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Udāna 1.5 Heartfelt Sayings 1.5
Brāhmaṇasutta The Brahmin
Evaṁ me sutaṁ—So I have heard.
ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.
Tena kho pana samayena āyasmā ca sāriputto āyasmā ca mahāmoggallāno āyasmā ca mahākassapo āyasmā ca mahākaccāno āyasmā ca mahākoṭṭhiko āyasmā ca mahākappino āyasmā ca mahācundo āyasmā ca anuruddho āyasmā ca revato āyasmā ca nando yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkamiṁsu. Now at that time a number of senior monks approached the Buddha—the venerables Sāriputta, Mahāmoggallāna, Mahākassapa, Mahākaccāna, Mahākoṭṭhita, Mahākappina, Mahācunda, Anuruddha, Revata, and Nanda. A similar list of great disciples is found in the prelude to the Ānāpānassatisutta at MN 118:1.3. The only difference is that there the final person is Ānanda rather than Nanda. It is tempting to follow the BJT and PTS in reading Ānanda here as well, but the purpose of this sutta is to extol all these monks as “brahmins”, which the sutta itself explains as meaning “with fetters ended”, namely arahants. But at this time, Ānanda was still a stream-enterer (DN 16:5.13.2), and would only attain arahantship after the Buddha’s passing away (Kd 21:1.6.1). Nanda, on the other hand, was indeed an arahant (Ud 3.2:14.3).
Addasā kho bhagavā te āyasmante dūratova āgacchante; The Buddha saw them coming off in the distance,
disvāna bhikkhū āmantesi: and addressed the mendicants:
“ete, bhikkhave, brāhmaṇā āgacchanti; “These, mendicants, are brahmins coming!
ete, bhikkhave, brāhmaṇā āgacchantī”ti. These are brahmins coming!”
Evaṁ vutte, aññataro brāhmaṇajātiko bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: When he said this, a certain mendicant who was brahmin by birth asked the Buddha,
“kittāvatā nu kho, bhante, brāhmaṇo hoti, katame ca pana brāhmaṇakaraṇā dhammā”ti? “Sir, how do you define a brahmin? And what are the things that make one a brahmin?”
Atha kho bhagavā etamatthaṁ viditvā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imaṁ udānaṁ udānesi: Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
“Bāhitvā pāpake dhamme, “Having banished bad qualities,
ye caranti sadā satā; those who live always mindful,
Khīṇasaṁyojanā buddhā, with fetters ended, awakened,
te ve lokasmi brāhmaṇā”ti. they are the world’s true brahmins.”
Pañcamaṁ.