Dhp XXVI : Brahmans
Having striven, brahman,
cut the stream.
Expel sensual passions.
Knowing the ending of fabrications,
brahman,
you know the Unmade.
When the brahman has gone
to the beyond of two things,
then all his fetters
go to their end–
he who knows.
One whose beyond or
not-beyond or
beyond-&-not-beyond
can’t be found;
unshackled, carefree:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Sitting silent, dustless,
absorbed in jhana,
his task done, effluents gone,
ultimate goal attained:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
386
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.
387
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.
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.
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.
Whoever does no wrong
in body,
speech,
heart,
is restrained in these three ways:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
391
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.
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.
Wearing cast-off rags
–his body lean & lined with veins–
absorbed in jhana,
alone in the forest:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
395
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.
Having cut every fetter,
he doesn’t get ruffled.
Beyond attachment,
unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
397
Having cut the strap & thong,
cord & bridle,
having thrown off the bar,
awakened:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
He endures–unangered–
insult, assault, & imprisonment.
His army is strength;
his strength, forbearance:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
399
Free from anger,
duties observed,
principled, with no overbearing pride,
trained, a ‘last-body’:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
401
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.
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.
403
Uncontaminated
by householders
& houseless ones alike;
living with no home,
with next to no wants:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
404
Having put aside violence
against beings fearful or firm,
he neither kills nor
gets others to kill:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
405
Unopposing among opposition,
unbound
among the armed,
unclinging
among those who cling:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
406
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.
407
He would say
what’s non-grating,
instructive,
true–
abusing no one:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
408
Here in the world
he takes nothing not-given
–long, short,
large, small,
attractive, not:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
409
His longing for this
& for the next world
can’t be found;
free from longing, unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
410
His attachments,
his homes,
can’t be found.
He, through knowing,
is unperplexed,
has gained a footing
in the Deathless:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
He has gone
beyond attachment here
for both merit & evil–
sorrowless, dustless, & pure:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Spotless, pure, like the moon
–limpid & calm–
his delights, his becomings,
totally gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
413
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.
414
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.
415-416
Having left behind
the human bond,
having made his way past
the divine,
from all bonds unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
417
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.
418
He knows in every way
beings’ passing away,
and their re-
arising;
unattached, awakened,
well-gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
419
He whose course they don’t know
–devas, gandhabbas, & human beings–
his effluents ended, an arahant:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
420
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.
A splendid bull, conqueror,
hero, great seer–
free from want,
awakened, washed:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
422
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.
