dn27:7.1 Both these things occur like this, mixed up in these four classes—the dark and the bright, that which is praised and that which is criticized by sensible people. Yet of this the brahmins say:
dn27:7.2 ‘Only brahmins are the best class; other classes are inferior.
dn27:7.3 Only brahmins are the light class; other classes are dark.
dn27:7.4 Only brahmins are purified, not others.
dn27:7.5 Only brahmins are the Divinity’s bosom sons, born from his mouth, born of the Divinity, created by the Divinity, heirs of the Divinity.’
dn27:7.6 Sensible people don’t grant this.
dn27:7.7 Why is that?
dn27:7.8 Because any mendicant from these four classes who is perfected—with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart’s goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and is rightly freed through enlightenment—is said to be foremost by virtue of principle, not against principle.
dn27:7.9 For principle, Vāseṭṭha, is the best thing for people in both this life and the next.
dn27:7.10 And here’s a way to understand how this is so.


