HOW DOES A BRAHMIN TOE THE LINE?

How does a brahmin toe the line? It’s when a brahmin is well born on both the mother’s and the father’s sides … (as before) ... Not by buying or selling, he only accepts a brahmin woman by the pouring of water.

Having ensured his progeny through sex, his child makes him happy. Because of this attachment, he stays in his family property and does not go forth from the lay life to homelessness.

As far as the line of the ancient brahmins extends, he doesn’t cross over it. That’s why he’s called a brahmin who toes the line. That’s how a brahmin toes the line.

And how does a brahmin cross the line? It’s when a brahmin is well born on both the mother’s and the father’s sides … (as before) ... Having offered a fee for his teacher, he seeks a wife by both legitimate and illegitimate means. That is, by buying or selling, as well as accepting a brahmin woman by the pouring of water.

He has sex with a Brahmin woman, as well as with a woman from a caste of aristocrats, merchants, workers, outcastes, hunters, bamboo workers, chariot-makers, or waste-collectors. And he has sex with women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or outside the fertile half of the month that starts with menstruation.

His Brahmin wife is there for sensual pleasure, fun, and enjoyment, as well as for procreation. As far as the line of the ancient brahmins extends, he crosses over it. That’s why he’s called a brahmin who crosses the line. That’s how a brahmin crosses the line.

And how is a Brahmin a brahmin outcaste? It’s when a brahmin is well born on both the mother’s and the father’s sides, coming from a clean womb back to the seventh paternal generation, incontestable and irreproachable in discussions about ancestry.

For forty-eight years he lives the spiritual life, from childhood, studying the hymns. Then he seeks a fee for his teacher by legitimate means and illegitimate means. By farming, trade, raising cattle, archery, government service, or one of the professions, not solely by living on alms, not scorning the alms bowl.

Having offered a fee for his teacher, he seeks a wife by both legitimate and illegitimate means. That is, by buying or selling, as well as accepting a brahmin woman by the pouring of water.

He has sex with a Brahmin woman, as well as with a woman from a caste of aristocrats, merchants, workers, outcastes, hunters, bamboo workers, chariot-makers, or waste-collectors. And he has sex with women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or outside the fertile half of the month that starts with menstruation. His Brahmin wife is there for sensual pleasure, fun, and enjoyment, as well as for procreation. He earns a living by any kind of work.

The Brahmins say to him: ‘My good man, why is it that you claim to be a brahmin, but you earn a living by any kind of work.’

He says, ‘It’s like a fire that burns both pure and filthy substances, but doesn’t become corrupted by them. In the same way, my good man, if a brahmin earns a living by any kind of work, he is not corrupted by that.’

A brahmin is called a brahmin outcaste because he earns a living by any kind of work. That’s how a brahmin is a brahmin outcaste.
An 5.192 (final part)

Author: Matthew Simpson

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BRAHMIN AND BRAHMA EQUALITY

“Master Gotama, if anyone should be rightly called a brahmin, it’s me. For I am well born on both my mother’s and father’s side, of pure descent, irrefutable and impeccable in questions of ancestry back to the seventh paternal generation. I recite and remember the hymns, and am an expert in the three Vedas, together with their vocabularies, ritual, phonology and etymology, and the testament as fifth. I know philology and grammar, and am well versed in cosmology and the marks of a great man.”

“Doṇa, the brahmin seers of the past were Aṭṭhaka, Vāmaka, Vāmadeva, Vessāmitta, Yamadaggi, Aṅgīrasa, Bhāradvāja, Vāseṭṭha, Kassapa, and Bhagu. They were the authors and propagators of the hymns, whose hymnal was sung and propagated and compiled in ancient times. These days, Brahmins continue to sing and chant it. They continue chanting what was chanted, reciting what was recited, and teaching what was taught.

Those seers described five kinds of brahmins. A brahmin who is equal to Brahmā, one who is equal to a god, one who toes the line, one who crosses the line, and the fifth is a brahmin outcaste. Which one of these are you, Doṇa?”

“Master Gotama, we don’t know about these five kinds of brahmins. We just know the word ‘brahmin’. Master Gotama, please teach me this matter so I can learn about these five brahmins.”

“Well then, brahmin, listen and pay close attention, I will speak.”

“Yes sir,” Doṇa replied.

The Buddha said this:

“Doṇa, how is a brahmin equal to Brahmā? It’s when a brahmin is well born on both the mother’s and the father’s sides, coming from a clean womb back to the seventh paternal generation, incontestable and irreproachable in discussions about ancestry. For forty-eight years he lives the spiritual life, from childhood, studying the hymns. Then he seeks a fee for his teacher, but only by legitimate means, not illegitimate.

In this context, Doṇa, what is legitimate?

Not by farming, trade, raising cattle, archery, government service, or one of the professions, but solely by living on alms, not scorning the alms bowl. Having offered the fee to his teacher, he shaves off his hair and beard, dresses in ocher robes, and goes forth from the lay life to homelessness.

Then they meditate spreading a heart full of love to one direction, and to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. In the same way above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of love to the whole world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.

They meditate spreading a heart full of compassion … rejoicing … equanimity to one direction, and to the second, and to the third, and to the fourth. In the same way above, below, across, everywhere, all around, they spread a heart full of equanimity to the whole world—abundant, expansive, limitless, free of enmity and ill will.

Having developed these four Brahmā meditations, when the body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a Brahmā realm.

That’s how a brahmin is equal to Brahmā."
An 5.192 (part one)

Author: Matthew Simpson

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