The holiest Brahmins not practicing the Jhanas?

The Watercooler
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In AN 5.192 (Doṇabrāhmaṇasutta), the Buddha lists five types of Brahmins from holiest to unholiest. He starts with the “Brahma-like” Brahmins (translated by Sujato as “Divine”) and then continues to the “God-like”.

What strikes me is that the Jhanas don’t seem to be prescribed for the Brahma-like status but only the second holiest. The Brahma-like perform some kind of metta meditation instead.

How significant is this, and could a connection possibly be made to o the idea of dry-insight arahantship?

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Probably not. Brahmins were just the top caste in ancient India. They weren’t followers of the Buddha. They didn’t spend their time trying to get insights, dry or otherwise.

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The practice of the four brahmaviharas mettā, karuṇā, muditā, upekkhā by the brāhmaṇo brahmasamo looks similar to the Wesleyan theology of prevenient grace. If that’s the case it’s about having both attained and brought the essence of brahman through practice into the world: brahmaloka in the here and now.

And then, if so, it seems close to samadhi to me.

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Maybe the holiest practice of metta mentioned in this specific sutta should be based on Jhanas… You need to master the Jhanas first, then develop Metta to achieve the Brahma level.

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I think it is always important to check your parallels before arriving at any conlusions.

MA158 is the parallel here and as we often see in these cases, the Pali is much more elaborate and longer when compared with the simpler, less elaborated Chinese.

In particular, while both parallels start with the brahmaviharas, the MA parallel makes no mention of jhanas at all, with the second group of brahmins, the “deva-like” merely failing to practice the brahmaviharas and instead just undertaking good acts of body speech and mind and therefore being reborn in the deva realm.

As is so often the case with these things, the Chinese parallel appears to be sourced from an earlier and less elaborated version of the source material, and completely resolves the very palpable problem that the AN sutta has of elevating the Brahmaviharas above the Jhanas, which by itself should be enough to rouse our suspicion of the text.

The quick check of the direct parallel merely confirms those suspicions.

So in conclusion, not very significant as it is almost certainly a textual corruption, and no, corrupt insertions into the Pali do not warrant conclusions about dry-insight arahantship unless one can show how said corruptions develop in the Pali contrasted with the Chinese (at least)

For those without a translation of MA158 here is the relevent section, somewhat truncated by me:

Brāhmaṇas resembling brāhma;
“Tūṇā, what is meant by a brāhmaṇa resembling brāhma? A brāhmaṇa elevated by their parents, born pure, with an unbroken lineage for seven generations, and free of faults in their birth—such a person practices celibacy for forty-eight years, seeking scriptures and mastering texts. Once they have mastered the texts, they seek wealth in accordance with the law to support their teachers—not in ways contrary to the law.
…
Having performed such acts, their minds are suffused with loving-kindness, pervading one quarter. Similarly, they pervade the second, third, and fourth quarters, as well as above and below, pervading all with a boundless and immeasurable mind, free of enmity, anger, ill will, and disputes.

Likewise, with compassion, joy, and equanimity, their minds are boundless, immeasurable, and skillfully cultivated, pervading the entire world.

Tūṇā, such is a brāhmaṇa resembling brāhma.”

Brāhmaṇas resembling devas;
Tūṇā, what is meant by a brāhmaṇa resembling devas?

A brāhmaṇa, elevated by their parents and born pure, has an unbroken lineage for seven generations, free of faults in birth. Such a person practices celibacy for forty-eight years, seeking and mastering scriptures. Once they have mastered the texts, they seek wealth lawfully—not unlawfully—for the purpose of supporting their teachers.
…
Having completed these acts, they act with virtuous conduct in body, speech, and mind. Due to these conditions, when their body perishes and life ends, they are reborn in a good destination, ascending to the heavenly realms.

Tūṇā, such is a brāhmaṇa resembling devas."

Brāhmaṇas who do not transgress the code;

Tūṇā, what is meant by a brāhmaṇa who does not transgress boundaries?

A brāhmaṇa, elevated by their parents and born pure, has an unbroken lineage for seven generations, free of faults in birth. Such a person practices celibacy for forty-eight years, seeking and mastering scriptures. Once they have mastered the texts, they seek wealth lawfully—not unlawfully—for the purpose of supporting their teachers.
…
After giving material offerings, they lawfully seek a wife—not unlawfully.
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Furthermore, such unions avoid sex at the wrong times
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Why do brāhmaṇas avoidsex at the wrong times? So that neither man nor woman will be called impure due to illicit sexual activity.
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Tūṇā, their intention in forming such unions is not for wealth, pride, adornment, or indulgence, but solely for the purpose of having a child.
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After having a child, if there are established boundaries, pledges, or rules specific to brāhmaṇas, they reside within those boundaries, uphold them, and do not transgress them.

Tūṇā, such is a brāhmaṇa who does not transgress boundaries."

Brāhmaṇas who transgress the code;

Tūṇā, what is meant by a brāhmaṇa who transgresses boundaries?

A brāhmaṇa, elevated by their parents and born pure, has an unbroken lineage for seven generations, free of faults in birth. Such a person practices celibacy for forty-eight years, seeking and mastering scriptures. Once they have mastered the texts, they seek wealth lawfully—not unlawfully—for the purpose of supporting their teachers.
…
After giving material offerings, they lawfully seek a wife—not unlawfully.
…
Their intent in forming such unions is not for wealth, pride, adornment, or indulgence but solely for the purpose of having a child.
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Once the child is born, some brāhmaṇas break their established boundaries and fail to uphold their vows. They no longer reside within the prescribed limits and thus transgress them.

Tūṇā, such is a brāhmaṇa who transgresses boundaries."

Brāhmaṇas of the fifth type, the Caṇḍālas.

Tūṇā, what is meant by a brāhmaṇa who is a Caṇḍāla (outcaste)?

A brāhmaṇa, elevated by their parents and born pure, has an unbroken lineage for seven generations, free of faults in birth. Such a person practices celibacy for forty-eight years, seeking and mastering scriptures. Once they have mastered the texts, they seek wealth lawfully—not unlawfully—for the purpose of supporting their teachers.
…
After giving material offerings, they lawfully seek a wife—not unlawfully.
…
Their intent in forming such unions is not for wealth, pride, adornment, or indulgence but solely for the purpose of having a child.
…
Once the child is born, if the brāhmaṇa engages in acts associated with kings, thieves, or corrupt practices, and says things like:

‘A brāhmaṇa should engage in all kinds of work. A brāhmaṇa is neither defiled nor impure by such work, just like fire burns both pure and impure things without itself being defiled.’

Such brāhmaṇas lose their purity and are labeled as Caṇḍālas.

Tūṇā, such is a brāhmaṇa who is a Caṇḍāla."

so we see the clearer and simpler progression here -
Brahmaviharas plus celibacy equals brahma.
Celibacy without Brahmaviharas equals deva
Marraige without transgressions equals non-transgressor
Marraige with transgressions equals transgressor
Marraige with transgressions and “wrong livelihood” equals outcaste.

This is simpler, clearer, and does not have jhanas.

Metta.

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