Bhagavá was, and having approached him were well pleased with him; and
having finished a pleasing and complimentary conversation, they sat
down on one side. Vásettha, who sat down on one side, addressed Buddha
in verse: ...

"3. O Gotama! we have a controversy regarding [the distinctions
of] birth. Thus know, O wise one! the point of difference
between us: Bháradvaja says that a Brahman is such by reason
of his birth.

"4. But I affirm that he is such by reason of his conduct....

"7. Bhagavá replied: ...

"53. I call him alone a Brahman who is fearless, eminent,
heroic, a great sage, a conqueror, freed from attachments--one
who has bathed in the waters of wisdom, and is a Buddha.

"54. I call him alone a Brahman who knows his former abode, who
sees both heaven and hell, and has reached the extinction of
births.

"55. What is called 'name' or 'tribe' in the world arises from
usage only. It is adopted here and there by common consent.

"56. It comes from long and uninterrupted usage, and from the
false belief of the ignorant. Hence the ignorant assert that a
Brahman is such from birth.

"57. One is not a Brahman nor a non-Brahman by birth: by his