MEDITATIONS: THE DHAMMAPADA, CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The Brahmin
Whoever is
Untied and free of distress,
And for whom neither a “beyond,” a “not-beyond,”
Nor a “both beyond-and-not-beyond” exist, . . .Whoever is
Seated, absorbed in meditation,
Done what had to be done,
Free of contaminants,
Who has reached the highest goal, . . .Whoever does no ill
Through body, speech, and mind,
And is restrained in these three areas, . . .Whoever, having cut off every fetter,
Does not tremble,
Is unbound and beyond attachment, . . .Whoever knows, right here,
The ending of suffering,
Who is unburdened and unbound, . . .Whoever is wise,
Of profound insight,
Understanding what is and isn’t the path, . . .Whoever speaks
What is true, informative, and not harsh,
Who gives offense to no one, . . .Having no attachments,
And, through understanding, free of doubts,
Whoever is established in the Deathless
I call a brahmin. (Buddha 92-7)
The brahmin in Hinduism is one born of the hereditary priest caste, but not so in Buddhism. Not only is such birth status insufficient, it is not even a measure. Chance and trappings do not make a soul enlightened. They do not reveal to him the path anymore than does the slavish poverty of the dalit—the untouchables. They are but fetters, and according to the Buddha, the brahmin is one from such systems of worldly attachment. The rank of brahmin is not given; it is not even earned, but is instead lived and embodied.
It is the active doing and being which makes one enlightened, that is to say, free from attachments to worldly consequence. Such detachment is what it means to be free of doubt, to have faith, which itself is not a thinking or knowing but an attitude—a disposition one takes toward being-itself.
And being-itself is the “Deathless.” Being-itself that-is-which-is; it is the transcendent; it is what exists which our perceptions and preceptions divide into false dichotomies so that we can achieve the useful but ultimately false and thereby imperfect understanding which the Buddha calls Mara, illusion.
That is what the brahmin is free from. Those are the fetters, the attachments, the contaminants, the sources of suffering, the causes of trembling in anguish and fear. They are the motivators for all falsehood and revenge. The desire to harm others, to feel one’s manifest Will to Power, is generated from entanglement with experience—entanglement, because when one clings to these things, he inevitably shackles himself to signs along the path. He has confused the sign with the destination, just as he has confused the destination for the Path.
Fool! What use is matted hair?
What use is a deerskin robe?
The tangled jungle is within you
And you groom the outside! . . .Not by matted hair, not by clan,
Not by birth does one become a brahmin.
The one in whom there is truth and Dharma
Is the one who is pure, is a brahmin. . . .As a brahmin worships a ritual fire,
One should respectfully worship
Anyone from whom one might learn
The Dharma of the Fully Self-Awakened One. (94)
Do not get stuck on the metaphor, nor the tradition, nor the trappings, nor any other external thing. These are but shadows on the wall, Towers of Babel, projections of subjectivity over the objective which-is. Tending to these external things, worshipping them, will not pure one’s soul of ill-restraint, temptations, sins, and sources of entanglement. Insight means looking within. That is where wisdom is located, for wisdom is that knowledge which has been shaped by that-which-is. It is what shines forth when in harmony and on the Path. It is what one can’t help but to admire when one sees glimmers of it in those genuine souls whose lives are dedicated to sincerity and self-mastery.
Those are the qualities the Buddha felt worthy to claim as the brahmin’s. They are goals toward which to strive, toward which any degree of attainment brings even the layman—even the untouchable—closer to his harmonious coexistence with himself, others, and the universe.
Be like the brahmin. Learn to grasp by letting go. Become by no longer seeking but by actively being what one could be moment to moment.
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. The Dhammapada; Teachings of the Buddha, translated by Gil Fronsdal, Shambala Publications Inc, 2008.
