Having given up violence Toward beings both timid and strong, Whoever neither kills nor causes others to kill, I call a brahmin.
A Brahmin in Indian society was a person of the highest caste. The brahmins claimed that only they could be purified. The Buddha subverts that language and insists that one is a brahmin, or purified one, based on one's actions. This verse reminds us that compassion is at the heart of the Buddha's teaching.
