Dhammapada verse 401
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“Like water from a lotus leaf, like a mustard seed off the point of a pin, sensual pleasures slip off them: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”
Vāri pokkharapatteva, āraggeriva sāsapo; Yo na limpati kāmesu, tamahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 401 mean?
Verse 401 belongs to chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga), which gathers verses 383–423 on the true brahmin. It is filed under no theme. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 400 and verse 402 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.