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khattiyo seṭṭho: The warrior-noble class is the best (among brahman, merchant, slave, untouchable classes). Why?

 I'm busy at the moment to research this further, but wondering if anyone knows the annswer to the question, why is the warrior-noble class the best?


SN 21.11 Mahākappina: With Mahākappina


11. Mahākappinasutta
11. With Mahākappina
Sāvatthiyaṃ viharati.
At Sāvatthī.
Atha kho āyasmā mahākappino yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami.
Then Venerable Mahākappina went to see the Buddha.
Addasā kho bhagavā āyasmantaṃ mahākappinaṃ dūratova āgacchantaṃ.
The Buddha saw him coming off in the distance,
Disvāna bhikkhū āmantesi:
and addressed the monks:
“passatha no tumhe, bhikkhave, etaṃ bhikkhuṃ āgacchantaṃ odātakaṃ tanukaṃ tuṅganāsikan”ti?
“monks, do you you see that monk coming—white, thin, with a pointy nose?”
“Evaṃ, bhante”.
“Yes, sir.”
“Eso kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu mahiddhiko mahānubhāvo.
“That monk is very mighty and powerful. It’s not easy to find an attainment that he has not already attained.
Na ca sā samāpatti sulabharūpā yā tena bhikkhunā asamāpannapubbā.
Yassa catthāya kulaputtā sammadeva agārasmā anagāriyaṃ pabbajanti tadanuttaraṃ brahmacariyapariyosānaṃ diṭṭheva dhamme sayaṃ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja viharatī”ti.
And he has realized the supreme end of the spiritual path in this very life. He lives having achieved with his own insight the goal for which people from good families rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness.”
Idamavoca bhagavā.
That is what the Buddha said.
Idaṃ vatvāna sugato athāparaṃ etadavoca satthā:
Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:
“Khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ,
“The warrior-noble is best of those people
ye gottapaṭisārino;
who take clan as the standard.
Vijjācaraṇasampanno,
But one accomplished in knowledge and conduct
so seṭṭho devamānuse.
is best of gods and humans.
Divā tapati ādicco,
The sun shines by day,
rattimābhāti candimā;
the moon glows at night,
Sannaddho khattiyo tapati,
the warrior-noble shines in armor,
jhāyī tapati brāhmaṇo;
and the brahmin shines in jhāna.
Atha sabbamahorattiṃ,
But all day and all night,
buddho tapati tejasā”ti.
the Buddha shines with glory.”


other suttas using that phrase "warrior-noble caste is the best"

Vin

DN

DN 1, 3. ambaṭṭhasuttaṃ, khattiyaseṭṭhabhāvo (DN 3.9), para. 6 ⇒

‘khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ,

DN 1, 3. ambaṭṭhasuttaṃ, khattiyaseṭṭhabhāvo (DN 3.9), para. 11 ⇒

‘khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ,

DN 3, 4. aggaññasuttaṃ, bodhipakkhiyabhāvanā (DN 27.16), para. 4 ⇒

‘khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

DN 3, 4. aggaññasuttaṃ, bodhipakkhiyabhāvanā (DN 27.16), para. 7 ⇒

‘khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

MN

MN 2, 1. gahapativaggo, 3. sekhasuttaṃ (MN 53.1), para. 17 ⇒

‘khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

SN

SN 1, 6. brahmasaṃyuttaṃ, 2. dutiyavaggo, 1. sanaṅkumārasuttaṃ (SN 6.11), para. 2 ⇒

“khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

SN 2, 10. bhikkhusaṃyuttaṃ, 11. mahākappinasuttaṃ (SN 21.11), para. 3 ⇒

“khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

AN

AN 11, 1. nissayavaggo, 10. moranivāpasuttaṃ (AN 11.10), para. 6 ⇒

“khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

AN 11, 1. nissayavaggo, 10. moranivāpasuttaṃ (AN 11.10), para. 9 ⇒

“khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṃ, ye gottapaṭisārino.

KN


Comments

  1. LuciliusSeptember 3, 2023 at 7:25 AM

    Not a definitive answer, but some thoughts:
    Perhaps khattiya is considered the highest of the castes because being born into the khattiya caste is the ripening of good past kamma, because it usuall enables living in luxury, and having power over others (because of one's livelihood). Therefore, being born into a royal family is preferable to or more fortunate than being born in the other castes.
    One could even say that it is the best possible result for birth as a human, at least in the times and places where royalty had (absolute) power.

    When the Buddha lists results of good past kamma in Iti 22, he lists them in descending order:
    “Having developed a mind of good will for seven years, then for seven eons of contraction & expansion I didn’t return to this world. Whenever the eon was contracting, I entered the [realm of] Radiance. Whenever the eon was expanding, I reappeared in an empty Brahma-abode. There I was Brahma, the Great Brahma, the Unconquered Conqueror, Total Seer, Wielder of Power. Then for thirty-six times I was Sakka, ruler of the gods. For many hundreds of times I was a king, a wheel-turning emperor, a righteous king of Dhamma, conqueror of the four corners of the earth, maintaining stable control over the countryside, endowed with the seven treasures –to say nothing of the times I was a local king.”

    (Note: No mention of being born a brahman/brahmin as fortunate.)

    So after being born as the various levels of brahmās and devas, being a wheel-turning emperor or and being a local king is the highest result possible for good past kamma. The latter two are the options open for birth as a human.

    Now, why aren't brahmins the highest caste?
    This may be because, for the Buddha, being a true brahmin is not something that is achieved by birth or livelihood (even for the other castes, the important thing is not birth per se, but livelihood, which often, however, seems to depend or is at least influenced by birth), but by spiritual attainment, as Snp 3.9 shows:

    “Whoever, among human beings,
    makes a living through priesthood,
    you know him thus, Vāseṭṭha,
    as a sacrificer, not as a brahman. [...]
    I don’t call one a brahman
    for being born of a mother
    or sprung from a womb.
    He’s called a ‘bho-sayer’
    if he has anything at all.
    But someone with nothing,
    who clings to no thing:
    He’s what I call
    a brahman.”

    As for the conventional caste of brahmins, the Buddha says that they have fallen off from their noble livelihood and principles of ancient times, and lived by a "vile livelihood" (i.e. sacrifice) in his times (see e.g. Snp 2.7).

    That my be a reason why the Buddha doesn't consider them to be a high or fortunate caste.
    The knowledge of the three vedas and brahmin "knowledge" seems to be also not highly regarded by the Buddha (see DN 13) and is instead seen as useless and even deceptive.

    In any case, for the Buddha, the real distinguishing characteristic separating people was not birth, but action. The important thing is not what past kamma ripens now (or at birth), but the actions one does now (i.e present kamma)—that is kusala or akusala actions and livelihood and not whether one can command people or is a servant by livelihood.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rybka3September 4, 2023 at 4:02 AM

      great comment, but it is interesting to note that all three of the previous Buddhas in this kappa belongs to the Brahmin caste. I wonder whether they would have agreed with Gotama Buddha's view on the superiority of the Khattiya caste.

      Delete
    2. LuciliusSeptember 5, 2023 at 2:00 AM

      Perhaps in the time of the past Buddhas, the brahmin caste was still following their ancient noble principles, and the knowledge they had wouldn't have been diluted as it was in the time of our Buddha Gotama. Perhaps in their time the brahim caste would have been the best?

      Delete

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