The Dhammapada
26. The Brahmin
Cut the stream and go across, abandon sensuality, brahmin. When you have achieved the stilling of the activities of the mind, you will know the unconditioned, brahmin. 383
When a brahmin has crossed beyond duality, then all the fetters of such a seer come to an end. 384
When a man knows no this shore, other shore, or both -- such a one, free from anxiety, liberated, that is what I call a brahmin. 385
Meditating, free from stain, settled in mind, with job accomplished, without inflowing thoughts, and having achieved the supreme purpose -- that is what I call a brahmin. 386
By day it is the sun which shines, at night the moon shines forth. A warrior shines in his armour, and a brahmin shines in meditation. But at all times, by day and by night, the Buddha shines in his glory. 387
A brahmin is called so by breaking with evil deeds. It is by pious behaviour that a man is called a man of religion, and by casting out blemishes one is called one gone forth. 388
One should not strike a brahmin, and nor should a brahmin lose his temper. Shame on him who strikes a brahmin, and shame on him who loses his temper because of it. 389
Nothing is better in a brahmin than this -- that he restrains his mind from pleasurable things. Suffering disappears for him to the same extent that he gets rid of thoughts of harming anyone. 390
He who does no wrong with body, speech or mind, but is restrained in all three spheres -- that is what I call a brahmin. 391
One should reverently pay homage to the man from whom one has learned the Truth, taught by the True Buddha, like a brahmin does to the sacrificial fire. 392
One is not a brahmin by virtue of matted hair, lineage or caste. When a man possesses both Truth and truthfulness, then he is pure, then he is a brahmin. 393
What use is your matted hair, you fool? What use is your antelope skin? You are tangled inside, and you are just making the outside pretty. 394
The man who wears robes made from rags off the dust heap, who is gaunt, with his sinews standing out all over his body, alone meditating in the forest -- that is what I call a brahmin. 395
I do not call him a brahmin who is so by natural birth from his mother. He is just a supercilious person if he still has possessions of his own. He who owns nothing of his own, and is without attachment -- that is what I call a brahmin. 396
He who, having cut off all fetters, does not get himself upset, but is beyond bonds -- that liberated man is what I call a brahmin. 397
He who has cut off both bond and strap, halter as well as bridle, who has removed the barrier, himself a Buddha -- that is what I call a brahmin. 398
He who endures undisturbed criticism, ill-treatment and bonds, strong in patience, and that strength his power -- that is what I call a brahmin. 399
Without anger, devout, upright, free from craving, disciplined and in his last body -- that is what I call a brahmin. 400
Like water on a lotus leaf, like a mustard seed on the point of an pin, he who is not stuck to the senses -- that is what I call a brahmin. 401
He who has experienced the end of his suffering here in this life, who has set down the burden, freed! -- that is what I call a brahmin. 402
The sage of profound wisdom, the expert in the right and wrong road, he who has achieved the supreme purpose -- that is what I call a brahmin. 403
Not intimate with laity or monks, wandering about with no abode, and few needs -- that is what I call a brahmin. 404
Abandoning violence to all living creatures moving or still, he who neither kills or causes killing -- that is what I call a brahmin. 405
Unagitated amongst the agitated, at peace among the violent, without clinging among those who cling -- that is what I call a brahmin. 406
He from whom desire and aversion, conceit and hypocrisy have fallen away, like a mustard seed on the point of a pin -- that is what I call a brahmin. 407
He who utters only gentle, instructive and truthful speech, criticising no-one -- that is what I call a brahmin. 408
He who takes nothing in the world that has not been given him, long or short, big or small, attractive or that is what I call a brahmin. 409
He who has no desires in this world or the next, without longings, freed! -- that is what I call a brahmin. 410
He who has no attachments and has been freed from uncertainty by realisation, who has plunged into the deathless -- that is what I call a brahmin. 411
He who has even here and now transcended the fetter of both good and evil, who is sorrowless, faultless and pure -- that is what I call a brahmin. 412
The man who is stainless, pure, clear and free from impurities like the moon, the search for pleasure extinguished -- that is what I call a brahmin. 413
He who has transcended the treacherous mire of samsara and ignorance, who has crossed over, reached the other shore, meditating, motionless of mind, free from uncertainty, and who is at peace by not clinging to anything -- that is what I call a brahmin. 414
He who by here and now abandoning sensuality, has gone forth a homeless wanderer, the search for pleasure extinguished -- that is what I call a brahmin. 415
He who by here and now abandoning craving, has gone forth a homeless wanderer, the search for pleasure extinguished -- that is what I call a brahmin. 416
He who has abandoned human bonds, and transcended those of heaven, liberated from all bonds -- that is what I call a brahmin. 417
He who has abandoned pleasure and displeasure, is cooled off and without further fuel, the hero who has conquered all worlds -- that is what I call a brahmin. 418
He who has seen the passing away and rebirth of all beings, free of clinging, blessed, awakened -- that is what I call a brahmin. 419
He whose path devas, spirits and men cannot know, whose inflowing thoughts are ended, a saint -- that is what I call a brahmin. 420
He who has nothing of his own, before, after or in between, possessionless and without attachment -- that is what I call a brahmin. 421
Bull-like, noble, a hero, a great sage, and a conqueror, he who is motionless of mind, washed clean and awakened -- that is what I call a brahmin. 422
He who has known his former lives and can see heaven and hell themselves, while he has attained the extinction of rebirth, a seer, master of transcendent knowledge, and master of all masteries -- that is what I call a brahmin. 423
