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56
Śramapa Tradition
Among men class distinction rests on their vocations. A man might become a cultivator, an artisan, a trader, a servant, a soldier, a priest or a ruler. None of these is really a Brāhmaṇa. A Brāhmaṇa is one who has high moral qualities and is detached and wise.
na jaccă brāhmaṇo hoti na jaccă hoti abrāhmaṇo /
kammună brāhmano hoti kammună hoti abrāhmano // One does not become a Brāhmana by birth, nor does one become a non-Brāhmaṇa by birth. It is by deeds that one becomes a Brāhmaṇa or ceases to be one. Again,
tapena brahmacariyena samyamena damena ca|
etena brähmano hoti etam brāhmanamuttamam // It is through austerities, chastity, self-restraint and control of the senses, that one becomes a Brāhmana. And such a Brāhmana is the noblest. This remained the standard Buddhist theory of caste. It disputed the idea of Brahmaņa superiority based on birth and gave a spiritual meaning to Brahmanahood. It threw open the monastic order to persons from the lowest castes. For example, the Aggañña and Madhura sutta expressly mention the Sūdras joining the order. In the postcanonical period this point of view persisted. The famous text Vajrasūci attributed to Asvaghosa, thus, attacks caste in broadly the same way as the Vásettha sutta. Vajrasūcī begins by asking the meaning of Brāhmaṇahood. “Ko yam brāhmaṇo nāma/ kim jivaḥ kim jātiḥ kim Sariram kim jñānam kimācārah kim karma kim veda iti/" The first alternative that the jīva may be Brahmaņa is rejected by establishing on scriptural authority that the soul transmigrates among gods, men and animals. The Vajrasūci Upanişad states the argument clearly. It is, in fact, a notable characteristic of this work (Vajrasūcī) that it quotes from Brāhmanical writings throughout. It goes on to argue that jāti cannot be Brāhmanahood because the Smộtis declare famous sages to have been born through miscegenation. For example, Vyasa had a fisherwoman as his mother. Nor can it be argued that the caste of the mother is immaterial because in that case even the son of a slavewoman - dāsiputra - would be a Brahmana. Even if it were accepted that a person is a Brāhmana if he is the son of a Brāhmana, one connot be sure of the purity of the paternal lineage. Again, the Smytis
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