The True ‘Brahmin Truth’ Taught by the Buddha: The Transmission of Brāhmaṇasacca and the Brahmanical Discourse of Buddhists

This paper examines the compound brāhmaṇasacca in several Buddhist texts from the Pāli Canon, as well as in their Sanskrit and Chinese adaptations. This paper challenges previous analyses of this term, arguing that the Buddha may have reinterpreted its meaning as a metaphor. However, his followers, influenced by Brahminical orthodoxy, understood and transmitted it as a genitive tatpuruṣa: ‘the truth of the (authentic) Brahmin’—the Buddha. The philological analysis presented in this paper shows that the metaphor of the Buddha’s teachings as brāhmaṇasacca not only reflects his pragmatic approach to affirming the value of embracing the truth over identifying with a religious tradition, but also his followers’ desire to praise him as the supreme Brahmin. Commentators of the Canon described the Buddha as someone who had a complete understanding of ultimate reality (paramatthasacca). Consequently, he was considered the ultimate Brahmin authority, defined as omniscient, representing the ultimate truth for Brahmins. The Chinese versions of brāhmaṇasacca recall the Buddha’s teachings and present them as his Indian followers assumed them to be, as part of his realization of the ultimate truth, even when the cultural baggage of describing the Buddha as the supreme Brahmin decreased. This study reveals the intended meaning of the compound brāhmaṇasacca (AN ii 176) and how the Buddha’s metaphor was transmitted under the influence of Brahmanical religious culture over time.