The Brahmin (DHP383-423)

Strive, cut off the stream, O brahmin,
And drive out sensual craving.
Knowing the dissolution of conditioned things,
You, O brahmin, are a knower of the Uncreated.

When the brahmin has gone to the other shore
By the twofold practice (of serenity and insight), Then that sage’s every fetter falls away.

The one who is untroubled and beyond fear,
For whom there exists neither this nor the other
shore,
Nor both this and the other shore:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The pure one who sits absorbed in meditation,
Who has done what ought to be done,
Who is without toxins, having obtained the highest
attainment:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The sun shines by day, the moon by night;
In armor shines the warrior, in meditation the
brahmin.
But all day and night the Buddha shines in splendor.

One who has warded off evil is a brahmin.
One who lives in tranquility is a renunciant.
One who has driven out one’s own impurities
Is called gone forth.

Strike not a brahmin,
Nor should a brahmin give way to anger.
Shame on those who would strike a brahmin,
And greater shame on the brahmin who gives way
to anger.

For the brahmin, there is nothing better
Than restraining his mind from what it cherishes.
Whenever he turns away from the desire to harm,
He thereby appeases suffering.

The one who does no wrong in body, speech, and
mind,
Who is restrained in these three ways:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

You should venerate your teacher by whom
You learned the true Dhamma,
Taught by the Perfectly Awakened One,
Like a brahmin venerates the sacrificial fire.

Neither by matted hair, nor ancestry, nor birth is
one a brahmin.
The brahmin is the one with whom there is the
truth, purity, and the Dhamma.

What of your matted hair, O fool?
What of your deerskin clothes?
You are a tangled thicket within,
Yet you groom the exterior!

The one wearing rags from a dust heap,
Emaciated, with veins exposed,
Alone in the forest, absorbed in meditation:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

I do not proclaim a brahmin
Simply by being born of the womb, sprung from a
mother.
If he possesses something he is only called self-
important.
The one who has nothing, who is free from clinging:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who has overcome clinging and cut off
every fetter,
Who has overcome clinging and trembles not;
One unbound:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one awakened,
Having cut off strap and thong,
The cord together with the bridle,
Having lifted the crossbar:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who endures insult, binding and beating
without anger,
Whose strength is forbearance, an army’s strength:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who is free of anger, who observes the
practice,
Who is virtuous, restrained, and humble,
Who is in the final body:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who is unsmeared by sensual craving,
Like water on a lotus leaf,
The one who is like a mustard seed on the point of an
awl:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who realizes the dissolution of suffering,
Who has laid down the burden,
Who is unbound:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one endowed with intelligence and deep
knowledge,
Who knows what is and is not the path,
Who has attained the highest goal:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who is not given to society with
householders or monks,
Who is homeless and wants little:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who has set down the rod
Toward both the trembling and the firm,
Who does not kill or cause another to kill:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one unhindered among the obstructed,
Cool among those who take up the rod,
Free from clinging among the attached:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who has made passion, ill will,
Conceit, and hypocrisy all fall away,
The one who is like a mustard seed on the point of an
awl:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who would utter words that are true,
Instructive, and gentle;
Words that would anger no one:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who does not take what is not given here
in the world,
Be it long or short, small or large, beautiful or ugly:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one whose hopes are found
Neither in this world nor the next,
Who is independent, unyoked:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one without attachments,
Who by knowing is without doubts,
Who has attained immersion into the Deathless:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who clings not to merit or demerit,
Who is free from sorrow, is dustless and pure:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who is like the moon,
Spotless, pure, unsullied, perfectly clear,
For whom the delight for becoming is exhausted:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who has transcended this mire,
This bad road, this wandering, and delusion,
Who has crossed to the other shore, emancipated,
Who meditates, free from craving, clinging, and
doubt:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one, having renounced sensual desires,
Would wander about homeless,
His passions and becoming destroyed:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one, having renounced craving,
Would wander about homeless,
His craving and becoming destroyed:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who, having abandoned the human bond
And transcended the divine one,
Who is indeed released from all bonds:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

One who, having left behind attraction and
aversion,
Being tranquil, without attachments,
A hero, overcoming the whole world:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who has realized the dissipation and arising
of beings,
Who is unattached, well-gone, awakened:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one whose course gods, divine musicians,
And humans do not know,
Whose toxins are destroyed, an arahant:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one for whom there is nothing in front,
Behind, and in between,
Who, having nothing, is free from clinging:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The excellent one who is a bull, a hero,
A great sage, a conqueror, free of craving,
The one who has taken the (ritual) bath,
Who is now awake:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

The one who knows his former lives,
And sees the heavens and hells,
Who has attained the end of birth,
And obtained the higher knowledge,
The sage who has achieved all accomplishments:
That one I proclaim a brahmin.

© Peter Feldmeier, 2013.

First published in Dhammapada — The Way of Truth : A Fresh Translation and Commentary on Buddhism’s Most Beloved Text by Buddhist Publication Society.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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