Chapter 26
Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 383–423
26. Brahmins
383 Cut the stream, striving!
Cast aside sensual pleasures, brahmin.
Knowing the ending of conditions,
know the uncreated, brahmin.
384 When a brahmin has gone beyond
dualistic phenomena,
then they consciously
make an end of all fetters.
385 One for whom there is no crossing over
or crossing back, or crossing over and back;
stress-free, detached,
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
386 Absorbed, rid of hopes,
their task completed, without defilements,
arrived at the highest goal:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
387 The sun blazes by day,
the moon radiates at night,
the aristocrat shines in armor,
and the brahmin shines in absorption.
But all day and all night,
the Buddha blazes with glory.
388 A brahmin’s so-called
since they’ve banished evil,
an ascetic’s so-called
since they live a serene life.
One who has renounced all stains
is said to be a “renunciant”.
389 One should never strike a brahmin,
nor should a brahmin retaliate.
Woe to the one who hurts a brahmin,
and woe for the one who retaliates.
390 Nothing is better for a brahmin
than to hold their mind back from attachment.
From wherever a cruel wish recoils,
right there suffering subsides.
391 Who does nothing wrong
by body, speech or mind,
restrained in these three respects,
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
392 You should graciously honor
the one from whom you learn the Dhamma
taught by the awakened Buddha,
as a brahmin honors the sacred flame.
393 Not by matted hair or family,
or birth is one a brahmin.
Those who are truthful and principled:
they are pure, they are brahmins.
394 Why the matted hair, you simpleton,
and why the skin of deer?
The tangle is inside you,
yet you polish up your outsides.
395 A personage who wears robes of rags,
lean, their limbs showing veins,
meditating alone in the forest,
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
396 I don’t call someone a brahmin
after the mother’s womb they’re born from.
If they still have attachments,
they’re just someone who says “worthy”.
Having nothing, taking nothing:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
397 Having cut off all fetters
they have no anxiety.
They’ve slipped their chains and are detached:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
398 They’ve cut the strap and harness,
the halter and bridle too,
with cross-bar lifted, they’re awakened:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
399 Abuse, killing, caging:
they endure these without anger.
Patience is their powerful army:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
400 Not irritable or pretentious,
dutiful in precepts and observances,
tamed, bearing their final body:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
401 Like water from a lotus leaf,
like a mustard seed off the point of a pin,
sensual pleasures slip off them:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
402 They understand for themselves
the end of suffering in this life;
with burden put down, detached:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
403 Deep in wisdom, intelligent,
expert in the path and what is not the path;
arrived at the highest goal:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
404 Mixing with neither
householders nor the homeless;
a migrant with no bastion, few in wishes:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
405 They’ve laid aside violence
against creatures firm and frail;
not killing or making others kill:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
406 Not fighting among those who fight,
quenched among those who have taken up arms,
not grasping among those who grasp:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
407 They’ve discarded greed and hate,
along with conceit and contempt,
like a mustard seed off the point of a pin:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
408 The words they utter
are polished, informative, and true,
and don’t offend anyone:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
409 They don’t steal anything in the world,
long or short,
tiny or huge, beautiful or ugly:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
410 They have no hope
in this world or the next;
with no need for hope, detached:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
411 They have no clinging,
knowledge has freed them of indecision,
they’ve arrived at the objective, freedom from death:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
412 They’ve escaped the chain
of both good and bad deeds;
sorrowless, stainless, pure:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
413 Pure as the spotless moon,
clear and unclouded,
they’ve ended relish for rebirth:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
414 They’ve got past this grueling swamp
of delusion, transmigration.
Meditating in stillness, free of indecision,
they have crossed over to the far shore.
They’re quenched by not grasping:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
415 They’ve given up sensual pleasures,
and have gone forth from lay life;
they’ve ended rebirth in the sensual realm:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
416 They’ve given up craving,
and have gone forth from lay life;
they’ve ended craving to be reborn:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
They’ve given up craving,
and have gone forth from lay life;
they’ve ended craving to be reborn:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
417 They’ve thrown off the human yoke,
and slipped out of the heavenly yoke;
unyoked from all yokes:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
418 Giving up desire and discontent,
they’re cooled and free of attachments;
a hero, master of the whole world:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
419 They know the passing away
and rebirth of all beings;
unattached, holy, awakened:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
420 Gods, centaurs, and humans
don’t know their destiny;
the perfected ones with defilements ended:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
421 They have nothing before or after,
or even in between.
Having nothing, taking nothing:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
422 Captain of the herd, excellent hero,
great seer and victor;
unstirred, washed, awakened:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
423 One who knows their past lives,
sees heaven and places of loss,
and has attained the end of rebirth;
a sage of perfect insight
at the summit of spiritual perfection:
that’s who I declare a brahmin.
The Sayings of the Dhamma are complete.