Chapter 5h: Why Gotama claimed to be a Brahman

[225] 25. 'Venerable Nāgasena, this too was said by the Blessed One:

"A Brahman am I, O brethren, devoted to self-sacrifice ^[1]."

'But on the other hand he declared:

"A king am I, Sela ^[2]."

'If, Nāgasena, the Blessed One were a Brahman, then he must have spoken falsely when he said he was a king. But if he were a king, then he must have spoken falsely when he said he was a Brahman. He must have been either a Khattiya or a Brahman. For he could not have belonged, in the same birth, to two castes. This too is a double-edged problem, now put to you, which you have to solve.'

26. 'Both the quotations you have made, O king, are correct. But there is good reason why the Tathāgata, should have been both Brahman and also king.'

'Pray what, Nāgasena, can be that reason?'

'Because all evil qualities, not productive of merit, are in the Tathāgata suppressed, abandoned, put away, dispelled, rooted out, destroyed, come to an end, gone out, and ceased, therefore is it that the Tathāgata is called a Brahman ^[3]. A Brahman ^[4], O king, means one who has passed beyond hesitation, perplexity, and doubt. And it is because the Tathāgata has done all this, that therefore also is he called a Brahman. A Brahman, O king, means one who has escaped from every sort and class of becoming, who is entirely set free from evil and from stain, who is dependent on himself ^[5], and it is because the Tathāgata is all of these things, that therefore also is he called a Brahman. A Brahman, O king, means one who cultivates within himself the highest and best of the excellent and supreme conditions of heart ^[6]. And it is because the Tathāgata does this that therefore also is he called a Brahman. A Brahman, O king, means one who carries on the line of the tradition of the ancient instructions concerning the learning and the teaching of sacred writ, concerning the acceptance of gifts, concerning subjugation of the senses, self-control in conduct, and performance of duty. And it is because the Tathāgata carries on the line of the tradition of the ancient rules enjoined by the Conquerors ^[7] regarding all these things, that therefore also is he called a Brahman. [226] A Brahman, O king, means one who enjoys the supreme bliss of the ecstatic meditation. And it is because the Tathāgata does this, that therefore also is he called a Brahman. A Brahman, O king, means one who knows the course and revolution of births in all forms of existence. And it is because the Tathāgata knows this, that therefore also is he called a Brahman. The appellation "Brahman," O king, was not given to the Blessed One by his mother, nor his father, not by his brother, nor his sister, not by his friends, nor his relations, not by spiritual teachers of any sort, no, not by the gods. It is by reason of their emancipation that this is the name of the Buddhas, the Blessed Ones. From the moment when, under the Tree of Wisdom, they had overthrown the armies of the Evil One, had suppressed in themselves all evil qualities not productive of merit, and had attained to the knowledge of the Omniscient Ones, it was from the acquisition of this insight, the appearance in them of this enlightenment, that this true designation became applied to them,—the name of "Brahman." And that is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a Brahman ^[8].'

27. 'Then what is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king?'

'A king means, O king, one who rules and guides the world, and the Blessed One rules in righteousness over the ten thousand world systems, he guides the whole world with its men and gods, its evil spirits and its good ones ^[9], and its teachers, whether Samaṇas or Brahmans. That is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king. A king means, O king, one who, exalted above all ordinary men, making those related to him rejoice, and those opposed to him mourn; raises aloft the Sunshade of Sovranty, of pure and stainless white, with its handle of firm hard wood ^[10], and its many hundred ribs ^[11],—the symbol of his mighty fame and glory. And the Blessed One, O king, making the army of the Evil One, those given over to false doctrine, mourn; filling the hearts of those, among gods or men, devoted to sound doctrine, with joy; [227] raises aloft over the ten thousand world systems the Sunshade of his Sovranty, pure and stainless in the whiteness of emancipation, with its hundreds of ribs fashioned out of the highest wisdom, with its handle firm and strong through long suffering,—the symbol of his mighty fame and glory. That too is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king. A king is one who is held worthy of homage by the multitudes who approach him, who come into his presence. And the Blessed One, O king, is held worthy of homage by multitudes of beings, whether gods or men, who approach him, who come into his presence. That too is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king. A king is one who, when pleased with a strenuous servant, gladdens his heart by bestowing upon him, at his own good pleasure, any costly gift the officer may choose ^[12]. And the Blessed One, O king, when pleased with any one who has been strenuous in word or deed or thought, gladdens his heart by bestowing upon him, as a selected gift, the supreme deliverance from all sorrow,—far beyond all material gifts ^[13]. That too is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king. A king is one who censures, fines ^[14], or executes the man who transgresses the royal commands. And so, O king, the man who, in shamelessness or discontent, transgresses the command of the Blessed One, as laid down in the rules of his Order, that man, despised, disgraced and censured, is expelled from the religion of the Conqueror. That too is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king. A king is one who in his turn proclaiming laws and regulations according to the instructions laid down in succession by the righteous kings of ancient times, and thus carrying on his rule in righteousness, becomes beloved and dear to the people, desired in the world, and by the force of his righteousness establishes his dynasty long in the land. And the Blessed One, O king, proclaiming in his turn laws and regulations according to the instructions laid down in succession by the Buddhas of ancient times, and thus in righteousness being teacher of the world,—he too is beloved and dear to both gods and men, desired by them, and by the force of his righteousness he makes his religion last long in the land. That too is the reason why the Tathāgata is called a king.

