Chapter on Self (DHP157-166)

Collection of Minor Texts

Verses of Dhamma

Chapter on Self

If one values oneself,

then one should guard oneself well;

during any of the three phases of the night,

a wise person should remain alert.

First one should settles oneself

in what is proper,

then one may instruct others;

a wise person should not become defiled.

One should act the same way

that one instructs others to act;

one who is well-trained can train others -

for it is truly hard to train oneself.

One is one’s own protector -

how could another protect you?

One who has trained oneself well

has acquired a protector that is truly hard to acquire.

Evil is done by oneself,

born from oneself, produced by oneself;

in this way a fool self-destructs,

like a diamond cutting through stone.

One who is excessively immoral,

like a tree overgrown by vines,

does to oneself

what an enemy wants.

It is easy to do things that are worthless

and of no benefit to oneself;

but to do what is beneficial and worthwhile

is extremely difficult.

A foolish person who,

based on a harmful perspective,

reviles the teachings

of the Worthy One,

brings about their own destruction

like a monocarpic plant.

By oneself evil is done,

by oneself one becomes defiled;

by oneself evil is not done,

by oneself one becomes purified;

purity and impurity depend on oneself -

no one can purify another.

One should not abandon one’s own welfare

for the sake of others, no matter how many;

having understood one’s own welfare,

one should be intent upon it.