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Dhammapada XXVI
(vv. 383-423)

Brahmanavagga

Brahmans

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

Alternate translation: Buddharakkhita

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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.

Revised: Sunday 2005-07-03
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/dhp/tb0/dhp-26-tb0.html