The Self (DHP157-166)

If one would know oneself as dear,
One would keep oneself well-protected.
The wise man should guard himself
Throughout the three watches of the night.

One should first establish oneself in what is proper.
Then only could the wise man instruct others and
remain unstained.

If one would only do oneself what one instructs
others to do!
Then, well-restrained, he would well-train others.
Truly, training oneself is most difficult.

Truly oneself is one’s own protector.
What other protector could there be?
Only by being well-trained oneself
Does one obtain the true protector, so hard to gain.

By oneself is evil done;
It proceeds from oneself, it originates from oneself.
It crushes the fool,
Like a diamond crushes a precious stone.

He who covers himself with depraved conduct,
Like a creeper covers a sala tree,
Does to himself what an enemy desires for him.

It is easy to do wrong,
So harmful to oneself.
It is indeed most difficult to do good,
So beneficial to oneself.

He who scorns the teaching of the arahants,
Those nobles who live the Dhamma,
Is the fool who relies on evil views.
Like the fruit of a bamboo, he ripens to self-
destruction.

By oneself alone is evil done, by oneself one
becomes defiled.
Evil is undone by oneself, by oneself alone can one
become cleansed.
Purity and impurity arise from oneself. No one can
purify another.

Neglect not your own welfare for another’s,
However great.
If you fully understood your own welfare,
You would pursue the true attainment.

© Peter Feldmeier, 2013.

First published in Dhammapada — The Way of Truth : A Fresh Translation and Commentary on Buddhism’s Most Beloved Text by Buddhist Publication Society.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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