[Objectives]  To provide a theoretical basis for the comprehensive management of the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), in rice fields by investigating the behavioral responses of this pest to specific rice plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs). [Methods]  The behavioral responses of N. lugens to a total of six substances, including alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and esters, and twelve compounds, including undecane, hexadecane, heptadecane, linalool, phytol, 2-hexyl-1-decanol, limonene, myrcene, nonanal, decanal, 2-dodecanone and methyl salicylate, in rice plant VOCs, were tested in a four-arm olfactometer at dosages of 1, 10 and 100 μL/mL with n-hexane as the solvent. [Results]  Six VOCs, including linalool, methyl salicylate, phytol, nonanal, decanal and 2-dodecone, were found to be significantly repellant to N. lugens, whereas only one, laurene, was found to be significantly attractive. Linalool and methyl salicylate significantly repelled N. lugens at all three concentrations tested. The repellence of two VOCs increased with dosage; from 92.3% to 122.2% and 242.9% for linalool, and from 57.1% to 70.6% and 188.9% for methyl salicylate. The other four repellents and the single attractant significantly affected the behavior of N. lugens at concentrations of 100 μL/mL. [Conclusion]  Specific rice plant VOCs are either repellent or attractive to N. lugens, and could therefore potentially be utilized to manufacture effective botanic repellents, or attractants, for the ecological control of N. lugens in rice fields.