He’s called a brahman
for having banished his evil,
a contemplative
for living in consonance,
one gone forth
for having forsaken
his own impurities.
389 One should not strike a brahman,
nor should the brahman
let loose with his anger.
Shame on a brahman’s killer.
More shame on the brahman
whose anger’s let loose.
390 Nothing’s better for the brahman
than when the mind is held back
from what is endearing & not.
However his harmful-heartedness
wears away,
that’s how stress
simply comes to rest.
391 Whoever does no wrong
in body,
speech,
heart,
is restrained in these three ways:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
392 The person from whom
you would learn the Dhamma
taught by the Rightly
Self-Awakened One:
you should honor him with respect —
as a brahman, the flame for a sacrifice.
393-394 Not by matted hair,
by clan, or by birth,
is one a brahman.
Whoever has truth
& rectitude:
he is a pure one,
he, a brahman.

What’s the use of your matted hair,
you dullard?
What’s the use of your deerskin cloak?
The tangle’s inside you.
You comb the outside.
395 Wearing cast-off rags
— his body lean and lined with veins —
absorbed in jhana,
alone in the forest:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
396 I don’t call one a brahman
for being born of a mother
or sprung from a womb.
He’s called a ‘bho-sayer’
if he has anything at all.

But someone with nothing,
who clings to no thing:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
397 Having cut every fetter,
he doesn’t get ruffled.
Beyond attachment,
unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
398 Having cut the strap & thong,
cord & bridle,
having thrown off the bar,
awakened:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
399 He endures — unangered —
insult, assault, and imprisonment.
His army is strength;
his strength, forbearance:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
400 Free from anger,
duties observed,
principled, with no overbearing pride,
trained, a ‘last-body’:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
401 Like water on a lotus leaf,
a mustard seed on the tip of an awl,
he doesn’t adhere to sensual pleasures:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
402 He discerns right here,
for himself,
on his own,
his own

ending of stress.
Unshackled, his burden laid down:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
403 Wise, profound
in discernment, astute
as to what is the path
& what’s not;
his ultimate goal attained:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
404 Uncontaminated
by householders
and houseless ones alike;
living with no home,
with next to no wants:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
405 Having put aside violence
against beings fearful or firm,
he neither kills nor
gets others to kill:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
406 Unopposing among opposition,
unbound among the armed,
unclinging among those who cling:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
407 His passion, aversion,
conceit, and contempt,
have fallen away —
like a mustard seed
from the tip of an awl:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
408 He would say
what’s non-grating,
instructive,
true —
abusing no one:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
409 Here in the world
he takes nothing not-given
— long, short,
large, small,
attractive, not:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
410 His longing for this
and for the next world
can’t be found;
free from longing, unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
411 His attachments,
his homes,
can’t be found.
Through knowing
he is unperplexed,

has come ashore
in the Deathless:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
412 He has gone
beyond attachment here
for both merit & evil —
sorrowless, dustless, & pure:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
413 Spotless, pure, like the moon
— limpid & calm —
his delights, his becomings,
totally gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
414 He has made his way past
this hard-going path
— samsara, delusion —
has crossed over,

has gone beyond,
is free from want,
from perplexity,
absorbed in jhana,

through no-clinging
Unbound:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
415-416 Whoever, abandoning sensual passions here,
would go forth from home —
his sensual passions, becomings,
totally gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.

Whoever, abandoning craving here,
would go forth from home —
his cravings, becomings,
totally gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
417 Having left behind
the human bond,
having made his way past
the divine,
from all bonds unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
418 Having left behind
delight & displeasure,
cooled, with no acquisitions —
a hero who has conquered

all the world,
every world:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
419 He knows in every way
beings’ passing away,
and their re-arising;
unattached, awakened,
well-gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
420 He whose course they don’t know
— devas, gandhabbas, & human beings —
his effluents ended, an arahant:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
421 He who has nothing
— in front, behind, in between —
the one with nothing
who clings to no thing:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
422 A splendid bull, conqueror,
hero, great seer —
free from want,
awakened, washed:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
423 He knows his former lives.
He sees heavens & states of woe,
has attained the ending of birth,
is a sage who has mastered full-knowing,

his mastery
totally mastered:
he’s what I call
a brahman.

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Provenance: ©1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.

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