Dhammapada verse 394
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“Why the matted hair, you simpleton, and why the skin of deer? The tangle is inside you, yet you polish up your outsides.”
Kiṁ te jaṭāhi dummedha, kiṁ te ajinasāṭiyā; Abbhantaraṁ te gahanaṁ, bāhiraṁ parimajjasi.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 394 mean?
Verse 394 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 393 and verse 395 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.