Dhammapada verse 396
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“I don’t call someone a brahmin after the mother’s womb they’re born from. If they still have attachments, they’re just someone who says “worthy”. Having nothing, taking nothing: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”
Na cāhaṁ brāhmaṇaṁ brūmi, yonijaṁ mattisambhavaṁ; Bhovādi nāma so hoti, sace hoti sakiñcano; Akiñcanaṁ anādānaṁ, tamahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 396 mean?
Verse 396 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 395 and verse 397 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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