26. The Brahmin  

Cross the stream, Brahmin, strive hard,  
cast aside desire.
All that consists of component parts will perish.
Strive to know the imperishable.

When the Brahmin achieves full discipline and insight,  
all fetters fall away.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
for whom is neither this nor the other shore,  
who is free from the fetters of fear.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
whose passions are stilled, whose work is over,  
who is taintless, meditative, and saintly.

The sun shines in the day,
the moon delights the night,
the soldier shines in his armor,  
the Brahmin in meditation,
but the radiance of the Buddha  
shines ceaselessly day and night.

He is a Brahmin who has cast aside evil,  
he is an ascetic whose mind is equable,  
he is a saint who has no impurity.
 
If attacked,
the Brahmin does not return in kind.  
Cursed is he who kills a Brahmin,
more cursed a Brahmin angry with a sinner.

Highly regarded is the Brahmin
who refrains from the pleasures of the senses.
Where nonviolence is practiced,  
suffering will cease.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who is nonviolent in body, speech, and mind,  
who has firmly controlled these three.

As a Brahmin worships before the ritual fire,  
so should a man worship before one
who has understood fully the Dhamma of the Buddha.
Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who practices truth and Dhamma.
Not matted hair, not noble birth,
not caste, make a Brahmin.
A Brahmin makes his own holiness.  

Fool, what will matted hair do?
What will garment of goatskin do?
What use polishing the outside
if the inside is foul?

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who is lean and veined, solitary and serious,  
who wears cast-off garments.

Who is a Brahmin? Not always he  
whose mother is a Brahmin,
not he who is known to possessions,  
but he who is detached.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who is unshakable, fetter-free,
beyond attachment, separated from the world.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin  
who has cut the link, the thong, the rope,  
who has broken free, who is fully awake.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who, though innocent, endures mockery, insult, prison,  
whose strength is patience, whose army is fortitude.
 
Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
who is never angry, who is pure and restrained,
who notes religious duties and follows moral rules,  
for whom there is no rebirth.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin  
who does not cling to pleasures,
like a drop of water on a lotus leaf,
like a seed of mustard on the tip of an awl.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who even in this world is free,
whose burden is ended, whose sufferings are over.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
whose knowledge is deep and wisdom profound
who knows right from wrong, and has realized truth.

Who is a Brahmin ? He is a Brahmin
who stays away from the well-housed and the houseless  
who does not live in houses, and has few wants.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who does not use the rod to punish creatures
moving or unmoving; who neither kills nor conspires to kill.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who is gentle among the aggressive,  
peaceful among those with uplifted sticks,  
detached among the attached.

Who is the Brahmin? He is the Brahmin  
whose passion, hate, pride, and hypocrisy
fall away like a mustard seed from the tip of an awl.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
whose speech is truthful, soft, clear, inoffensive.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin  
who does not take what is not given,  
long or short, big or small, good or bad.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who covets neither this world nor the next,
who has no desires, who is separated from the world.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who has no desires, whose doubts have been dissipated,  
who has reached the final goal.
 
Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin  
who has gone beyond good and evil,  
who has no sorrow, no passion, no taint.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who is pure, serene, joylessly tranquil,  
like the moon.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who has crossed the mire of birth and delusion  
(so difficult to cross) and reached the other shore,
who is calm, meditative, without greed, without doubt.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
who gives up sensual pleasures, wanders homeless,  
and has renounced all desire for existence.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
whose passions are all conquered, who wanders homeless,  
who has renounced all craving for existence.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
who has cast off attachment to things of the world  
and to things divine, and has risen above both.  

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
who has renounced the pleasurable as well as the unpleasurable,  
who is calm and unruffled, free from rebirth,
the conquering hero of the three worlds.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
who, knowing that things perish and are reborn,  
lives nobly, feels purely, thinks clearly.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin
whose ways are known neither to gods, spirits, or men,  
who has exhausted his sins and become a saint.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin  
who has nothing, for he is unattached,
for whom is neither before, behind, nor between.

Who is a Brahmin? He is a Brahmin  
who is brave as a bull, noble, wise, pure,  
conqueror of death, the awakened one.

Who is a Brahmin? I call him Brahmin
who knows his previous births, knows heaven and hell,  
is a saint with perfect wisdom,
and has done all that needed to be done.