Dhp XXVI
Brahmanavagga: Brahmans
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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.