Dhammapada

The Path of Dhamma

XXVI. Brahmanavagga: Brahmans (383-423)

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-and-not-beyond
can't be found;
unshackled, carefree:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[386] Sitting silent, dustless,
absorbed in jhāna,
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 jhāna, the brahman.
But all day and all night,
every day and 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 and 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] Not by matted hair,
by clan, or by birth,
is one a brahman.
Whoever has truth
and rectitude:
he is a pure one,
he, a brahman.

[394] 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 and lined with veins --
absorbed in jhāna,
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 and thong,
cord and bridle,
having thrown off the bar,
awakened:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[399] He endures -- unangered --
insult, assault, and 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
and what's not;
his ultimate goal attained:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[404] Uncontaminated
by householders
and 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, and 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
and 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 attained the plunge
into Deathlessness:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[412] He has gone
beyond attachment here
for both merit and evil --
sorrowless, dustless, and pure:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[413] Spotless, pure, like the moon
-- limpid and 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 jhāna,
through no-clinging
Unbound:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[415] Whoever, abandoning sensual passions here,
would go forth from home --
his sensual passions, becomings,
totally gone:
he's what I call
a brahman.

[416] 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 and 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, and 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 and 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.

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