Then some of those same beings thought, ‘Oh, how wicked things have appeared among beings, in that stealing is found, and blaming and lying and the taking up of rods and banishment! Why don’t we set aside bad, unskillful things?’ So that’s what they did.

‘They set aside bad, unskillful things’ is the meaning of ‘brahmin’, the first term to be specifically invented for them.

They built leaf huts in a wilderness region where they meditated pure and bright, without lighting cooking fires or digging the soil. They came down in the morning for breakfast and in the evening for supper to the village, town, or royal capital seeking a meal. When they had obtained food they continued to meditate in the leaf huts.

When people noticed this they said, ‘These beings build leaf huts in a wilderness region where they meditate pure and bright, without lighting cooking fires or digging the soil. They come down in the morning for breakfast and in the evening for supper to the village, town, or royal capital seeking a meal. When they have obtained food they continue to meditate in the leaf huts.’

‘They meditate’ is the meaning of ‘meditator’, the second term to be specifically invented for them.

But some of those beings were unable to keep up with their meditation in the leaf huts in the wilderness. They came down to the neighborhood of a village or town where they dwelt compiling texts.

When people noticed this they said, ‘These beings were unable to keep up with their meditation in the leaf huts in the wilderness. They came down to the neighborhood of a village or town where they dwelt compiling texts. Now they don’t meditate.’

‘Now they don’t meditate’ is the meaning of ‘reciter’, the third term to be specifically invented for them. What was reckoned as lesser at that time, these days is reckoned as better.

And that, Vāseṭṭha, is how the ancient traditional terms for the circle of brahmins were created; for those very beings, not others; for those like them, not unlike; legitimately, not illegitimately. For principle, Vāseṭṭha, is the best thing about people in both this life and the next.