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## Dhammapada XXVI

# Brahmans

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

Read an alternate translation by Acharya 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 attained the plunge
> into Deathlessness:
> 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: Wed 16 May 2001