'Thus, O king, so many are the reasons why the Tathāgata should be both Brahman and also king, that the ablest of the brethren could scarcely in an æon enumerate them all. Why then should I dilate any further? Accept what I have said only in brief.'

'Very good, Nāgasena! That is so, and I accept it as you say.'

[Here ends the dilemma as to the Buddha belonging to two castes.]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

This passage has already been quoted above (IV, 4, 55). It has not been traced in the Piṭakas.

[2]:

These words from the Sela Sutta (Sutta Nipāta III, 7, 7) have also been already discussed above (IV, 3, 33, 34).

[3]:

This argument is based on the false etymology that brāhmaṇo = bāhita-pāpo ('he in whom evil is suppressed'), adopted by Hīnaṭi-kumburē above at IV, 4, 55. Buddhaghosa, in the Sumaṅgala, p. 244, has another derivation: Brahmaṃ aṇatīti brāhmaṇo. As Brahmam has not been found elsewhere except as the accusative of Brahmā the name of the god, and as aṇati only occurs in this passage, it might be contended that Buddhaghosa means an 'invoker of Brahmā.' But I think he is correct in his etymology, and intends to interpret the word Brahman as 'intoner of prayer.'

[4]:

The Arahat-Brahman says Hīnaṭi-kumburē.

[5]:

Asahāyo, literally 'has no friend.' I am not sure that I have rightly understood this term, which I have not found elsewhere applied to the Arahat. Hīnaṭi-kumburē merely repeats the word.

[6]:

Dibba-vihāro; rendered divya-viharaṇa by Hīnaṭi-kumburē. It cannot mean here 'state of being a deva in the kamaloka' as rendered by Childers.

[7]:

That is, of course, the previous Buddhas.

[8]:

This is a striking instance of argument in a circle. The word Brahman is first interpreted in its technical Buddhist sense of Arahat, and then the Buddha, as Arahat, is called a Brahman. The only paragraph based on the real transition of meaning in the term is that referring to the holding up of tradition.

[9]:

Samārakaṃ sabrahmakaṃ, 'with its Māras and Brahmas.'

[10]:

Araṭu, says Hīnaṭi-kumburē; that is wood from the heart of the tree.

[11]:

Salākā, which Hīnaṭi-kumburē repeats, adding 'of the highest wisdom.'

[12]:

Varitaṃ varaṃ. 'A gift appropriate to the service approved of' says Hīnaṭi-kumburē. And the word is not in Childers. But compare the use of varaṃ varati at Jātaka III, 493.

[13]:

Asesa-kāma-varena, for which Hīnaṭi-kumburē has asesa-kāmāvacarayeṃ. Mr. Trenckner adds a ca, which, as being entirely superfluous, he puts in brackets. There can be but little doubt that the corrected reading is asesa-kāmāvacarena, and that the literal rendering would be I gladdens him by that which has left in it nothing connected with (life in) the world of sense; to wit, deliverance from all sorrow' (that is deliverance from saṃsara).

[14]:

Jāpeti. See my notes above on vol. i, p. 2 40, and below on VII, 5, 10. The Siṃhalese has here dhana-dānaya karanneya, where dānaya must be jāni.