Dhammapada verse 411
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“They have no clinging, knowledge has freed them of indecision, they’ve arrived at the objective, freedom from death: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”
Yassālayā na vijjanti, aññāya akathaṅkathī; Amatogadhamanuppattaṁ, tamahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 411 mean?
Verse 411 belongs to chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga), which gathers verses 383–423 on the true brahmin. It is filed under impermanence & death. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 410 and verse 412 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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