The Story of a Brahmin

While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (266) and (267) of this book, with reference to a brahmin.

Once, there was a brahmin who was in the habit of going round for alms. One day, he thought, "Samana Gotama has declared that one who lives by going round for alms is a bhikkhu. That being so, I should also be called a bhikkhu." So thinking, he went to the Buddha and said to him that he (the brahmin) should also be called a bhikkhu, because he also went round for alms-food. To him the Buddha replied, "Brahmin, I do not say that you are a bhikkhu simply because you go round for alms-food. One who professes a wrong faith and acts accordingly is not to be called a bhikkhu. Only he who lives meditating on the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and insubstantiality of the aggregates is to be called a bhikkhu."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Verse 266: He does not become a bhikkhu merely because he stands at the door for alms. He cannot become a bhikkhu because he acts according to a faith which is not in conformity with the Dhamma.

Verse 267: In this world, he who lays aside both good and evil, who leads the life of purity, and lives meditating on the khandha aggregates is indeed called a bhikkhu.