> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Dhp 26 · Brahmans - URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/dhp-26/ - Published: 2026-06-01T00:26:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-13T16:42:09.000Z - Description: Redefining 'brahman' by purity of conduct and liberation rather than by birth, caste, or ritual status. - Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA) - Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Buddha, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Dhammapada, Verse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library Having striven, brahman, cut the stream. Expel sensual passions. Knowing the ending of fabrications, brahman, you know the Unmade. [383\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) When the brahman has gone to the beyond of two things, then all his fetters go to their end– he who knows. [384\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) One whose *beyond* or *not-beyond* or *beyond-&-not-beyond* can’t be found; unshackled, carefree: he’s what I call a brahman. [385\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [388\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [389\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [390\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [392\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [393-394\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [396\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [398\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [400\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [402\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [411\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) He has gone beyond attachment here for both merit & evil– sorrowless, dustless, & pure: he’s what I call a brahman. [412\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [421\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) 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. [423\*](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/endnotes.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) --- *Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/Ch26.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*