Brahmanavagga

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PTS: Dhp 383-423

Source: Adapted from the original translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Brahmanavagga: Brahmans
383. Having striven, brahmin, cut the stream. Expel sensual passions. Knowing the ending of fabrications, brahmin, you know the Unmade.

384. When the brahmin 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-&-not-beyond can't be found; unshackled, carefree: he's what I call a brahmin.

386. Sitting silent, dustless, absorbed in jhana, his task done, effluents gone, ultimate goal attained: he's what I call a brahmin.

387. By day shines the sun; by night, the moon; in armor, the warrior; in jhana, the brahmin. But all day & all night, every day & every night, the Awakened One shines in splendor.

388. He's called a brahmin 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 brahmin, nor should the brahmin let loose with his anger. Shame on a brahmin's killer. More shame on the brahmin whose anger's let loose.

390. Nothing's better for the brahmin 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 brahmin.

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 brahmin, the flame for a sacrifice.

393-394. Not by matted hair, by clan, or by birth, is one a brahmin. Whoever has truth & rectitude: he is a pure one, he, a brahmin.

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 & lined with veins -- absorbed in jhana, alone in the forest: he's what I call a brahmin.

396. I don't call one a brahmin 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 brahmin.

397. Having cut every fetter, he doesn't get ruffled. Beyond attachment, unshackled: he's what I call a brahmin.

398. Having cut the strap & thong, cord & bridle, having thrown off the bar, awakened: he's what I call a brahmin.

399. He endures -- unangered -- insult, assault, & imprisonment. His army is strength; his strength, forbearance: he's what I call a brahmin.

400. Free from anger, duties observed, principled, with no overbearing pride, trained, a 'last-body': he's what I call a brahmin.

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 brahmin.

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 brahmin.

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 brahmin.

404. Uncontaminated by householders & houseless ones alike; living with no home, with next to no wants: he's what I call a brahmin.

405. Having put aside violence against beings fearful or firm, he neither kills nor gets others to kill: he's what I call a brahmin.

406. Unopposing among opposition, unbound among the armed, unclinging among those who cling: he's what I call a brahmin.

407. His passion, aversion, conceit, & contempt, have fallen away -- like a mustard seed from the tip of an awl: he's what I call a brahmin.

408. He would say what's non-grating, instructive, true -- abusing no one: he's what I call a brahmin.

409. Here in the world he takes nothing not-given -- long, short, large, small, attractive, not: he's what I call a brahmin.

410. His longing for this & for the next world can't be found; free from longing, unshackled: he's what I call a brahmin.

411. His attachments, his homes, can't be found. Through knowing he is unperplexed, has attained the plunge into Deathlessness: he's what I call a brahmin.

412. He has gone beyond attachment here for both merit & evil -- sorrowless, dustless, & pure: he's what I call a brahmin.

413. Spotless, pure, like the moon -- limpid & calm -- his delights, his becomings, totally gone: he's what I call a brahmin.

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 brahmin.

415-416. Whoever, abandoning sensual passions here, would go forth from home -- his sensual passions, becomings, totally gone: he's what I call a brahmin.

Whoever, abandoning craving here, would go forth from home -- his cravings, becomings, totally gone: he's what I call a brahmin.

417. Having left behind the human bond, having made his way past the divine, from all bonds unshackled: he's what I call a brahmin.

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 brahmin.

419. He knows in every way beings' passing away, and their re- arising; unattached, awakened, well-gone: he's what I call a brahmin.

420. He whose course they don't know -- devas, gandhabbas, & human beings -- his effluents ended, an arahant: he's what I call a brahmin.

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 brahmin.

422. A splendid bull, conqueror, hero,great seer -- free from want, awakened, washed: he's what I call a brahmin.

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 brahmin.

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Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Buddhism Today edition © 1997.

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