Negative Campaigning

Abstract

This paper takes a close look at the ways Brahmins are portrayed in one sutta of the Pali canon that explains the ‘five ancient principles of Brahmins that today are seen in dogs, but not in Brahmins’. The paper analyses the method of comparing Brahmins with dogs and discusses the rhetorical purpose of this comparison by juxtaposing the respective statements with data from Brahmanical law texts. In the course of this analysis three rhetorical techniques are identified (reductionism, exaggeration, and generalization), which Buddhists employed in their polemics against Brahmins.

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