35. The Brāhmaṇa (T210.35)

Stop the stream [of craving] and cross over,
Be desireless like a brāhma;
Having known the exhaustion of conditionings,
One is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

By means of the non-dual dharma,
He is purified and crosses the sea;
All his fetters of desire are removed
—Such a one is a brāhmaṇa.

He who is at ease with other and no-other;
For whom [both] other, [not] other, are avoid;
He who gives up sensual craving;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who is meditative, stainless;
Whose deeds are corruption-free;
In whom there does not arise higher seeking;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

The sun glows by day;
the moon shines by night;
The warrior shines in the army;
In meditation glows the spiritual cultivator.
The Buddha appears in the world,
Illuminating to dispel darkness everywhere.

One is not a brāhmaṇa on account of the shaven head;
Nor is one a brāhmaṇa because one utters mantras.
It is one who gives up all evil
Whom may be called a spiritual cultivator.

A brāhmaṇa is one who exits from evil;
A brāhmaṇa is one who enters rectitude.
Having renounced one’s own defiled deeds.
One is regarded as having left home.

If one is calmed with regard to the pleasant
And at hearty attaches to naught
—Having [thus] renounced and rectified [attachment]
One extinguishes all sufferings.

He whose body, speech and mind
Are pure without any fault;
Who is restrained in this threefold action,
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

If your mind understands
The Teachings of the Buddha;
Look into your mind and take refuge in yourself,
[As a brāhmaṇa] purifies himself with water.

Neither on account of clan nor matted hairs.
Is one called a brāhmaṇa
He whose deeds are truthful and righteous,
He is pure, and this makes him a virtuous one.

What for is your contrived hair, witless one!
What for your straw clothes?
When within you remain attached,
What’s the use of external renunciation?

He who wears poor clothes,
Who personally practices the dharma,
Who meditates on retreat,
—Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

The Buddha does not teach one
To elevate oneself and make self-claims:
One according with truth, and undeceitful,
May be called a brāhmaṇa.

He who has cut off the river of transmigration,
Who has forbearance and transcends [the world],
Who is self-awakened and out of the moats;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who in the face of being abused and hit,
Endures quietly without anger;
Who has the power of patience;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who, in the face of being attacked,
Does naught but remains mindful of his precepts;
Who maintains proper postures, self-controlled;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who abandons evil dharmas in his mind,
Like a snake shedding its skin;
And is not tainted by desire.
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who realizes life to be unsatisfactory,
And thereby ceases to have [sensual] thoughts;
Who can lay down the burden;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who understands and has profound wisdom;
Who distinguishes the right and wrong paths;
And who has reached the high[est] goal;
Is called a brāhmaṇa.

He who can give up the household life,
And has no fear of the household;
Who has few needs and little desire;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who frees living things,
Who harbours no thoughts of killing,
Who causes afflictions to no-one,
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who avoids disputes,
Who resents not when offended,
Who is friendly to the hostile;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who removes greed, anger, delusion,
Conceit and other evil,
Like a snake shedding its skin;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who is cut off from worldly associations;
Who utters no harsh words;
Who carefully investigates the Eight-fold Path;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

Those considered by the world as good or bad,
Those which are long, short thick thin
—He takes not [any of them] which is not given;
Such a one is a brāhmaṇa.

One’s deeds being pure in this life,
There can be no defilement in the life after.
[Thus] without practicing any [evil dharmas].
—One is called a brāhmaṇa.

Renouncing the body, without a supporting basis,
Not reciting [the doctrines] of other disciplines;
He attains the Deathless Cessation.
Such a one is a brāhmaṇa.

He who, with regard to good and evil,
Has got rid of both these deeds,
Free from sorrow and dust,
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He whose mind is joyful, stainless
Like the moon in its fullness,
Who is free from defamation,
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

Seeing that the fools, in coming and going,
Fall into the moats to suffer;
He desires to cross over the other shore alone,
Disregarding the words of others.
Only he in whom [birth] ceases and arises no more,
May be called a brāhmaṇa.

He who has cut off lust,
Who is homeless, desireless,
Whose lust for existence is destroyed
May be called a brāhmaṇa.

He who is away from the uman community
And does not fall into the celestial community.
—Not going to any community whatsoever;
May be called a brāhmaṇa.

He who has given up pleasure and displeasure;
Who is extinguished, without heat remnant;
Heroic, defeating the whole world;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He for whom birth is no more,
And at death is without destination;
Who is awakened, happy and detached;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who has transcended the five destinies;
Whose destination [at death] cannot be known;
Who has completely destroyed all habits;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He for whom, before and after,
And in the middle, there is naught;
Without holding on, without discarding;
He is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

The most heroic, the most fearless,
—He who is self-released,
Who is enlightened, and whose mind is unshaken,
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

He who knows his past lives,
And his previous transmigrations:
Who has the means for ending birth;
Whose insight penetrates the highest profundity;
Who is wise like a silent-one;
Is indeed a brāhmaṇa.

Translated from the Chinese by Bhikkhu Kuala Lumpur Dhammajoti

From his book The Chinese Version of Dharmapada, Translated with introduction and annotations.

Published here with the kind permission of the author.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Ayya Vimala.