Dhammapada XXVI
(vv. 383-423)
Brahmanavagga
Brahmans
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.
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.