← Saṃyutta NikāyaSNP2.7Anthology of Discourses 2.7SuttaCentral (Bhikkhu Sujato translation)Select any verse to keep it — saved passages go to your Dhamma Deck, the same one the app uses.Anthology of Discourses 2.7Brahmanical TraditionsSo I have heard.At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.Then several old and well-to-do brahmins of Kosala—elderly and senior, who were advanced in years and had reached the final stage of life—went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him.When the greetings and polite conversation were over, they sat down to one side and said to the Buddha:“Worthy Gotama, are the ancient traditions of the brahmins exhibited these days among brahmins?”“No, brahmins, they are not.”“If you wouldn’t mind, worthy Gotama, please teach us the ancient traditions of the brahmins.”“Well then, brahmins, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”“Yes, worthy sir,” they replied.The Buddha said this:“The ancient seers used to berestrained and austere.Having given up the five sensual titillations,they lived for their own true good.Brahmins used to own no cattle,nor gold coin or grain.Chanting was their money and grain,which they guarded as a gift from god.Food was prepared for themand left beside their doors.People believed that food prepared in faithshould be given to them.With colorful clothes,lodgings and houses,prosperous nations and countrieshonored those brahmins.Brahmins used to be inviolable andinvincible, protected by principle.No-one ever turned them awayfrom the doors of families.For forty-eight yearsthey led the spiritual life.The brahmins of old pursuedtheir quest for knowledge and conduct.Brahmins never transgressed with another,nor did they purchase a wife.They lived together in love,joining together by mutual consent.Brahmins never approached their wives for sexduring the time outsidethe fertile phase of the menstrual cycleafter menstruation.They praised chastity and morality,integrity, gentleness, and fervor,sweetness and harmlessness,and also patience.He who was supreme among them,godlike, staunchly vigorous,did not engage in sexeven in a dream.Training in line with their duties,many smart people herepraised chastity and morality,and also patience.They begged for rice,bedding, clothes, ghee, and oil.Having collected them legitimately,they arranged a sacrifice.But they slew no cowswhile serving at the sacrifice.Like a mother, father, or brother,or some other relative,cows are our best friends,the fonts of medicine.They give food and strength,and beauty and happiness.Knowing these benefits,they slew no cows.The brahmins were delicate and tall,beautiful and glorious.They were keen on all the dutiesrequired by their own traditions.So long as they continued in the world,people flourished happily.But perversion crept into themlittle by little when they sawthe splendor of the kingand the ladies in all their finery.Their chariots were harnessed with thoroughbreds,well-made with bright canopies,and their homes and houseswere neatly laid out in measured rows.They were lavished with herds of cattle,and furnished with bevies of lovely ladies.This extravagant human wealthwas coveted by the brahmins.They compiled hymns to that end,approached King Okkāka and said,‘You have plenty of money and grain.Sacrifice! For you have much treasure.Sacrifice! For you have much money.’Persuaded by the brahmins,the king, chief of charioteers, performedhorse sacrifice, human sacrifice,the sacrifices of the ‘casting of the yoke-pin’, the ‘royal soma drinking’, and the ‘unimpeded’.When he had carried out these sacrifices,he gave riches to the brahmins.There were cattle, bedding, and clothes,and ladies in all their finery;chariots harnessed with thoroughbreds,well-made with bright canopies;and lovely homes,all neatly laid out in measured rows.Having furnished them with different grains,he gave riches to the brahmins.When they got hold of that wealth,they arranged to store it up.Falling under the sway of desire,their craving grew and grew.They compiled hymns to that end,approached King Okkāka once more and said,‘Like water and earth,gold coin, riches, and grain,are cows for humankind,as they are essential for creatures.Sacrifice! For you have much treasure.Sacrifice! For you have much money.’Persuaded by the brahmins,the king, chief of charioteers,had many hundred thousand cowsslain at the sacrifice.Neither with feet nor with hornsdo cows harm anyone at all.Cows meek as lambs,supply buckets of milk.But taking them by the horns,the king slew them with a sword.At that the gods and the ancestors,with Indra, the titans and monsters,roared out: ‘This is a crime against nature!’as the sword fell on the cows.There used to be three kinds of illness:greed, starvation, and old age.But due to the slaughter of cows,this grew to be ninety-eight.This unnatural violencehas been passed down as an ancient custom.Killing innocent creatures,the sacrificers forsake righteousness.And that is how this mean old practicewas criticized by sensible people.Wherever they see such a thing,folk criticize the sacrificer.With righteousness gone,peasants and menials were split,as were many aristocrats,and wives looked down on their husbands.Aristocrats and Divinity’s kinsmenand others protected by their clan,neglecting their genealogy,fell under the sway of sensual pleasures.”When he had spoken, those well-to-do brahmins said to the Buddha,“Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! …From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember us as lay followers who have gone for refuge for life.”