I have just published a new text and translation of one of the most famous doctrinal discourses of the Buddha in which he refutes brahminical claims to superiority over others, and goes on to redefine the term with a more meaningful content.
The discourse was brought to my attention when preparing the material for Nalin Swaris’ book on Buddhism, Human Rights and Social Renewal, in which he has a long section about this very discourse and its implications.
I therefore decided to translate it, but the difficulty of translation soon made it clear to me that a translation of the commentary would be needed also to properly understand the discourse.
Like most commentaries this one has not been translated before, and proved a formidable task in itself, one that was alleviated somewhat by having the expert help of the Japanese scholar Dr. Junko Matsumura.
As is usual I have made more than one version of the text, the main one is for students who want to seriously study the text in its original language, and to understand it both for itself and in its traditional interpretation.
The second is a much lighter version meant for people who just want a reliable translation of the text. It comes with a reading of the translation embedded into the text also, which can be downloaded separately.
In both versions it is available in html, pdf, epub and mobi versions, for reading online, on your phone or offline as suits you best.
