Khuddaka Nikaya - Dhammapada - Brahmanavagga

Dhp XXVI
Brahmanavagga
Brahmans
Translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Alternate translation:BuddharakkhitaThanissaro
PTS: Dhp 383-423



Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.



Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight edition © 1997
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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-&-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 & all night,
every day & 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 & 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, & 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
& 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, & 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
& 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.