Dhammapada 26.13: 13. Ekabrāhmaṇavatthu

Dhammapadaṭṭhakathā 26.13

Language: Pāli

13. Ekabrāhmaṇavatthu

26.13.p1

Na cāhanti imaṃ dhammadesanaṃ satthā jetavane viharanto ekaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ ārabbha kathesi.

I call not a man a Brahman. This religious instruction was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a certain Brahman.
Eugene Watson Burlingame 1921, Buddhist Legends (Harvard Oriental Series 28–30)

So kira ‘‘samaṇo gotamo attano sāvake brāhmaṇāti vadati ahañcamhi brāhmaṇayoniyaṃ nibbatto, mampi nu kho evaṃ vattuṃ vaṭṭatī’’ti satthāraṃ upasaṅkamitvā tamatthaṃ pucchi. Atha naṃ satthā ‘‘nāhaṃ, brāhmaṇa, brāhmaṇayoniyaṃ nibbattamattenevaṃ vadāmi, yo pana akiñcano agahaṇo, tamahaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ vadāmī’’ti vatvā imaṃ gāthamāha –

The story goes that this Brahman one day said to himself, "The monk Gotama calls his own disciples 'Brahmans.' Now I was reborn in the womb of a Brahman mother; therefore he ought to apply this title to me too." So he approached the Teacher and asked him about the matter. Said the Teacher to the Brahman, "I do not call a man a Brahman merely because he received a new existence in the womb of a Brahman mother. But he that is without worldly possessions, he that grasps not after the things of this world, him alone I call a Brahman." So saying, he pronounced the following Stanza,
Eugene Watson Burlingame 1921, Buddhist Legends (Harvard Oriental Series 28–30)

26.13.396

‘‘Na cāhaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ brūmi, yonijaṃ mattisambhavaṃ;
Bhovādi nāma so hoti, sace hoti sakiñcano;
Akiñcanaṃ anādānaṃ, tamahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇa’’nti.

396. I call not a man a Brahman for that he has issued from the womb of a Brahman
mother or sprung from a Brahman mother.
Such a man addresses me as "Sir," such a man has worldly possessions.
But he that is without worldly possessions, he that seeks not the things of this
world, him alone I call a Brahman.
Eugene Watson Burlingame 1921, Buddhist Legends (Harvard Oriental Series 28–30)

26.13.396_2

Tattha yonijanti yoniyaṃ jātaṃ. Mattisambhavanti brāhmaṇiyā mātu santake udarasmiṃ sambhūtaṃ. Bhovādīti so pana āmantanādīsu ‘‘bho, bho’’ti vatvā vicaranto bhovādi nāma hoti, sace rāgādīhi kiñcanehi sakiñcano. Ahaṃ pana rāgādīhi akiñcanaṃ catūhi upādānehi anādānaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ vadāmīti attho.