(e) Brāhmaṇa Vagga

Brahmāyu Sutta
The Brahmin Brahmāyu was one hundred and twenty years old when he heard of the fame of the Buddha. He sent his disciple Uttara who was well versed in Vedas to find out by examining the thirty-two physical characteristics of a great man whether Gotama was indeed an enlightened Buddha. On Uttara’s good report testifying to the Buddha having the requisite characteristics of a Buddha, Brahmāyu went himself to see the Buddha. Fully satisfied after hearing the graduated discourse that Gotama was indeed an enlightened Buddha, he became a devoted disciple and achieved the third stage of the path and fruition (anāgāmi), before he passed away.

Sela Sutta
Sela was a brahmin of Āpana market-town who, on hearing about the fame of the Buddha from Keṇiya the hermit, went to see the Buddha accompanied by three hundred young brahmins. After hearing a discourse from the Buddha he became fully convinced that he had indeed seen a truly enlightened Buddha. All of them requested to join the order and received permission from the Buddha.

Assalāyana Sutta
Some five hundred brahmins who had come to Sāvatthi on business attempted to challenge the Buddha on his views with regard to the purity and nobility of the four classes of people. They sent Assalāyana, a highly talented young man well-versed in the Vedas, to contest with the Buddha. The young man’s meeting with the Buddha ended up in his conversion.

Ghoṭamukha Sutta
A discussion took place between the Venerable Udena and a brahmin by the name of Ghoṭamukha on the subject of the practice of the holy life. The Venerable Udena described four kinds of persons engaged in ascetic practices. After the discourse the brahmin became a disciple of the Venerable Udena and took his refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.

Caṅkī Sutta
Caṅkī, a brahmin of Opasāda Village, came to see the Buddha with a large crowd amongst whom was a young brahmin by the name of Kāpaṭika. The young man entered into a discussion with the Buddha about the "Three Vedas" which had been handed down from generation to generation in unbroken tradition. The tradition which the brahmins believed to be the only truth was likened by the Buddha to a line of blind men each one clinging on to the preceding one.

Esukārī Sutta
This discourse was given at Sāvatthi in connection with a brahmin named Esukārī. In this sutta too the Buddha rejected the brahmin classification of society into four classes claiming the highest position for the brahmins. It was not only the brahmins who could develop loving-kindness, free from enmity and ill-will. Members of other classes also could develop loving-kindness. It was not birth but the practice of wholesome dhamma that made a person noble.

Dhanañjāni Sutta
Dhanañjāni was an old devoted lay disciple of the Buddha. After the death of his first wife who had great faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, he was no longer diligent in and mindful of the practice of Dhamma. His second wife was without faith in the teaching of the Buddha. To maintain his family he resorted to wrongful means of livelihood. The Venerable Sāriputta put him back on the right path. On his deathbed, he sent for the Venerable Sāriputta who solaced him with the Dhamma. This caused him on his death to be reborn in the Brahmā world. The Buddha asked the Venerable Sāriputta why he had put the old brahmin only on the way to the inferior Brahmā world when a higher attainment was possible for him.

Vāseṭṭha Sutta
A discussion had arisen between two brahmin youths Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja on the origin of a brāhmaṇa. Bhāradvāja maintained it was birth, lineage and caste that made a person a brāhmaṇa. Vāseṭṭha believed moral conduct and performance of customary duties were essential qualifications to be a brāhmaṇa. They went to the Buddha for settlement of their dispute.

The Buddha told them that a person was not a brāhmaṇa just because of his birth if he was full of worldly attachments, or was harnessed to greed, ill-will, craving and ignorance. A person became a brāhmaṇa, whatever his birth, when he had cut off his fetters of defilements, removed the obstacles of ignorance and attained the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. The most perfect brāhmaṇa was an arahat.

Subha Sutta
This discourse was given on account of Subha, son of the brahmin Todeyya, at Sāvatthi. Like other brahmins, Subha believed that only householders could accomplish meritorious deeds in a right manner, not those who had gone forth from the household life. The occupation of householders produced great benefits whereas the occupation of the recluse brought little benefits. The Buddha removed his wrong views and Subha became a devoted disciple of the Buddha.

Saṅgārava Sutta
Saṅgārava was a young brahmin who was full of pride with learning in the Vedas, entertaining wrong views of his birth. He went to ask the Buddha whether the Buddha claimed, like some samaṇas and brāhmaṇas, to have attained in this very life special knowledge and vision and to have reached the other shore. The Buddha explained that there were three kinds of samaṇas and brāhmaṇas who made such claims: those who made the claim through hearsay, having learnt things by hearsay only; those who made the claim by mere reasoning and logic; and finally those who made the claim by personally realizing the penetrative insight of the Dhamma unheard of before.

The Buddha told Saṅgārava that he was of this third type and recounted how he had become accomplished in the Dhamma by practice and self-realization.