Dhammapada verse 409
Chapter 26, Brahmins (Brāhmaṇavagga) · verses 383–423
“They don’t steal anything in the world, long or short, tiny or huge, beautiful or ugly: that’s who I declare a brahmin.”
Yodha dīghaṁ va rassaṁ vā, aṇuṁ thūlaṁ subhāsubhaṁ; Loke adinnaṁ nādiyati, tamahaṁ brūmi brāhmaṇaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 409 mean?
Verse 409 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 408 and verse 410 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.