THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1624
thus GuÓa brÈhmanas, that is,
brÈhmanas
by virtue of their holy practice.
After lapse of many aeons, some of these
GuÓa brÈhmanas
failed to keep to the practice
of meditation and absorption in
jhÈna
. They settled down on the outskirts of towns and
villages; they composed and taught Vedas to those eager to learn them. They no longer
practised meditation to attain
jhÈna
absorption and to cast off evil. But they still retained
the name of
BrÈhmaÓa
; but they were not
GuÓa brÈhmanas
since they did not possess any
more, the attribute of holy practice. They could only claim to be JÈti brÈhmanas, i.e.
brÈhmanas
by birth being descended from the
GuÓa brÈhmanas
. As they could not practice
meditation to attain
jhÈna
, they are regarded to be of inferior class. But with lapse of time,
writing Vedic books and teaching, they came to be considered as quite respectable and
noble. Although these
brÈhmanas
by birth would not actually cast off and wash away
mental defilements by cultivation of
jhÈna
, they immersed themselves in the waters of
rivers and streams to deceive people, calling their deceptive performance as acts of
ablution to wash away impurities.
A reference to this practice of washing out one's sins by
brÈhmanas
is found in the
Bh|ridatta JÈtaka. Bh|ridatta, King of NÈgas, used to visit the human world to observe
precepts. On one such visits, he failed to return to the
nÈga
land at the expected time. His
two brothers went in search of him.
(They were able to retrieve him in time from the captivity of a snake charmer who
ill-treated him. He was betrayed by a brahmin named NesÈda who saw him
observing precepts on top of an ant-hill.)
21
His younger brother, Subhoga NÈga, while following the course of the river YamunÈ in
search of him, came across the Brahmin NesÈda who was responsible for his capture by the
snake charmer. The Brahmin was found immersed in the YamunÈ river in order to wash
out the impurities of his betrayal.
The Buddha had in mind only
GuÓa brÈhmanas
when he said that tolerance is the power
of
samaÓas
or
brÈhmanas
. The ascetics of AggaÒÒa Sutta, who, wearing white clothes,
practised to rid themselves of defilements were ordinary
brÈhmanas
or
brÈhmanas
by birth.
But when the Buddha made His appearance and started teaching, He described attributes
only by virtue of which one may be called a
brÈhmana
. In the Dhammapada, the Buddha
devoted an entire
Vagga-BrÈhmana Vagga
of 42 verses to explain fully the noble qualities,
possession of which would entitle one to be called a
brÈhmana
. Such
brÈhmanas
are all
GuÓa brÈhmanas
; there is no division of this class. The
brÈhmanas
by birth, however, are
split into many divisions.
(The last four Paragraphs dealing with the etymology of which is Myanmar word for
brÈhmana
are left out from our translation.)
(g) The Perfection of Truthfulness (Sacca-PÈramÊ)
(The opening paragraphs of this Chapter deals with how the PÈli words, ‘KhantÊ’
and ‘Sacca’ are adopted with some change in the Myanmar language and how
Truthfulness is likened in the Myanmar literature to the Morning Star which never
deviates from its course. We have left them out of our translation.)
What is to be noted, however, is this: as has been mentioned in the Text, Just as the
morning star always goes straight without deviating from its course, so one should speak
straight and truthfully, Such a speech alone means truthfulness. Hence the Commentator
Buddhaghosa's explanation of the simile of the morning star.
Two Kinds of Truth
Truth (
sacca
) is not a separate ultimate principle like wisdom (
paÒÒÈ
) or energy (
vÊriya
).
It is truthfulness without having a trace of falsehood. It involves such mental concomitants
as restraint (
virati-cetasika
), volition (
cetanÈ-cetasika
), etc. As truthfulness varies under
21. This paragraph is inserted by translators to provide continuity of the story.