The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.35

c14.35

¹ So in the Brâhmaṇavagga of the Dhammapada (ed. Fausböll, p. 79): “Not the flowing pair, not the family, not the caste makes the Brâhmaṇa. He who possesses truth, virtue, is happy and is a Brâhmaṇa” Cf. further the Brâhmaṇadhammika Sutta in the Sutta Nipâta (ed. Fausböll, p. 51 sq.) and the answer which in the Vinaya Piṭaka Buddha gives to the high-minded Brâhmaṇa in answer to the question regarding the characteristics of a Brâhmaṇa (Mahavagga I. 2-3): “The Brâhmaṇa who has removed all sins from himself, who is free from haughtiness, free from impurity and full of self-control, who has mastered science fully, who has fulfilled the duties of a saint, such a Brâhmaṇa can truly be called a Brâhmaṇa, for whom there is no more any desire for anything in the world.”