When the brahman has gone
to the beyond of two things,
then all his fetters
go to their end–
he who knows.
One whose beyond or
not-beyond or
beyond-&-not-beyond
can’t be found;
unshackled, carefree:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Sitting silent, dustless,
absorbed in jhana,
his task done, effluents gone,
ultimate goal attained:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Whoever does no wrong
in body,
speech,
heart,
is restrained in these three ways:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
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.
Wearing cast-off rags
–his body lean & lined with veins–
absorbed in jhana,
alone in the forest:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
Having cut every fetter,
he doesn’t get ruffled.
Beyond attachment,
unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Having cut the strap & thong,
cord & bridle,
having thrown off the bar,
awakened:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
He endures–unangered–
insult, assault, & imprisonment.
His army is strength;
his strength, forbearance:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Free from anger,
duties observed,
principled, with no overbearing pride,
trained, a ‘last-body’:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
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.
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.
Uncontaminated
by householders
& houseless ones alike;
living with no home,
with next to no wants:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Having put aside violence
against beings fearful or firm,
he neither kills nor
gets others to kill:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Unopposing among opposition,
unbound
among the armed,
unclinging
among those who cling:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
He would say
what’s non-grating,
instructive,
true–
abusing no one:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Here in the world
he takes nothing not-given
–long, short,
large, small,
attractive, not:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
His longing for this
& for the next world
can’t be found;
free from longing, unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
He has gone
beyond attachment here
for both merit & evil–
sorrowless, dustless, & pure:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Spotless, pure, like the moon
–limpid & calm–
his delights, his becomings,
totally gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
Whoever, abandoning sensual passions here,
would go forth from home–
his sensual passions, becomings,
totally gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
Having left behind
the human bond,
having made his way past
the divine,
from all bonds unshackled:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
He knows in every way
beings’ passing away,
and their re-
arising;
unattached, awakened,
well-gone:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
He whose course they don’t know
–devas, gandhabbas, & human beings–
his effluents ended, an arahant:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
A splendid bull, conqueror,
hero, great seer–
free from want,
awakened, washed:
he’s what I call
a brahman.
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.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/Ch26.html