Ud 1.4 - Huhuṅka Sutta: Overbearing
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.1.04.than.html
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Copyright: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
License notice: The text of this page ("Huhuṅka Sutta: Overbearing", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Attribution: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page ("Huhuṅka Sutta: Overbearing", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 30 August 2012. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Huhuṅka Sutta: Overbearing" (Ud 1.4), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 August 2012, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.1.04.than.html . Alternate format:
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

I have heard that on one occasion, the Blessed One was staying at Uruvelā on the bank of the Nerañjarā River at the root of the Bodhi tree — the tree of awakening — newly awakened. And on that occasion he sat at the root of the Bodhi tree for seven days in one session, sensitive to the bliss of release. At the end of seven days, he emerged from that concentration.

Then a certain overbearing brahman went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he stood to one side. As he was standing there, he said to the Blessed One, "To what extent, Master Gotama, is one a brahman? And which are the qualities that make one a brahman?"

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

 Any brahman who has banished evil qualities,[1] — not overbearing, not stained, his mind controlled — gone to the end of wisdom,[2] the holy life completed:[3] Rightly would that brahman speak the holy teaching. He has no swelling of pride[4] anywhere in the world. 

Notes

1.

This line contains a wordplay on the words brāhmaṇa and bāhita(banished) — the same wordplay used in Dhp 388 and Ud 1.5.

2.

This line plays with the term vedanta, which can mean "end of wisdom," "end of the Vedas," or "supplement to the Vedas." In the latter two cases, it would be a term referring to a brahman-by-birth who has studied all the Vedas and their supplements, but the Buddha is obviously giving this term a different meaning here.

3.

Here and two lines down, the word "holy" translates brahma.

4.

See Sn 4.10 and Sn 4.14.