(26.1–41)
383. Strive, and cut across the stream;
Drive away sense-pleasures, Brahmin.
Knowing the destruction of conditioned things,
You’ll know the unmade, Brahmin.
384. When, among twofold states,
A Brahmin goes to the other shore,
Then, once he knows,
All fetters go to rest.
385. The one for whom there is neither
The far shore, nor the near shore, nor both the far and near shores,
Free of fear, unfettered,
Him I call a Brahmin.
386. The one who sits meditative, free from stain,
Whose task is done, who’s free from defilement,
Who has reached the supreme goal,
Him I call a Brahmin.
387. By day, the sun shines;
By night, the moon gleams;
In his armour, the warrior shines;
Meditating, the Brahmin shines;
But ever, night and day,
The Buddha shines with his radiance.
388. One’s called ‘Brahmin’ for getting rid of evil;
One’s called ‘wanderer’ for equable conduct;
For getting rid of one’s own stain
One’s called ‘renouncer’.
389. A Brahmin should not strike a Brahmin,
Nor unleash his anger against him.
Shame on him who strikes a Brahmin!
More shame on him who unleashes his anger!
390. This is of no small benefit to a Brahmin,
To have restraint of mind about things that are dear.
The more the will to harm ceases,
The more is sorrow calmed.
391. The one who does no wrong
Through body, speech or mind,
Restrained in the three ways,
Him I call a Brahmin.
392. The one from whom you can learn the Dhamma
Taught by the Fully Awakened One
You should honour with reverence
As a Brahmin honours the sacrificial fire.
393. You don’t become a Brahmin
By matted locks, by lineage, or by caste:
The one in whom are truth and Dhamma,
He’s pure, and he’s a Brahmin.
394. Fool, what use are your matted locks,
Your antelope-skin garment?
There’s a mess inside you:
You clean the outside.
395. The person who wears clothes from a dust-heap,
Lean, a tracery of veins,
Meditating alone in the wood,
Him I call a Brahmin.
396. But I don’t call someone a Brahmin
Because he’s born of a Brahmin womb or mother:
If he owns anything
He’s just a man who says ‘good sir’.
One who owns nothing, without clinging,
Him I call a Brahmin.
397. One who has cut all fetters,
Who is unafraid,
Who has gone beyond bonds, unfettered,
Him I call a Brahmin.
398. One who’s cut the strap and the girth,
The thong with its attachments,
Who’s pushed up the door-bar, awakened,
Him I call a Brahmin.
399. One who, though innocent, endures
Abuse, beating and imprisonment,
Whose strength is patience, whose army is his strength,
Him I call a Brahmin.
400. One who’s not angry, keeping his vows,
Keeping morality, free from lust,
Tamed, bearing his last body,
Him I call a Brahmin.
401. One who doesn’t cling to sense-pleasures –
Like water on a lotus leaf,
Or a mustard seed on a needle’s point –
Him I call a Brahmin.
402. One who realizes here
The ending of his own suffering,
Who’s laid down the burden, unfettered,
Him I call a Brahmin.
403. One of deep understanding, wise,
Skilled in what is and what is not the way,
Who has reached the supreme goal,
Him I call a Brahmin.
404. One not mixing either
With householders or with homeless ones,
Living houseless, of few desires,
Him I call a Brahmin.
405. One who has laid down the rod
In dealing with beings, moving or still,
Who neither kills nor causes to kill,
Him I call a Brahmin.
406. One who is not hostile among the hostile,
At peace among those who wield the rod,
Unclinging among the clinging,
Him I call a Brahmin.
407. One from whom passion, ill will,
Pride and hypocrisy have been let drop
Like a mustard seed from a needle’s point,
Him I call a Brahmin.
408. One who utters speech that isn’t rough
But instructive and truthful
So that he offends no one,
Him I call a Brahmin.
409. One who in this world
Takes nothing that is not given,
Whether long or short, tiny or great, fair or foul,
Him I call a Brahmin.
410. One in whom no wishes are found
For this world or the next,
Without longing, unfettered,
Him I call a Brahmin.
411. One in whom no longings are found,
Who, through knowledge, has no doubts,
Plunged into the deathless, not arising again,
Him I call a Brahmin.
412. One who here has gone beyond both good and evil,
Both kinds of clinging,
Sorrowless, stainless, pure,
Him I call a Brahmin.
413. One who is stainless and pure as the moon,
Peaceful and untroubled,
With indulgence and existence exhausted,
Him I call a Brahmin.
414. One who has gone beyond this winding path, so hard to travel –
Saṃsāra, delusion –
Crossed over, passed beyond, a meditator,
Clear, free from doubt,
Who has attained nibbāna without clinging,
Him I call a Brahmin.
415. One who here gives up sense-desires
And wanders homeless,
With sense-desires and existence exhausted,
Him I call a Brahmin.
416. One who here gives up craving
And wanders homeless,
With craving and existence exhausted,
Him I call a Brahmin.
417. One who has given up human attachment
And gone beyond divine attachment,
Unfettered from all attachment,
Him I call a Brahmin.
418. One who has given up both pleasure and displeasure,
Who’s cooled, with no remnant of craving,
A hero who’s overcome the whole world,
Him I call a Brahmin.
419. One who knows in every way
The death of beings, and their arising,
Unattached, well gone, awakened,
Him I call a Brahmin.
420. One whose destination
Neither gods nor spirits nor human beings know,
With defilements exhausted, an Arahat,
Him I call a Brahmin.
421. One who owns nothing – before,
After, or in the middle –
Possessing nothing, without clinging,
Him I call a Brahmin.
422. The bull, the finest, the hero,
The great sage, the conqueror,
Desireless, bathed, awakened,
Him I call a Brahmin.
423. One who knows former abodes,
Sees heavens and hells,
Who has reached the end of births,
Sage perfect in knowledge,
Who has perfected all perfections,
Him I call a Brahmin.