Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 383–423

26. Brahmins

dhp383:1 Cut the stream, striving!

dhp383:2 Cast aside sensual pleasures, brahmin.

dhp383:3 Knowing the ending of conditions,

dhp383:4 know the uncreated, brahmin.

dhp384:1 When a brahmin has gone beyond

dhp384:2 dualistic phenomena,

dhp384:3 then they consciously

dhp384:4 make an end of all fetters.

dhp385:1 One for whom there is no crossing over

dhp385:2 or crossing back, or crossing over and back;

dhp385:3 stress-free, detached,

dhp385:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp386:1 Absorbed, rid of hopes,

dhp386:2 their task completed, without defilements,

dhp386:3 arrived at the highest goal:

dhp386:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp387:1 The sun blazes by day,

dhp387:2 the moon radiates at night,

dhp387:3 the aristocrat shines in armor,

dhp387:4 and the brahmin shines in absorption.

dhp387:5 But all day and all night,

dhp387:6 the Buddha blazes with glory.

dhp388:1 A brahmin’s so-called <j>since they’ve banished evil,

dhp388:2 an ascetic’s so-called <j>since they live a serene life.

dhp388:3 One who has renounced all stains

dhp388:4 is said to be a “renunciant”.

dhp389:1 One should never strike a brahmin,

dhp389:2 nor should a brahmin retaliate.

dhp389:3 Woe to the one who hurts a brahmin,

dhp389:4 and woe for the one who retaliates.

dhp390:1 Nothing is better for a brahmin

dhp390:2 than to hold their mind back from attachment.

dhp390:3 From wherever a cruel wish recoils,

dhp390:4 right there suffering subsides.

dhp391:1 Who does nothing wrong

dhp391:2 by body, speech or mind,

dhp391:3 restrained in these three respects,

dhp391:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp392:1 You should graciously honor

dhp392:2 the one from whom you learn the Dhamma

dhp392:3 taught by the awakened Buddha,

dhp392:4 as a brahmin honors the one he reveres.

dhp393:1 Not by matted hair or family,

dhp393:2 or birth is one a brahmin.

dhp393:3 Those who are truthful and principled:

dhp393:4 they are pure, they are brahmins.

dhp394:1 Why the matted hair, you simpleton,

dhp394:2 and why the skin of deer?

dhp394:3 The tangle is inside you,

dhp394:4 yet you polish up your outsides.

dhp395:1 A personage who wears robes of rags,

dhp395:2 lean, their limbs showing veins,

dhp395:3 meditating alone in the forest,

dhp395:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp396:1 I don’t call someone a brahmin

dhp396:2 after the mother’s womb they’re born from.

dhp396:3 If they still have attachments,

dhp396:4 they’re just someone who says “worthy”.

dhp396:5 Having nothing, taking nothing:

dhp396:6 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp397:1 Having cut off all fetters

dhp397:2 they have no anxiety.

dhp397:3 They’ve slipped their chains and are detached:

dhp397:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp398:1 They’ve cut the strap and harness,

dhp398:2 the halter and bridle too,

dhp398:3 with cross-bar lifted, they’re awakened:

dhp398:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp399:1 Abuse, killing, caging:

dhp399:2 they endure these without anger.

dhp399:3 Patience is their powerful army:

dhp399:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp400:1 Not irritable or pretentious,

dhp400:2 dutiful in precepts and observances,

dhp400:3 tamed, bearing their final body:

dhp400:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp401:1 Like water from a lotus leaf,

dhp401:2 like a mustard seed off the point of a pin,

dhp401:3 sensual pleasures slip off them:

dhp401:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp402:1 They understand for themselves

dhp402:2 the end of suffering in this life;

dhp402:3 with burden put down, detached:

dhp402:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp403:1 Deep in wisdom, intelligent,

dhp403:2 expert in the path and what is not the path;

dhp403:3 arrived at the highest goal:

dhp403:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp404:1 Mixing with neither

dhp404:2 householders nor the homeless;

dhp404:3 a migrant with no bastion, few in wishes:

dhp404:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp405:1 They’ve laid aside violence

dhp405:2 against creatures firm and frail;

dhp405:3 not killing or making others kill:

dhp405:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp406:1 Not fighting among those who fight,

dhp406:2 quenched among those who have taken up arms,

dhp406:3 not grasping among those who grasp:

dhp406:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp407:1 They’ve discarded greed and hate,

dhp407:2 along with conceit and contempt,

dhp407:3 like a mustard seed off the point of a pin:

dhp407:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp408:1 The words they utter

dhp408:2 are polished, informative, and true,

dhp408:3 and don’t offend anyone:

dhp408:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp409:1 They don’t steal anything in the world,

dhp409:2 long or short,

dhp409:3 tiny or huge, beautiful or ugly:

dhp409:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp410:1 They have no hope

dhp410:2 in this world or the next;

dhp410:3 with no need for hope, detached:

dhp410:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp411:1 They have no clinging,

dhp411:2 knowledge has freed them of indecision,

dhp411:3 they’ve arrived at the objective, freedom from death:

dhp411:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp412:1 They’ve escaped the chain

dhp412:2 of both good and bad deeds;

dhp412:3 sorrowless, stainless, pure:

dhp412:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp413:1 Pure as the spotless moon,

dhp413:2 clear and unclouded,

dhp413:3 they’ve ended relish for worldly life:

dhp413:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp414:1 They’ve got past this grueling swamp

dhp414:2 of delusion and error.

dhp414:3 Meditating in stillness, free of indecision,

dhp414:4 they have crossed over to the far shore.

dhp414:5 They’re quenched by not grasping:

dhp414:6 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp415:1 They’ve given up sensual pleasures,

dhp415:2 and have gone forth from lay life;

dhp415:3 they’ve ended the sway of sensual desire:

dhp415:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp416:1 They’ve given up craving,

dhp416:2 and have gone forth from lay life;

dhp416:3 they’ve ended craving for worldly existence:

dhp416:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp416:5 They’ve given up craving,

dhp416:6 and have gone forth from lay life;

dhp416:7 they’ve ended craving for worldly existence:

dhp416:8 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp417:1 They’ve thrown off the human yoke,

dhp417:2 and slipped out of the yoke of heavenly pleasures;

dhp417:3 unyoked from all yokes:

dhp417:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp418:1 Giving up desire and discontent,

dhp418:2 they’re cooled and free of attachments;

dhp418:3 a hero, master of the whole world:

dhp418:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp419:1 They know the passing away

dhp419:2 and the fate of all beings;

dhp419:3 unattached, holy, awakened:

dhp419:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp420:1 Angels, spirits, and humans

dhp420:2 don’t know their destiny;

dhp420:3 the perfected ones with defilements ended:

dhp420:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp421:1 They have nothing before or after,

dhp421:2 or even in between.

dhp421:3 Having nothing, taking nothing:

dhp421:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp422:1 Captain of the herd, excellent hero,

dhp422:2 great seer and victor;

dhp422:3 unstirred, washed, awakened:

dhp422:4 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp423:1 One who knows the lessons of past ages,

dhp423:2 sees the Garden and places of loss,

dhp423:3 and has attained liberation;

dhp423:4 a sage of perfect insight

dhp423:5 at the summit of spiritual perfection:

dhp423:6 that’s who I declare a brahmin.

dhp423:57 The Sayings of the Dhamma are complete.