截流而渡 無欲如梵 知行已盡 是謂梵志 不害衆生 雖人稱梵 無怨無害 是謂梵志 我說梵志 非因種姓 若無穢惡 是謂梵志
jié liú ér dù wú yù rú fàn zhī xíng yǐ jìn shì wèi fàn zhì bù hài zhòng shēng suī rén chēng fàn wú yuàn wú hài shì wèi fàn zhì wǒ shuō fàn zhì fēi yīn zhǒng xìng ruò wú huì è shì wèi fàn zhì
Key Message
A true brahmin is not defined by birth or lineage but by inner purity — one who is free of impurity and evil, who harms no living being and holds no enmity: this is the Dhammapada's final and most revolutionary declaration.
▸The Brāhmaṇavagga (Chapter on the Brahmin) is the magnificent closing chapter of the Dhammapada, in which the text defines what it means to be a true brahmin — a true person of spiritual excellence — and in doing so makes its most radical social declaration.
The Brāhmaṇavagga (Chapter on the Brahmin) is the magnificent closing chapter of the Dhammapada, in which the text defines what it means to be a true brahmin — a true person of spiritual excellence — and in doing so makes its most radical social declaration. A true brahmin (fàn zhì) is one who cuts through the current of conditioned existence and crosses over, who is without desire and pure as Brahma, who has finished the work of knowledge and conduct. A true brahmin does not harm any living being, and holds neither enmity nor injury toward any. But the most revolutionary teaching: 'I do not call one a brahmin because of birth and lineage. If one is free of impurity and evil, that one I call a brahmin.' This is a direct and unambiguous rejection of the caste system's hereditary definition of spiritual worth.