Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The ancient brahmins lived with almost nothing and killed no animals; the current generation’s turn toward elaborate, violent sacrifice began the moment brahmins saw a king’s wealth and composed hymns to talk him into paying for it.
A direct question
The frame is simple: several old, wealthy Kosalan brahmins, described as “elderly and senior, who were advanced in years and had reached the final stage of life,” come to the Buddha and ask plainly, “are the ancient traditions of the brahmins exhibited these days among brahmins?” The Buddha’s answer is a flat “no.” Asked to teach those traditions, he agrees, using the same formula found elsewhere in the canon — “listen and apply your mind well, I will speak” — before launching into thirty-two verses of description and narrative.
The idealized ancient brahmins
The picture that follows is austere almost to the point of poverty. The ancient seers were “restrained and austere,” having “given up the five sensual titillations” to live “for their own true good.” They “owned no cattle, nor gold coin or grain” — their wealth was “chanting,” guarded “as a gift from god.” Food was simply “left beside their doors” by people who believed such offerings, prepared in faith, should go to them; in return, “prosperous nations and countries honored those brahmins” with fine clothes and lodging, and “no-one ever turned them away from the doors of families.” They studied for forty-eight years, remained celibate or married only by mutual consent (never “purchasing” a wife), and even approached their wives with restraint tied to the menstrual cycle. The most striking claim of all describes their supreme figure: someone “godlike, staunchly vigorous,” who “did not engage in sex even in a dream.”
A bloodless sacrifice
Crucially, this idealized picture includes sacrifice — but a specific, non-violent kind. The ancient brahmins “begged for rice, bedding, clothes, ghee, and oil,” collected these “legitimately,” and “arranged a sacrifice” from them — but, the text insists twice, “they slew no cows.” The reasoning given is tender and specific: cows are “like a mother, father, or brother, or some other relative… our best friends, the fonts of medicine,” giving “food and strength, and beauty and happiness.” “Knowing these benefits, they slew no cows.” This was, the text says, an era in which “people flourished happily,” so long as the brahmins “continued in the world” this way.
The turning point
The narrative pivots on a single, precisely located moment: “perversion crept into them little by little when they saw the transformation of the king and the ladies in all their finery” — gleaming chariots, elaborately divided homes, herds of cattle, “bevies of lovely ladies.” Coveting this wealth, the brahmins “compiled hymns to that end” and approached King Okkāka directly: “you have plenty of money and grain… sacrifice! For you have much treasure. Sacrifice! For you have much money.” Persuaded, the king performed a set of specifically named rituals — horse sacrifice, human sacrifice, the “casting of the yoke-pin,” the “royal soma drinking,” and the “unimpeded” — and paid the brahmins richly for it.
Greed compounding: the cattle slaughter
Wealth, once obtained, only sharpened the appetite for more: “falling under the sway of desire, their craving grew and grew.” The brahmins composed a second round of hymns, this time declaring cattle “essential for creatures” like “water and earth, gold coin, riches, and grain,” and again urging the king to sacrifice. This time the result was catastrophic: “many hundred thousand cows” slain. The text pauses here to underline exactly what was destroyed — cows that harm no one “with feet nor with horns,” “meek as lambs,” that “supply buckets of milk” — before the king, taking them “by the horns,” “slew them with a sword.” Even the gods and ancestors, “with Indra, the titans and monsters,” are said to have “roared out: ‘This is a crime against nature!’”
Consequences: disease and social collapse
The sutta closes its narrative with two remarkable claims of cause and effect. First, an etiology of illness: “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” — disease itself, in other words, is presented as a consequence of this original violence, “of ancient descent.” Second, a social one: “with righteousness gone, peasants and menials were split, as were many aristocrats, and wives looked down on their husbands.” The closing verse widens the indictment to include “aristocrats and brahmins only by kin” — that is, brahmins by birth rather than by genuine practice — who, “neglecting their genealogy,” “fell under the sway of sensual pleasures.” The brahmins listening respond, in the text’s closing formula, by praising the teaching and going for refuge as lay followers for life.
Key terms
The text
A direct question
§1So 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 idealized ancient brahmins
Verse 1“The ancient seers used to be
restrained and austere.
Having given up the five sensual titillations,
they lived for their own true good.
Verse 2Brahmins used to own no cattle,
nor gold coin or grain.
Chanting was their money and grain,
which they guarded as a gift from god.
Verse 3Food was prepared for them
and left beside their doors.
People believed that food prepared in faith
should be given to them.
Verse 4With colorful clothes,
lodgings and houses,
prosperous nations and countries
honored those brahmins.
Verse 5Brahmins used to be inviolable and
invincible, protected by principle.
No-one ever turned them away
from the doors of families.
Verse 6For forty-eight years
they led the spiritual life.
The brahmins of old pursued
their quest for knowledge and conduct.
Verse 7Brahmins never transgressed with another,
nor did they purchase a wife.
They lived together in love,
joining together by mutual consent.
Verse 8Brahmins never approached their wives for sex
during the time outside
the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle
after menstruation.
Verse 9They praised chastity and morality,
integrity, tenderness, and fervor,
gentleness and harmlessness,
and also patience.
Verse 10He who was supreme among them,
godlike, staunchly vigorous,
did not engage in sex
even in a dream.
Verse 11Training in line with their duties,
many smart people here
praised chastity and morality,
and also patience.
A bloodless sacrifice
Verse 12They begged for rice,
bedding, clothes, ghee, and oil.
Having collected them legitimately,
they arranged a sacrifice.
Verse 13But they slew no cows
while serving at the sacrifice.
Like a mother, father, or brother,
or some other relative,
cows are our best friends,
the fonts of medicine.
Verse 14They give food and strength,
and beauty and happiness.
Knowing these benefits,
they slew no cows.
Verse 15The brahmins were delicate and tall,
beautiful and glorious.
They were keen on all the duties
required by their own traditions.
So long as they continued in the world,
people flourished happily.
The turning point
Verse 16But perversion crept into them
little by little when they saw
the transformation of the king
and the ladies in all their finery.
Verse 17Their chariots were harnessed with thoroughbreds,
well-made with bright canopies,
and their homes and houses
were neatly divided section by section.
Verse 18They were lavished with herds of cattle,
and furnished with bevies of lovely ladies.
This extravagant human wealth
was coveted by the brahmins.
Verse 19They 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.’
Verse 20Persuaded by the brahmins,
the king, chief of charioteers, performed
horse 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.
Verse 21There were cattle, bedding, and clothes,
and ladies in all their finery;
chariots harnessed with thoroughbreds,
well-made with bright canopies;
Verse 22and lovely homes,
nicely divided section by section.
Having furnished them with different grains,
he gave riches to the brahmins.
Greed compounding: the cattle slaughter
Verse 23When 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,
Verse 24‘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.’
Verse 25Persuaded by the brahmins,
the king, chief of charioteers,
had many hundred thousand cows
slain at the sacrifice.
Verse 26Neither with feet nor with horns
do 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.
Verse 27At 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.
Consequences: disease and social collapse
Verse 28There 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.
Verse 29This crime of the rods
is of ancient descent.
Killing innocent creatures,
the sacrificers forsake righteousness.
Verse 30And that is how this mean old practice
was criticized by sensible people.
Wherever they see such a thing,
folk criticize the sacrificer.
Verse 31With righteousness gone,
peasants and menials were split,
as were many aristocrats,
and wives looked down on their husbands.
Verse 32Aristocrats and brahmins only by kin,
and others protected by their clan,
neglecting their genealogy,
fell under the sway of sensual pleasures.”
Closing
§2When 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.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.