Dhammapada verse 385
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“One for whom there is no crossing over or crossing back, or crossing over and back; stress-free, detached, that’s who I declare a brahmin.”
Yassa pāraṁ apāraṁ vā, pārāpāraṁ na vijjati; Vītaddaraṁ visaṁyuttaṁ, tamahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 385 mean?
Verse 385 belongs to chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga), which gathers verses 383–423 on the true brahmin. It is filed under good & evil. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 384 and verse 386 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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