Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A “lowlife” (vasala) is defined not by caste or ancestry but entirely by conduct — cruelty, theft, dishonesty, neglect of parents, arrogance — so that “you’re not a lowlife by birth, nor by birth are you a brahmin. You’re a lowlife by your deeds, by deeds you’re a brahmin.”
An insult, unprovoked
The setup is almost cinematic. The Buddha is simply walking for alms near Sāvatthī when he passes the house of a brahmin named Bhāradvāja, nicknamed “the Fire-Worshiper” for the sacrificial flame he has just kindled. Seeing the Buddha approach, the brahmin shouts three insults in a row — “shaveling,” “fake ascetic,” “lowlife” — the last of which, vasala, was a genuinely degrading term in the social vocabulary of the time, roughly comparable to “outcaste” or “wretch.” The Buddha’s response is disarming: rather than object, he simply asks whether Bhāradvāja actually knows what makes someone a lowlife. Caught out, the brahmin admits he does not, and asks to be taught — the discourse’s entire framing turns an insult into an invitation.
Twenty-seven verses, one refrain
What follows is a sustained catalogue of bad conduct, each item its own four-line verse ending in the same words: “know him as a lowlife.” The list runs from violence and theft through failing to support aging parents, hitting or verbally abusing family members, giving false witness for money, envy, arrogance, stinginess toward renunciants, and false claims to spiritual attainment. Nothing on the list mentions caste, occupation, or family name. Every single item is something a person does, and by clear implication, something a person could choose not to do. The repetition is not padding — it is the argument: no matter how many times the refrain lands, it never once lands on a fact of birth.
The turn: Mātaṅga, and the reversal of the insult
Having exhausted the catalogue, the verses pivot to the discourse’s central claim, stated twice, once near the middle and again as the closing line: “You’re not a lowlife by birth, nor by birth are you a brahmin. You’re a lowlife by your deeds, by deeds you’re a brahmin.” As proof, the Buddha offers the example of Mātaṅga, born to the “dog-eating caste” of corpse-workers — among the lowest social positions imaginable in the world this text addresses — who nonetheless achieved such renown that aristocrats and brahmins came to serve him, and who was reborn in a heavenly realm through his own conduct. The counter-case follows immediately: brahmins by birth, reciting hymns as their hereditary right, are “often discovered in the midst of wicked deeds” and suffer blame in this life and a bad rebirth in the next, their birth doing nothing to protect them. The reversal is total: the very word the brahmin used as a slur is handed back to him, redefined, and by that redefinition it is conduct alone — available to a corpse-worker’s son and withheld from no one by ancestry — that decides the matter.
A conversion completes the frame
The discourse closes exactly as it began — back in prose, back with Bhāradvāja — but the man who reappears is not the one who opened it. He praises the teaching and goes for refuge as a lay follower for life, the abbreviated formula (“Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent!…”) here standing in for the fuller expression of gratitude spelled out at length elsewhere in the canon. A man who greeted the Buddha with a slur ends the discourse as his follower, having been shown, point by point, exactly what the word he used actually means.
Key terms
The text
An insult, unprovoked
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. Now at that time in the brahmin Bhāradvāja the Fire-Worshiper’s home the sacred flame had been kindled and the oblation prepared. Wandering indiscriminately for almsfood in Sāvatthī, the Buddha approached Bhāradvāja the Fire-Worshiper’s house.
Bhāradvāja the Fire-Worshiper saw the Buddha coming off in the distance and said to him, “Stop right there, shaveling! Right there, fake ascetic! Right there, lowlife!”
When he said this, the Buddha said to him, “But brahmin, do you know what is a lowlife or what are the qualities that make you a lowlife?” “No I do not, worthy Gotama. Please, worthy Gotama, teach me this matter so I can understand what is a lowlife or what are the qualities that make you a lowlife.” “Well then, brahmin, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, worthy sir,” Bhāradvāja the Fire-Worshiper replied. The Buddha said this:
Twenty-seven verses, one refrain
Verse 1Irritable and acrimonious,
wicked and offensive,
a man deficient in view, deceitful:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 2He harms living creatures
born of womb or of egg,
and has no kindness for creatures:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 3He destroys and devastates
villages and towns,
a notorious oppressor:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 4Whether in village or wilderness,
he steals what belongs to others,
taking what has not been given:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 5Having fallen into debt,
when pressed to pay up he flees, saying
‘I don’t owe you anything!’:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 6Wanting some item or other,
he attacks a person in the street
and takes it:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 7For his own sake or the sake of another,
or for the sake of wealth, a man
tells a lie when asked to bear witness:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 8He is spied among the partners
of relatives and friends,
by force or seduction:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 9Though able, he does not look after
his mother and father
when elderly, past their prime:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 10He hits or verbally abuses
his mother or father,
brother, sister, or mother-in-law:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 11When asked about the good,
he teaches what is bad,
giving secretive advice:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 12Having done a bad deed, he wishes,
‘May no-one find me out!’
His deeds are underhand:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 13When visiting another family
he eats their delicious food,
but does not return the honor:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 14He deceives with lies
ascetics and brahmins
and other supplicants:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 15When time comes to offer a meal
to brahmins or ascetics,
he abuses them and does not give:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 16He talks about what never happened,
being wrapped up in delusion,
chasing after some item or other:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 17He extols himself
and disparages others,
brought down by his pride:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 18He’s a bully and a miser,
of corrupt wishes, stingy, and devious,
shameless, imprudent:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 19He insults the Buddha
or his disciple,
whether lay or renunciate:
know him as a lowlife.
Verse 20He claims to be a perfected one,
when he really is no such thing.
In the world with its divinities,
that crook is truly the lowest lowlife.
These who are called lowlifes
I have explained to you.
The turn: birth versus deeds
Verse 21You’re not a lowlife by birth,
nor by birth are you a brahmin.
You’re a lowlife by your deeds,
by deeds you’re a brahmin.
Verse 22And also you should know
according to this example.
A corpse-worker’s son of the dog-eating caste
became renowned as Mātaṅga.
Verse 23Mātaṅga achieved the highest fame
so very hard to find.
Lots of aristocrats and brahmins
came to serve him.
Verse 24He ascended the stainless highway
that leads to the heavens;
having discarded sensual desire,
he was reborn in a realm of divinity.
His birth did not prevent him
from rebirth in the realm of divinity.
Verse 25Those born in a brahmin family
who recite as kinsmen of the hymns,
are often discovered
in the midst of wicked deeds.
Verse 26Blameworthy in this very life,
and in the next, a bad destination.
Their birth does not prevent them
from blame or bad destiny.
Verse 27You’re not a lowlife by birth,
nor by birth are you a brahmin.
You’re a lowlife by your deeds,
by deeds you’re a brahmin.”
A conversion completes the frame
When he had spoken, the brahmin Bhāradvāja the Fire-Worshiper said to the Buddha, “Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent!… From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”
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