1:7 An Outcaste
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever here harms a living being once-born or twice-born,2 who has no sympathy for a living being: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever destroys or besieges villages or towns, a notorious oppressor: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, from village or wilderness, takes in a manner of theft what others claim as ),
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('â', mineâ: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, actually incurring a debt, when pressed to pay, evades, (saying,) ),
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('â', Iâm in no debt to youâ: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, desiring whatever-the-thing, strikes a person going along a road, to take whatever-the-thing: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whatever man, for his own sake, the sake of another, or the sake of wealth, tells a lie when asked to bear witness: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever misbehaves with the wives of relatives or friends, by force or with their consent: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, though capable, doesnât support his mother or father —old, their youth over & done: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever strikes and reviles with his speech mother or father, sister or brother, or mother-in-law: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, asked about whatâs beneficial, teaches whatâs not and gives counsel concealing some points: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, doing an evil deed, wishes, ),
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('â', May I not be known,â acting in hiding: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, having gone to anotherâs house, being offered pure food, doesnât honor (the host) in return when he comes (to oneâs house): He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever deceives with a lie a brahman, contemplative, or other mendicant: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, when a brahman or contemplative appears at mealtime, reviles him with speech and doesnât give: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â3 Whoever, wrapped in delusion, speaks here what is untrue, greedy for whatever-the-thing: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever exalts himself and disparages others,4 debased by his own pride: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Angry, mean, evil in his desires, miserly, dishonest, devoid of shame & compunction: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever heaps verbal abuse on an Awakened One or his disciple, wanderer or householder: He should be known as ),
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('â', outcaste.â Whoever, though not an arahant, claims to be an arahant: He is the thief in this world with its Brahmṅs.5 He is the vilest of outcastes. These are said to be outcastes, as I have proclaimed them to you. Not by birth is one an outcaste, not by birth a brahman. By action one is an outcaste. By action is one a brahman.6 Know, too, by this, as I give an example: Sopṅka, the son of an outcaste, was well-known as Mṅtaṃga: He, Mṅtaṃga, attained the highest prestige, hard to gain. They came into his service, many noble warriors & brahmans. Mounting the divine chariot,7 and the great, stainless road, dispassioned for sensual passion, he reached the world of the Brahmṅs. His birth didnât prevent him from reaching the world of the Brahmṅs. Though born into a family of scholars, brahmans, with chants as their kinsmen, are repeatedly seen with evil deeds: blameworthy in the here-&-now, with a bad destination in the afterlife. Their birth doesnât prevent them from blame & a bad destination. Not by birth is one an outcaste, not by birth a brahman. By action one is an outcaste. By action is one a brahman. When this was said, the brahman Aggika Bhṅradvṅja said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama—through many lines of reasoning—made the Dhamma clear. I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to the Dhamma, & to the Saṃgha of monks. May Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forward, for life." vv. 116–142 Notes 1. The practice of not bypassing any donors on oneâs almsround, one of the thirteen ascetic (dhutaṃga) practices. See Thag 16:7. 2. Birds and reptiles count as "twice-born" in that the laying of an egg is the first birth, and the emergence of the chick or baby reptile from the egg is the second. 3. This, of course, is a comment on what Aggika Bhṅradvṅja has just done. 4. See AN 4:28 and AN 5:159. 5. The Vibhaṃga to Pṅrṅjika 4 states that those who make false claims to superior human attainments—meaning the four jhṅnas and the noble attainments—are the greatest thieves in the world in that they consume the almsfood of the countryside by theft. 6. See Sn 3:9. 7. SnA: The divine chariot stands for the eight concentration attainments: the four jhṅnas and the four formless states. See also: AN 5:175; AN 10:165; Dhp 129–140; Dhp 306–319; - --> - - - -