Dhammapada 399

One who endures insults, beating, and binding without ill will, whose strength is patience, whose…

One who endures insults, beating, and binding without ill will, whose strength is patience, whose army is that strength: that one I call a brahmin.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

Enduring insults, beating, and binding without ill will is praised, with patience pictured as both strength and an army. Brahmin here names spiritual attainment rather than birth; the verse praises forbearance without giving instructions to remain in danger.

Key words

aduṭṭha

without ill will — Describes the person's stance while suffering abuse.

brāhmaṇa

brahmin — Here it names spiritual attainment rather than inherited caste.

khanti

patience — Forbearance is pictured as strength in the face of abuse.

The story behind the verse

The patient subdues the insolent

In the commentary, a brahmin’s wife regularly expressed confidence in the Buddha when she stumbled, and her husband became angry at this habit and went to challenge the Buddha. The Buddha answered his question, and he accepted the teaching and became a monk, and One of his younger brothers came to abuse the Buddha. The Buddha used an illustration about food offered to visitors, and that brother also became a monk, and That brother also became a monk. The remaining brothers came angrily in turn and were converted, and the Buddha taught patience without ill will as a form of strength.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.