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Young monks in saffron robes on their morning alms round in a Lao village

Dhammapada verse 384

Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423

“When a brahmin has gone beyond dualistic phenomena, then they consciously make an end of all fetters.”

Yadā dvayesu dhammesu, pāragū hoti brāhmaṇo; Athassa sabbe saṁyogā, atthaṁ gacchanti jānato.

English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)

What does Dhammapada verse 384 mean?

Verse 384 belongs to chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga), which gathers verses 383–423 on the true brahmin. It is filed under craving & attachment. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 383 and verse 385 are part of the same passage.

Forty-one verses on the true brahmin, and the final and longest chapter. Its argument is a sustained redefinition: you are not a brahmin by birth, by hair or by ancestry, but by what you have done and given up. It closes the book by taking the highest title available and handing it to the person who has ended the work.

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