The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [385]
An arahant with taints destroyed:
He is the one I call a brahmin.
52. Who has no impediments at all,
Before, behind, or in the middle,
Who is unimpeded and clings no more:
He is the one I call a brahmin.
53. The herd’s leader, perfected hero,
The great seer whose victory is won,
Unperturbed, cleansed, awakened:
He is the one I call a brahmin.
54. Who knows his manifold past lives
And sees the heavens and states of woe,
Who has reached the destruction of birth:
He is the one I call a brahmin.
12.
55. “For name and clan are assigned
As mere designations in the world;
Originating in conventions,
They are assigned here and there.
56. For those who do not know this fact,
Wrong views have long underlain their hearts;
Not knowing, they declare to us:
‘One is a brahmin by birth.’
57. One is not a brahmin by birth,
Nor by birth a non-brahmin.
By action is one a brahmin,
By action is one a non-brahmin.
58. For men are farmers by their acts,905
And by their acts are craftsmen too;
And men are merchants by their acts,
And by their acts are servants too.
59. And men are robbers by their acts,
And by their acts are soldiers too;
And men are chaplains by their acts,
And by their acts are rulers too. [123]
13.
60. “So that is how the truly wise
See action as it really is,
Seers of dependent origination,
Skilled in action and its results.906
61. Action makes the world go round,
Action makes this generation turn.
Living beings are bound by action
Like the chariot wheel by the linchpin.
62. Asceticism, the holy life,
Self-control and inner training—
By this one becomes a brahmin,
In this supreme brahminhood lies.907
63. One possessing the triple knowledge,
Peaceful, with being all destroyed:
Know him thus, O Vāseṭṭha,
As Brahmā and Sakka for those who understand.”
14. When this was said, the brahmin students Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja said to the Blessed One: “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama!…From today let Master Gotama remember us as lay followers who have gone to him for refuge for life.”
Subha Sutta
To Subha
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.
2. Now on that occasion the brahmin student Subha, Todeyya’s son, was staying at the residence of a certain householder in Sāvatthī for some business or other.908 Then the brahmin student Subha, Todeyya’s son, asked the householder in whose residence he was staying: “Householder, I have heard that Sāvatthī is not devoid of arahants. What recluse or brahmin may we go to today to pay our respects?”
“Venerable sir, this Blessed One is living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. You may go to pay your respects to that Blessed One, venerable sir.” [197]
3. Then, having assented to the householder, the brahmin student Subha, Todeyya’s son, went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he sat down at one side and asked the Blessed One:
4. “Master Gotama, the brahmins say this: ‘The householder is accomplishing the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome. The one gone forth [into homelessness] is not accomplishing the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.’ What does Master Gotama say about this?”
“Student, I speak about this after making an analysis;909 I do not speak about this one-sidedly. I do not praise the wrong way of practice on the part either of a householder or one gone forth; for whether it be a householder or one gone forth, one who has entered on the wrong way of practice, by reason of his wrong way of practice, is not accomplishing the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome. I praise the right way of practice on the part either of a householder or one gone forth; for whether it be a householder or one gone forth, one who has entered on the right way of practice, by reason of his right way of practice, is accomplishing the true way, the Dhamma that is wholesome.”